Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attended a religious gathering on Saturday, according to Iranian state media outlet Press TV, the first time he has appeared in public in several weeks. Khamenei had not made a public appearance since his country was plunged into conflict on June 13, when Israel unilaterally bombed Iranian military and nuclear sites. The US later ...
A summit of leaders from the BRICS group of major emerging economies kicks off in Brazil Sunday – but without the top leader of its most powerful member. For the first time in more than one decade of rule, Chinese leader Xi Jinping – who has made BRICS a centerpiece of his push to reshape the global balance of power ...
Thousands of people gathered in India’s Dharamshala on Sunday to celebrate the 90th birthday of the Dalai Lama – a key milestone in the life of the spiritual leader and Nobel Peace laureate known for his message of compassion and his quest for greater freedoms for Tibet under Beijing’s rule. Undeterred by heavy monsoon rain and thick fog, crowds dressed ...
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is now Germany’s largest opposition group and even topped several opinion polls – briefly putting it ahead of now-Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s center-right party – in the weeks after February’s federal election. At the same time, the AfD is facing growing calls for an outright ban, most recently from another major political party. In May, ...
Massive wildfires have torn through Syria’s coastal mountain region of Jabal Turkman since Thursday, destroying thousands of hectares of forest and overwhelming emergency services. Abdel Kafi Kayyal, director of civil defense in Lattakia province, said efforts to control the fires have been hampered by strong winds, rugged terrain and the danger of landmines left behind from years of war. The ...
A man set the door of a synagogue alight and a group of protesters stormed an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne on Friday night, the latest in a wave of antisemitic attacks in Australian cities. About 20 people were inside the synagogue in the downtown area of East Melbourne when a man poured flammable liquid on the front door of the ...
As Denmark takes over the presidency of the European Union, Danes are more strongly pro-European than at any time in the past two decades – a shift in sentiment that can at least partly be attributed to US President Donald Trump. An eye-opening survey published in March by Berlingske, a Danish daily newspaper, said 41% of Danes now see the ...
For the first time in over a century, Parisians and tourists will be able to take a refreshing dip in the River Seine. The long-polluted waterway is finally opening up as a summertime swim spot following a 1.4 billion euro ($1.5 billion) cleanup project that made it suitable for Olympic competitions last year. Three new swimming sites on the Paris ...
US President Donald Trump says he’s “optimistic” a ceasefire deal in Gaza could be agreed next week after Hamas announced that it had “submitted a positive response” to a proposal for a 60-day truce with Israel. “We have to get it over with,” Trump said Friday. “We have to do something about Gaza.” Israel and Hamas have long had conflicting ...
Japan’s government on Saturday warned of more possible strong earthquakes in waters southwest of its main islands, but urged the public not to believe unfounded predictions of a major disaster. Authorities on Friday evacuated some residents from remote islands close to the epicenter of a 5.5-magnitude quake off the tip of the southernmost main island of Kyushu. That quake on ...