World

Ukraine and the U.S. said on Wednesday they signed an agreement on a joint fund to invest in Ukraine's reconstruction, and a draft of the deal said it would give Washington preferential access to new Ukrainian natural resources deals. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/rD1i4Jg

Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday it was up to residents of Volgograd to decide whether the city should revert to the name of Stalingrad, as it was called when Soviet forces defeated Nazi invaders in World War Two's bloodiest battle. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/eI6aOJZ

Yemen's Houthi group has said it had shot down a US F-18 fighter jet during an earlier assault on the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, and launched fresh drone attacks over the past 24 hours targeting another US carrier and Israeli cities. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/wRHvpTk

Six days after Pakistan decided to shut its airspace to all flights owned and operated by Indian carriers, New Delhi has announced a reciprocal move by shutting down its airspace to all Pakistan owned and operated planes. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/fLAHYTg

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres reiterated his condemnation of the Pahalgam terror attack in a call with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/CAI8pEu

Several people were injured during a shooting in the Swedish city of Uppsala on Tuesday, police said. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/PZVBk8l

Amid Donald Trump's assertion about making Greenland a part of the United States, Denmark's King Frederik has planned a one day visit to the arctic island to underscore his country's unity. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/15nompV

Emergency services workers carried out 286 rescue operations on Monday to free people trapped inside elevators in Spain's Madrid region during a nationwide blackout, the head of the regional government said. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/9ZvdmfK

Canadians are voting in large numbers on Monday to elect a new government, possibly with a decisive mandate, in order to give their country a better chance to push back against Donald Trump's offensive in order to make Canada the 51st state of the US from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/2cJslQW

US President Donald Trump has come racing out of the gates in his second term in office, slashing government agencies, launching trade wars with friends and foes alike and even taking on the judiciary over his immigration crackdown. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/ewk2p8m

Canada is set to hold its federal election on April 28. Originally scheduled for October 20, the election date was moved forward when the Governor General dissolved Parliament at Prime Minister Mark Carney's recommendation. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/vGTcOyZ

A commentator yells excitedly as hundreds of spectators stand glued to a video of a racecourse -- but the athletes they are rooting for are actually tiny sperm cells. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/AVsZzEk

Pope Francis was buried inside his favourite Rome church after a funeral mass in St Peter's Square, the Vatican said on Saturday. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/UjHz1Ql

President Droupadi Murmu on Friday paid homage to Pope Francis at the Basilica of St Peter here. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/US8w3AO

The terminations, which were made from a database used by universities and the federal government to track foreign students in the US, had caused panic among the affected students. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/IVQrqNE

President Donald Trump said the United States will "lead the pack" in attacking Iran if talks over Tehran's nuclear program do not result in a new deal, according to a Time Magazine interview. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/dXtJ1Nq

Grandmacore is an aesthetic movement centred on the cosy, nostalgic vibe of a "traditional grandma" lifestyle. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/XMoNezv

The Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 civilians, mostly tourists, has sparked widespread outrage and condemnation. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/4BxuRf9

President Donald Trump announced Thursday he will sit for an interview with the reporter who uncovered a major security lapse after being inadvertently added to a group chat in which top US officials shared secret military strike plans. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/zsB8GHd

The Attari Border between India and Pakistan, located in Punjab, will be closed from tonight as part of retaliatory measures against Pakistan following the shocking terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/LScthe1

Announcing a series of big steps a day after the terrorist attack in Pahalgam in which 26 people were killed, the Centre said on Wednesday that Pakistani nationals will not be allowed to travel to India under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/FDxUqf8

In the chapel of the Vatican's Santa Marta residence, where Pope Francis lived and died, a nun prayed Tuesday with tears in her eyes before the pontiff's wooden coffin. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/zRPcG0b

US President Donald Trump's stop-start tariff rollout has "significantly" increased global financial stability risks, the International Monetary Fund said in a report published Tuesday. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/CGaRrvU

Vladimir Putin, under pressure from Washington to show willingness to make peace in Ukraine, proposed on Monday bilateral talks with Kyiv for the first time in years, and said he was open to more ceasefires after a one-day Easter truce. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/hVMDTIO

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) have developed artificial intelligence (AI)-powered cameras to detect snow leopards and alert villagers to avoid the loss of livestock. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/kKRiOMV

The US military has been carrying out almost daily attacks for the past month, saying it was targeting the "Iran-backed Houthi terrorists" to stop attacks on international shipping in the Gulf. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/fcrMnUD

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren visited the iconic Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, accompanied by a delegation. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/Tdak49b

The Israeli military announced that a soldier had been killed on Saturday in the fighting in Gaza, the first fatality since a ceasefire with Hamas collapsed in mid-March. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/NgeCHKu

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a social media post Saturday responded sceptically to an Easter truce proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of trying to "play with human lives". from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/pCzrkmc

The foreign ministry of Oman, which is mediating the nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran, said the two sides were seeking an agreement that guarantees the Islamic republic does not possess nuclear weapons. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/PspBNdM

President Donald Trump said Friday the United States will "take a pass" on brokering further Ukraine war talks unless there is quick progress from Moscow and Kyiv. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/W1SDlqE

Gujaratis have emerged as a major bloc, even as Punjabis remain a force to be reckoned with in Canada's political sphere, as immigrants of Indian origin steadily gain ground in the North American country which will hold federal elections this month. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/SHVJiKa

Russia's richest people saw their wealth rise by more than 8% to $625.5 billion over the past year, with at least 146 billionaires listed by the Forbes Russian-language list of the wealthiest people in Russia. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/rtbOgkT

Iran is dangerously close to developing an atomic weapon, warned the International Atomic Energy Agency, hours before the UN watchdog's chief is expected to leave for Tehran. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/OoMdyas

Although the diplomatic relations between India and China have been rife with challenges, especially the ongoing military standoff along the LAC, this move can be viewed as a soft power move to show openness towards India and extend goodwill. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/p40wSPU

Pakistan got caught in its own web of deceit when its was double-crossing the Taliban and the other side, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said today. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/tvbaVKc

China and Vietnam signed dozens of cooperation agreements Monday, strengthening ties between the communist-run countries after Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned that protectionism "leads nowhere" and that a trade war would have "no winners". from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/JDQTaYZ

A strong quake hit near San Diego on Monday, US geologists said. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/413x6lr

Space is for everyone to explore and technology for everyone's benefit, emphasized European Union's special envoy for Space Marjolijn van Deelen, who is in New Delhi to enhance cooperation in space between India and Europe. from NDTV News Search Records Found 1000 https://ift.tt/BusQW4Z

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday lashed out at French President Emmanuel Macron over his plans to recognise a Palestinian state. "President Macron is gravely mistaken in continuing to promote the idea of a Palestinian state in the heart of our land -- a state whose sole aspiration is the destruction of Israel," Netanyahu said in a statement. He was addressing Macron's remarks earlier this week in which he said that France could recognise a Palestinian state within months. "To this day, not a single figure in Hamas or the Palestinian Authority has condemned the horrors of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust," Netanyahu said, referring to the October 7, 2023 attack led by Hamas on Israel. He described this as "a silence that reveals their true attitude toward the Jewish state. "We will not endanger our existence over illusions detached from reality, and we will not accept moral lectures about establishing a Palestinian ...

A Wisconsin teenager charged in the deaths of his parents faces wider allegations that he killed them to "obtain the financial means" to assassinate President Donald Trump and overthrow the government, according to a recently unsealed federal warrant. Nikita Casap, 17, was charged last month by Waukesha County authorities with first-degree murder, theft and other crimes in the deaths of his mother, Tatiana Casap, and his stepfather, Donald Mayer. Authorities allege the teenager fatally shot them at their home outside Milwaukee in February and lived with the decomposing bodies for weeks before fleeing with $14,000 cash, passports and the family dog. He was arrested last month in Kansas. Casap, in custody at the Waukesha County jail on a $1 million bond, is due in court next month to enter a plea. County prosecutors have offered a glimpse of the federal allegations, which were outlined in an FBI warrant unsealed Friday. Federal authorities accuse Casap of planning his parent...

Top US officials on Sunday condemned a Russian missile strike in the center of Ukraine's city of Sumy, which killed and wounded dozens of people. The US special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said the attack by Russian forces on "civilian targets" in the northeastern city "crosses any line of decency." "As a former military leader, I understand targeting and this is wrong," the retired lieutenant general posted on X, adding that "there are scores of civilian dead and wounded." The Russian missile strike on Sunday morning killed at least 34 people, Kyiv said, making it one of the deadliest attacks in months. Nearly 120 people were also wounded. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X that the United States "extends our deepest condolences to the victims of today's horrifying Russian missile attack on Sumy." The United States extends our deepest condolences to the victims of today's horrifying Russian missile atta...

A Chinese woman who was fired for leaving work a minute early on six days in a month has won the lawsuit against her former employer. The woman, surnamed Wang was fired by the unnamed company, based in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, earlier this year, where she had been working for three years with a "rather good performance record'. According to a report in South China Morning Post, a local court ruled that the company had sacked Ms Wang illegally and that she should be paid compensation, the amount of which is not clear. The court cleared that Ms Wang knocking off one minute from her work schedule did not amount to her "getting off early". The court also stated that the company did not issue any warning to her, nor did they attempt to correct her behaviour. The verdict said that sacking Wang was illegal because it lacked evidence and was not reasonable. As per Ms Wang, it was at the end of last year that a human resources manager called her to inform that offic...

A social media personality, Adriana Fernandez, popularly known as the viral "non-Jewish nanny", has converted to Judaism and become the "now-Jewish nanny" - saying that the Hamas' October 7 attack on Israelis made her do it. For years, Ms Fernandez's followers have seen her posts reflecting her insights and experiences as a non-Jewish nanny working in observant Jewish homes. However, she became an official Jewess last month after a year-long conversion process. "October 7 attack made me want to be Jewish more...My determination to convert to Judaism is a way to fight antisemitism. My first thought on the attack wasn't, 'How do I get out of this?' I felt an even stronger connection to God," she said, as quoted by the New York Times . She said that while everyone pleaded that the world hates Jews, she did not hesitate. "These are my people too. I was already in the process of converting - I could have stopped, but I didn't,...

Two Metropolitan police officers dressed as Batman and Robin have gone viral after they turned up at the Westminster Bridge to serve justice. Inspector Darren Watson and Police Constable Abdi Osman donned the superhero outfits to tackle an illegal gambling racket at the popular tourist spot where visitors are often duped. As per the Met police, the illegal gambling gangs target tourists with games known as the 'three cups challenge' or 'shell game'. However, since most of these individuals knew the officers, owing to repeated offences, Mr Watson had to come up with a creative idea to deliver 'vengeance'. "We know that two repeat offenders have been operating on Westminster Bridge and have come to recognise me and my team from our patrols," said Mr Watson. "I knew that if we were going to catch them we would have the think outside the box, and then I remembered that I had Batman and Robin costumes to hand which could come in use," he added....

The president of the Red Cross described the humanitarian situation in Gaza on Friday as "hell on earth" and warned that its field hospital will run out of supplies within two weeks. "We are now finding ourselves in a situation that I have to describe as hell on earth ...People don't have access to water, electricity, food, in many parts," Mirjana Spoljaric told Reuters at the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva. No new humanitarian supplies have entered the Palestinian enclave since Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks on March 2, as talks stalled on the next stage of a now broken truce. Israel resumed its military assault on March 18. Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said 25,000 aid trucks had entered Gaza in the 42 days of the ceasefire and that Hamas had used the aid to rebuild its war machine, an allegation which the group has denied. Spoljaric said supplies were running critically low. "For six weeks, ...

A man is facing serious accusations following a disturbing incident aboard a New York City subway. Police report that the suspect is wanted for allegedly engaging in sexual acts with the corpse of a homeless man on a southbound R train near the Whitehall St subway station in Lower Manhattan. The incident took place around 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Authorities state that the suspect did not appear to know the deceased, who is believed to have died from natural causes prior to the crime. The individual is wanted on charges of sexual misconduct. The unidentified suspect, accused of necrophilia, is being sought by the NYPD for allegedly engaging in sexual acts with a deceased man aboard an R train around 11:45 pm on Tuesday, according to police sources. "WANTED - SEXUAL MISCONDUCT: On 04/09/2025, at NYPD1pct / TD2, an unidentified individual had sexual contact with an unconscious and unresponsive adult male aboard a southbound 'R' train near the Whitehall Street subway stati...

A helicopter crashed in the Hudson River near lower Manhattan on Thursday afternoon, the New York City Police Department said on social media. ABC News said fatalities have been reported, citing law enforcement sources. The Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately comment. "Due to a helicopter crash in the Hudson River, in the vicinity of the West Side Highway and Spring Street, expect emergency vehicles and traffic delays in the surrounding areas," read a post on X by the New York Police Department.  (This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) from NDTV News-World-news https://ift.tt/S0lM9OR

UK auditors Ernst & Young were Thursday hit with a £4.9 million fine (6.3 million euros) for "serious breaches" in its audits of collapsed travel firm Thomas Cook. The UK watchdog, the Financial Reporting Council, slapped the fine on the company while one of its partners Richard Wilson, who was in charge of the 2017 and 2018 audits, was fined £105,000. Debt-plagued Thomas Cook, which struggled against fierce online competition for years and blamed Brexit uncertainty for a drop in bookings, abruptly declared bankruptcy in September 2019 after failing to secure £250 million from private investors. The failure of the 178-year-old doyen of the travel industry followed a lengthy period of chronic financial turmoil after a disastrous series of mergers left it burdened with soaring debt, a large branch network and high costs. Its sudden demise led to 22,000 job losses worldwide and forced the UK government to embark upon the nation's biggest repatriation effort since Wo...

Australia has declined China's proposal to form an alliance against the United States' tariffs, imposed by President Donald Trump's administration. The decision comes as Washington escalates its trade war with Beijing, imposing a 10 per cent import tax on Australian goods and significantly higher tariffs on Chinese products - 125 per cent. China's ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, suggested that joint resistance is the only way to counter the US' "hegemonic and bullying behavior." He also said, "The international community... should firmly say no to unilateralism and protectionism." However, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated that his country will prioritise its national interests, "speak for ourselves" and not align with China's stance. Defence Minister Richard Marles emphasised that Australia will not be "holding China's hand" and instead focus on diversifying its trade relationships. “We're...

Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs, which was meant to impose levies against all those who tariff US goods, has taken a fresh turn. It has evolved into a slugfest between China and the United States, with Washington now imposing a massive 125 per cent tax on all Chinese goods. Announcing this on his social media platform Truth Social, President Trump said that while China will have to bear the brunt of 125 per cent tariffs, Washington has put a 90-day pause on the other 75 countries against whom reciprocal tariffs were imposed on April 2. CHINA PUNISHED, PUT IN THE CORNER Slamming China for its "lack of respect" shown to world's markets, President Trump intensified his punishing tariffs against the world's second-largest economy. "Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World's Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately," he wrote. Reiterating his critici...

China on Wednesday rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's claim that many Chinese citizens were fighting for Russia, calling it "absolutely groundless". Zelensky said Tuesday that Kyiv had captured two Chinese citizens fighting alongside Russian forces, and that there was evidence "many more Chinese citizens" were fighting with Moscow. Our military has captured two Chinese citizens who were fighting as part of the Russian army. This happened on Ukrainian territory—in the Donetsk region. Identification documents, bank cards, and personal data were found in their possession. We have information suggesting that… pic.twitter.com/ekBr6hCkQL — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 8, 2025 Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a press conference it was "absolutely groundless" to suggest many Chinese citizens were fighting in Ukraine. "The Chinese government has always asked its citizens to stay awa...

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi a replica of his grandfather Sheikh Rashid's 'bisht' - a traditional embroidered cloak worn over the Qandura by Arab men - symbolising the historic and generational political friendship between the two countries, during their meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday. Prime Minister Modi hosted a working lunch for the Crown Prince at his residence in Lok Kalyan Marg and conveyed his warm regards to the President of UAE, Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. PM Modi also conveyed his good wishes to the new-born daughter of the Crown Prince Hind bint Hamdan, mentioned a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Both leaders discussed avenues to strengthen the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Ind...

Gujaratis have emerged as a major bloc, even as Punjabis remain a force to be reckoned with in Canada's political sphere, as immigrants of Indian origin steadily gain ground in the North American country which will hold federal elections later this month. The Indian diaspora in Canada is vibrant and diverse - from Punjabis and Gujaratis, to Bengalis and Malayalis. While most migrants within the Indian-Canadian community are either students or highly-skilled employees, Gujaratis and Punjabis usually have a business background. Over the last two decades, Punjabis were the only ones who ventured into the political arena, but come 2025, Gujaratis are making a debut. Brampton in Ontario and Calgary in Alberta, both with a sizeable Indian-Canadian population, have emerged as battleground cities as four Gujarati-origin candidates are contesting for parliamentary seats. POLITICAL DEBUT Most of the Gujarati-origin candidates are first-generation immigrants. While Punjabis have a clear a...

Twenty years ago, on a Saturday night, Richard Petrone Jr and his girlfriend Danielle Imbo, accompanied by their friends, went out to a bar in Philadelphia. Once the outing was over, Mr Petrone Jr was supposed to drop Ms Imbo off at her home in New Jersey and head back to his apartment in Philadelphia. Their friends or anyone else never heard back from them after they left the bar, CNN reported. Investigators found no forensic evidence of the couple's whereabouts after they were last seen at the bar, retired FBI special agent Vito Roselli, who was the case's first lead investigator, said. Their truck was not spotted on any of the area's toll bridge cameras and the couple's credit cards and bank accounts registered no activity, he added. The couple, along with Mr Petrone Jr's 2001 black Dodge Dakota pick-up truck, just disappeared into the night.  His mother Marge Petrone said she knew something was wrong when she didn't immediately hear back from him. "...

Previously, Netflix users in the UK could stream content without worrying about a TV licence. However, new rules now put some viewers at risk of hefty fines-especially when tuning into certain live shows. While bingeing true crime documentaries or animated favourites still falls under a standard subscription, Netflix's newest addition- Everybody's Live with John Mulaney- is a live broadcast, which means you'll need a valid TV licence to watch it legally, the Metro reported.  Set to premiere on Thursday, the show marks Netflix's first-ever live late-night talk show and joins the platform's growing lineup of live content. Recent live events include the much-hyped Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match and WWE programming, part of Netflix's new sports and entertainment strategy following recent rights acquisitions. However, unlike on-demand shows such as Love Is Blind or Harlan Coben thrillers, watching live-streamed content in the UK requires a valid TV licence-...

Deloitte, one of the Big Four accounting giants, is trimming staff in its US consulting division after Elon Musk-controlled Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)'s push for cutting federal spending. The London-based firm confirmed that "modest personnel actions" will be taken in the coming weeks, citing evolving needs from government clients, The Wall Street Journal reported. Deloitte hasn't said how many jobs will be cut, but a US spokesperson told Bloomberg that fewer employees have been leaving the company on their own lately. Since more consultants have stayed in their jobs, the company now needs to cut some positions, the spokesperson explained. He added that demand for Deloitte's advisory services is still strong overall. Deloitte's US management consulting arm saw growth of less than 1 per cent in 2024 - a heavy drop from 17.8 per cent in 2023 and 25.5 per cent in 2022. By the end of 2024, the firm had nearly 173,000 employees in the US. The...

Asian markets took a huge plunge Monday as US futures pointed to significant losses on Wall Street over Donald Trump's punishing tariffs, even as countries sought compromise with the defiant president. Trump denied Sunday he was intentionally engineering a selloff and insisted he could not foresee market reactions, saying he would not make a deal with other countries unless trade deficits were solved.  "Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something," he said of the market pain that has seen trillions of dollars wiped off the value of US companies since the beginning of his tariff rampage. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, he added that he had sought to resolve the issue with world leaders over the weekend, claiming "they're dying to make a deal." China retaliated against the United States on Friday, announcing it would impose tit-for-tat tariffs of 34 percent on all US goods from April 10 after Asian markets closed last week.  With the ...

The world-renowned BAPS Hindu Temple in Abu Dhabi celebrated Ram Navami and Swaminarayan Jayanti with immense devotion and grandeur, marking a landmark moment for cultural and spiritual harmony in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A statement mentioned that devotees from across the region gathered at the temple to participate in a series of devotional and cultural events. According to Pujya Brahmavihari Swami, the head priest of the temple, a full day of celebrations was organized, beginning with Ram Bhajans from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., followed by the Shri Ram Janmotsav Aarti at 12 noon. "The celebrations witnessed a massive turnout of devotees and visitors, united in devotion to Lord Ram and Bhagwan Swaminarayan. This spiritual gathering served as a beacon of peace, unity, and eternal Hindu values, echoing across borders," the statement read. One of the highlights of the event was a special cultural presentation by the BAPS on a stage designed to resemble the sacred confluence...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday lamented the lack of a US response to Russia's refusal to sign "a full, unconditional ceasefire" as two people were killed in Moscow's latest aerial bombardment. Russia mounted a "massive" missile and drone attack on Ukraine overnight that also wounded seven people, Zelensky said, warning that Moscow was stepping up its aerial barrage of his country. Ukraine has agreed to an unconditional truce in the more than three-year-long war proposed by the United States but Russian President Vladimir Putin has refused to do so. "We are waiting for the United States to respond -- so far there has been no response," complained Zelensky. Russia on Sunday claimed the capture of a village in Ukraine's Sumy region in a rare cross-border advance. Earlier in the day, Russia "launched a massive nationwide attack on Ukraine using ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones", said Ukraine's firs...

Three US aid workers were laid off while in Myanmar helping the rescue and recovery from the country's massive earthquake, a former senior staffer said, as the Trump administration's dismantling of foreign aid affects its disaster response. After travelling to the Southeast Asian nation, the three officials were told late this week they would be let go, Marcia Wong, a former official at the US Agency for International Development, told Reuters. "This team is working incredibly hard, focused on getting humanitarian aid to those in need. To get news of your imminent termination - how can that not be demoralising?" said Wong, former deputy administrator of USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, which oversees Washington's disease response efforts overseas. President Donald Trump's government has pledged at least $9 million to Myanmar after the magnitude-7.7 quake, which has killed more than 3,300. But his administration's massive cuts to USAID hav...

US tech-billionaire Elon Musk said on Saturday he hoped in future to see complete freedom of trade between the United States and Europe, speaking days after US President Donald Trump announced tariffs on trading partners. Musk, a Trump adviser who has been working to eliminate wasteful US public spending, spoke via video-link at a congress in Florence of Italy's right-wing, co-ruling League Party. "At the end of the day, I hope it's agreed that both Europe and the United States should move ideally, in my view, to a zero tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America," Musk said. Under Trump's plans announced on Wednesday, Italy, which has a large trade surplus with the United States, will be subject to a general tariff of 20% along with other European Union countries. Interviewed by League leader Matteo Salvini, Musk, who has repeatedly expressed support for right-wing parties across Europe, said he also hoped to see ...

Some 1,200 demonstrations are planned across the US on Saturday in what organizers expect to be the largest single day of protest against President Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk since the administration launched its rapid-fire effort to put a conservative stamp on government. The "Hands Off!" protests will allow Trump opponents to demonstrate their displeasure en masse in response to Trump's sweeping makeover of US foreign and domestic policy through executive orders. "This is an enormous demonstration that is sending a very clear message to Musk and Trump and congressional Republicans and all the goose-stepping allies of MAGA that we don't want their hands on our democracy, on our communities, on our schools and our friends and our neighbors," said Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible, one of the groups organizing Saturday's events. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Trump or Musk. Some 150 a...

China's state-run media has taken to the internet with AI-generated videos, featuring dancing robots and fraught consumers, to chide US.President Donald Trump and tariffs they say threaten high inflation and economic distress for Americans. "'Liberation Day', you promised us the stars. But tariffs killed our cheap Chinese cars," an automated female voice sings in a video on the website of China's CGTN, a state-run English-language broadcaster, over a shot of a woman at a kitchen table staring at an empty fork. The two-minute, 42-second clip, referring to Trump's use of "Liberation Day" for the day of his tariff announcement, was captioned with a warning: "Track is AI-generated. The debt crisis? 100 percent human-made." Another video posted on the X.com page of state-run news agency Xinhua, also generated by artificial intelligence, shows a robot named TARIFF that chooses to self-destruct rather than follow its creator's orders fo...

A Russian ballistic missile strike on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's home city of Kryvyi Rig killed 12 people on Friday, including three children, authorities said. Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the city's military administration, said more than 50 people were wounded in the evening attack. "Twelve people were killed in Kryvyi Rig," regional governor Sergiy Lysak said on Telegram. He added later that this included "three children". "The number of wounded is constantly increasing. This information will come later. A car and garages are on fire," he said. Unverified video on social media taken from a distance showed a plume of smoke rising into the evening sky. Kryvyi Rig, in Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region, is about 60 kilometres (37 miles) from the front line but has regularly been targeted by Russian drones and missiles. A Russian ballistic attack on the city on Wednesday killed at least four people and wounded more th...

The first week of April was always going to be a big one for Donald Trump with his much-hyped announcement on global tariffs -- but that was just one part of another frenetic seven days at the White House. Tariffs and penguin memes Unveiling the new tariffs in the White House garden, Donald Trump held up a table of figures that the world strained to read. Alongside China, India and EU were unexpected names such as the Heard and McDonald Islands, a barren sub-Antarctic Australian territory inhabited by penguins but no humans. One widely shared meme image showed a penguin in place of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office during his recent spat with the US president and Vice President JD Vance. Trump-branded golden visa Donald Trump unveiled the first "gold card," a residency permit to be sold for $5 million each to attract investors and employers to the United States. Flying on Air Force One, he showed off a prototype that bore his face and an inscriptio...

India will soon send relics of the Buddha, discovered in Devni Mori in northern Gujarat, to Thailand for an exposition. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced this after bilateral talks with Thailand Prime Minister Paentongtran Shinawatra at the Government House here. "I am extremely happy to announce that the Holy Relics found in Aravali, Gujarat in 1960 will also be sent to Thailand for an exposition," Modi said after he received a copy of the 108 volumes of Tipitaka, the revered collection of Buddhist scriptures, in Pali language, from Paetongtarn. The Prime Minister noted that the Holy Relics of Lord Buddha were sent from India to Thailand last year. "It is a matter of great pleasure that more than four million devotees got the opportunity to pay their tributes," he said. The Devni Mori relics were found during excavations at the mound known as 'Bhoja Raja No Terkro' or the courtyard of King Bhoja in 1960. The dig suggested this was the location of...

US President Donald Trump's worldwide tariff salvo could lead to an overall contraction of around 1 percent in global merchandise trade volumes this year, the WTO chief warned Thursday. After Trump on Wednesday unveiled a blitz of harsher-than-expected levies aimed at countries around the globe, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala warned the measures would "have substantial implications for global trade and economic growth prospects". Trump slapped 10 percent import duties on all nations and far higher levies on imports from dozens of specific countries -- including top trade partners China and the European Union -- adding to tariffs already imposed since his return to power in January. "While the situation is rapidly evolving, our initial estimates suggest that these measures, coupled with those introduced since the beginning of the year, could lead to an overall contraction of around 1 percent in global merchandise trade volumes this year," the World Trade Organization di...

As dawn broke over the Mexican-US border on US President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day," Raul Hernandez steered his semi-trailer carrying Toyota pick-up trucks towards California, worried how tariffs would affect him. If Trump goes ahead with his plan to impose sweeping import duties and manufacturers move their plants to the United States, many workers in Mexico will suffer, he said. "A lot of people are going to lose their jobs here if he does that," the 37-year-old told AFP, waiting in a long queue to cross into San Diego. Factories operated by foreign companies are vital for Mexican border cities like Tijuana and the armies of workers who keep them running, Hernandez said. "They provide jobs. They support families. If the plants really stop because of tariffs, it will hurt Mexico and the Mexican people," he added. Behind him in the queue, Omar Zepeda was also transporting Tacoma pick-up trucks from a nearby Toyota plant. Like Hernandez, he w...