Woman pulled to safety after 30 hours trapped in building a rare glimmer of hope in midst of devastation
Rescue workers battled for a second night to find survivors of Myanmar’s devastating earthquake, which has killed at least 1,644 people and injured thousands more.
Teams with little protective equipment, at times using only their bare hands, scrambled to free survivors from the rubble of countless buildings that were shattered by Friday’s 7.7-magnitude earthquake.
Continue reading...Faye Hall had been detained since February along with a British couple before a court order led to her release
A US citizen detained in Afghanistan in February by the Taliban administration has been released, the former US ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said on Saturday.
“American citizen Faye Hall, just released by the Taliban, is now in the care of our friends, the Qataris in Kabul, and will soon be on her way home,” Khalilzad posted on X.
Continue reading...The US administration believes it can divide public attention until there is a new scandal. It may be a winning strategy
When it comes to Trump-era scandals, the shameless responses to “Signalgate”, in which top administration officials discussing details of an impending strike in Yemen in a group chat without noticing the presence of a prominent journalist, should set alarm bells ringing for its brazenness and incompetence.
In a particularly jaw-dropping exchange, Tulsi Gabbard, the United States’ director of national intelligence, was forced to backtrack during a house hearing after she had said that there had been no specific information in the Signal chat about an impending military strike. Then, the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg published the chat in full, contradicting Gabbard’s remarks that no classified data or weapons systems had been mentioned in the chat.
Continue reading...France has been urged to shun Maga America as #BoycottUSA hashtag spreads, but teenagers say they can’t afford to join the action
On the rainy Grands Boulevards in Paris on Friday, the branches of McDonald’s and KFC were doing brisk business.
There was little sign of “le boycott” – a movement among French customers to reject American brands and products made in the US, in protest at Donald Trump’s trade tariffs and anti-Europe rhetoric.
Continue reading...Hundreds of thousands gather for Ekrem İmamoğlu outside Istanbul centre in move to keep momentum after clashes with police
Turkey’s main opposition has rallied in defence of the jailed Istanbul mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, in a move to sustain the largest anti-government demonstrations in years.
Hundreds of thousands of people attended the protest called by the head of the opposition Republican People’s party (CHP) in a spot far from the Istanbul city centre. The party leader, Özgur Özel, claimed 2.2 million people attended.
Continue reading...Eclipse peaked in London at about 11am on Saturday and was visible in parts of UK between about 10am and noon
People across the northern hemisphere have gathered to catch a glimpse of the partial solar eclipse.
The eclipse peaked in London at about 11am on Saturday and was visible in parts of the UK between about 10am and noon.
Continue reading...New emails reveal ‘panic’ inside the Home Office at the case of Ali Kololo, who was wrongly imprisoned for the 2011 murder of British tourist David Tebbutt
A Kenyan man who was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death over an attack on British tourists is suing the Metropolitan police over its role in the case.
Ali Kololo was imprisoned for more than a decade in what his lawyers called “appalling conditions” before being released when his conviction was quashed in 2023.
Continue reading...Defense secretary, already under fire for chat group blunder, faces new scrutiny for having wife in high-level meetings
The wife of the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, attended two meetings with foreign defense officials during which sensitive information was discussed, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.
The Journal’s report on Hegseth arrived late on Friday as he faced scrutiny for detailing plans of a military strike in a group chat on Signal, made public by a journalist at the Atlantic who was added to the chat. Multiple Democrats have called for his resignation while a bipartisan group of senators sent a letter to the defense department calling for an inquiry into the group chat.
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Here’s a view of the sun from Dakar, Senegal:
How visible today’s partial eclipse will be depends, unsurprisingly, on how clear the sky is where you are.
Continue reading...‘This is not how you talk to your close allies,’ says Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen
Denmark has hit back against JD Vance’s comments that Copenhagen has not done enough for Greenland.
The US vice-president made his remark on Friday during a trip to the Pituffik space base in north-western Greenland, viewed by both Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation.
Continue reading...This immense worm moves slowly and gracefully underground and can grow to the length of an outstretched arm
The giant Gippsland earthworm already has an upbeat campaign song.
“I am a real worm, I am an actual worm,” bangs the chorus of Doctor Worm, a late-90s novelty hit by the American indie rock band They Might Be Giants.
Continue reading...Drone raid sparks blaze in Dnipro hotel and restaurant complex and injures 19; Ukrainian president says too early to judge Washington’s expanded proposal. What we know on day 1,130
Continue reading...Vice-president criticises Denmark’s treatment of Arctic island and says it should come under US ‘security umbrella’
JD Vance told troops in Greenland that the US has to gain control of the Arctic island to stop the threat of China and Russia as he doubled down on criticising Denmark, which he said has “not done a good job”.
Under increasingly strained relations between the White House and Greenland and Denmark, the US vice-president said during a visit to Pituffik space base on Friday: “Our message to Denmark is very simple: you have not done a good job by the people of Greenland. You have underinvested in the people of Greenland and you have underinvested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass.”
Continue reading...As US pivots toward territorial ambitions in the west, the Kremlin’s support signals a deeper alignment in their challenge to global norms
As JD Vance touched down in Greenland, the Trump administration received an unlikely endorsement for the US’s first potential territorial expansion since 1947: Vladimir Putin.
Speaking at an Arctic policy forum in the northern Russian city of Murmansk on Thursday, Putin presented a more comprehensive case than any US official yet for Donald Trump’s plan to annex Greenland, crafting a historical argument that sounded suspiciously convenient in terms of Russia’s own territorial designs on Ukraine.
Continue reading...US president says he and Canadian prime minister ‘agree on many things’ after first talk since Carney assumed role
Donald Trump described a long-awaited call with the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, as “extremely productive” amid a trade war between the two nations launched by the US president.
The Friday morning call, requested by the White House, marks the first time the two leaders have spoken since Carney became prime minister on 14 March.
Continue reading...US rejects suggestion and Kremlin later clarifies idea is just ‘one of the options’ and has not been raised with Trump
Vladimir Putin has suggested Ukraine could be placed under a temporary UN-led government to organise fresh elections as both Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of breaching an energy ceasefire agreed this week.
The idea was quickly rejected by a US spokesperson, and it was not clear how far it was meant to be taken seriously, given that the Kremlin clarified that Putin had not raised this idea in recent phone calls with Donald Trump.
Continue reading...Environmentalists call bid to skirt UN treaty ‘reckless’ amid fears that mining will cause irreversible loss of biodiversity
A Canadian deep-sea mining firm has revealed it has been negotiating with the Trump administration to bypass a UN treaty and potentially gain authorisation from the US to mine in international waters.
The revelation has stunned environmentalists, who condemned the move as “reckless” and a “slap in the face for multilateralism”.
Continue reading...White House signs executive order limiting numerous federal workers from unionising
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said the Trump administration would boost military ties with the Philippines to strengthen deterrence against “threats from the communist Chinese” and ensure freedom of navigation in the disputed South China Sea.
Hegseth spoke on Friday during a meeting with president Ferdinand Marcos Jr in the Philippines, his first stop in his first trip to Asia, to reaffirm Washington’s “ironclad” commitment to the region under Trump.
Continue reading...United States Geological Survey said the quake was shallow, at a depth of just 10km (six miles) with the epicentre near the central city of Mandalay
A 30-storey skyscraper under construction for government offices has collapsed in Bangkok trapping 43 workers, police and medics said, after the city was rocked by a strong earthquake.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the building in the north of the Thai capital was reduced to a tangle of rubble and twisted metal in seconds after the 7.7-magnitude quake in neighbouring Myanmar.
Continue reading...Airlines could face higher charges to help fund new system at airport, which was shut down by substation fire
The chief executive of Heathrow has said it could cost about £1bn to install a more resilient power supply system to prevent a repeat of the outage that shut Europe’s busiest airport last week, and that airlines could pay higher charges to help fund it.
Thomas Woldbye, who has been criticised for going to bed on the night of the crisis so he could be “better rested” to handle the fallout the following day, has said he was frustrated the incident occurred and would like to have handled it better.
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