Head of tech giant’s consumer electronics and mobile devices division passed away at a hospital on Tuesday
South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics said on Tuesday that its co-chief executive officer Han Jong-hee has died due to cardiac arrest. Han was 63.
Han was in charge of Samsung’s consumer electronics and mobile devices division, while co-CEO Jun Young-hyun oversees the chip business of South Korea’s biggest company.
Continue reading...Report reveals scale of abuse faced by women in politics from countries such as Australia, India, Laos and Mongolia
Sexism, harassment and violence against women are rife in parliaments across the Asia-Pacific region, according to a damning report published on Tuesday that lays bare the scale of abuse faced by women in politics.
Based on interviews with 150 female MPs and parliamentary staff across 33 countries across the region – including Australia, Mongolia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Fiji and Micronesia – the study found that 76% of MPs and 63% of staff had experienced psychological gender-based violence, with 60% of MPs saying they had been targeted online by hate speech, disinformation and image-based abuse. An equal number of women were interviewed from each country.
Continue reading...Assassination of former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe spurred official request for closure of South Korea-based sect
A court in Japan has ordered the Unification church to be dissolved after a government request spurred by the investigation into the 2022 assassination of the former prime minister Shinzo Abe.
The church, founded in South Korea and nicknamed the “Moonies” after its late founder, Sun Myung Moon, is accused of pressuring followers into making life-ruining donations, and blamed for child neglect among its members, although it has denied any wrongdoing.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: With elbows up on both sides, two very different political operators – Mark Carney and the Conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre – attempt to fend off threats from the south
Good morning. When Justin Trudeau announced he would be resigning as Canada’s prime minister in January, he did so amid surging support for the Conservative opposition and a sense that its Trump-adjacent leader, Pierre Poilievre, might be the right candidate for a new political era. The Liberals’ near-decade in power appeared to be close to an end.
Now, Trudeau’s successor, the former Bank of England governor Mark Carney, has called a snap general election against a dramatically different political backdrop. With Donald Trump’s tariff war and musings about Canada’s future as a 51st state the inescapable mood music, many voters who had given up on the Liberals appear ready to give them another hearing – and Poilievre is trying to distance himself from the president whose methods he was once so happy to adopt.
Trump administration | A catastrophic security leak triggered outrage in US politics after senior Trump administration officials accidentally broadcast highly sensitive military plans through a Signal group chat with a journalist reading along. The stunning breach implicates key figures in the Trump administration including the vice-president, JD Vance.
Domestic violence | Domestic abusers are driving their victims to suicide, police have warned, as they admitted to past mistakes and pledged to investigate more “hidden” cases of violence against women. The concession came as deaths by suicide among victims of domestic abuse surpassed the number of people killed by an intimate partner for a second year in a row.
UK economy | Rachel Reeves will put £2bn into affordable housing in a bid to “sweeten the pill” of the spending cuts being announced at this week’s spring statement. The chancellor will set out one of the tightest budget buffers on record, with the Office for Budget Responsibility expected to put the government about £5bn in the red.
Turkey | Turkish authorities have arrested more than 1,100 people including journalists, while bombarding the social media platform X with requests to block hundreds of accounts after tens of thousands took to the streets in the largest anti-government demonstrations in years.
Archaeology | One of the biggest and most important iron age hoards ever found in the UK has been revealed, potentially altering our understanding of life in Britain 2,000 years ago. More than 800 objects were unearthed in a field near the village of Melsonby, North Yorkshire dating back to the first century.
Continue reading...Director of No Other Land attacked by armed settlers in West Bank and handed to Israeli military, witnesses say
A Palestinian director of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land has been arrested by the Israeli army after masked settlers attacked his house.
According to five Jewish American activists who witnessed the attack, Hamdan Ballal, one of the four directors of the the film that documented the destruction of villages in the West Bank, was surrounded and attacked by a group of about 15 armed settlers in Susya in the Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron.
Continue reading...Actor is expected to testify on Tuesday over allegations by two women who worked with him on 2021 film
The French actor Gérard Depardieu has appeared in court in France on trial for allegedly sexually assaulting two women during a film shoot in 2021.
Depardieu, 76, dressed in a black suit and trainers with his grey hair swept back, arrived at the Paris criminal court amid a large police presence. Dozens of protesters had gathered outside the courthouse and shouted: “Victims, we believe you; rapists, we see you.”
Continue reading...Employees who may have to return home risk death or imprisonment at hands of authoritarian governments
Foreign workers at US government-backed media outlets being cut by the Trump administration say they face deportation to their home countries, where some risk imprisonment or death at the hands of authoritarian governments.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration moved to defund the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), an independent federal agency that oversees the Voice of America (VoA), the US’s largest and oldest international broadcaster, and provides grants to Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and other news agencies. The agency had around 3,500 employees with an annual budget of $886m in 2024.
Continue reading...Uncertainty remains over how and when 30-day halt on energy strikes would take effect amid a gulf on expectations
US and Russian officials have begun talks in Saudi Arabia as Donald Trump pushes to broker a limited ceasefire that Washington hopes will mark the first step toward lasting peace in Ukraine.
Ukraine and Russia have agreed in principle to a one-month halt on strikes on energy infrastructure after Trump spoke with the countries’ leaders last week. But uncertainty remains over how and when the partial ceasefire would take effect – and whether its scope would extend beyond energy infrastructure to include other critical sites, such as hospitals, bridges, and vital utilities.
Continue reading...Istanbul mayor has become the only politician capable of challenging Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the ballot box
When crowds of police arrived at the residence of the Istanbul mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, to arrest him in a dawn raid last week, his response was calm and deliberate. The mayor of Turkey’s largest city – a longtime rival of the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – issued a video message to his supporters, filming himself as he put on a crisp white shirt and tie to be dressed for his detention.
“A small group is trying to usurp the will of the people,” he said. “I will stand strong.”
Continue reading...Canadian PM makes remarks on visit to Newfoundland town that sheltered US airline passengers after attacks
Mark Carney has lamented Canada’s lost friendship with the United States as he visited the town that sheltered thousands of stranded American airline passengers after the 9/11 attacks.
The Canadian prime minister’s visit to Gander, Newfoundland, on the second day of a national election campaign comes against the backdrop of a trade war and sovereignty threats from Donald Trump.
Continue reading...Shiv Sena party supporters tore apart the Habitat comedy club after Kunal Kamra’s satirical song about a top minister
A mob violently ransacked a Mumbai comedy club and its building has been partly demolished after one of India’s most prominent comedians performed a satirical song about a local ruling politician during a performance there.
Kunal Kamra has a reputation for his acerbic comedy which often pokes fun at political figures. Few comedians in India dare to make political jokes for risk of a backlash.
Continue reading...Iranian police are using digital tools to identify and punish women who defy the Islamic state’s harsh dress code
Like many women in Iran, Darya is used to feeling under surveillance. Yet in recent months, the 25-year-old finance analyst from northern Tehran says that she never knows who could be watching her every move.
She says she has received messages from the police before warning her of suspected violations of the country’s strict hijab laws, but last November she was sent an SMS message containing her car registration plate that stated the exact time and place that she had been recorded driving without her head properly covered. Next time it happened, the SMS warned, her car would be impounded.
Continue reading...Understanding the rightwing backlash over the government scheme helping people with serious disabilities get cars
Motability really ought to be a boring subject: a government scheme helping people with serious disabilities get a car by using a portion of their benefits to pay for the lease. But over the past week, anyone who had never heard of Motability would have got a more lurid impression.
First reported in the Daily Mail, and then in a string of follow-up stories, Motability was portrayed not as a useful mechanism for helping people with disabilities but an outrageous example of con artists milking the taxpayer.
Continue reading...Greenland’s prime minister says trip is ‘demonstration of power’ and accuses US of interfering in its political affairs
Greenland’s prime minister has accused Washington of interfering in its political affairs with the visit of an American delegation this week to the Arctic island coveted by the US president, Donald Trump.
“It should be said clearly that our integrity and democracy must be respected without foreign interference,” Múte Egede said on Monday, adding that the planned visit by the second lady, Usha Vance, along with the national security adviser, Mike Waltz, “cannot be seen as just a private visit”.
Continue reading...A broad trough has dragged in warm, moist air and offers perfect ingredients for heavy rainfall and even supercells
Northern parts of Australia have been under a flood warning this weekend, with further flooding set to bring havoc to south-eastern parts of the Northern Territory and western Queensland early this week. A broad trough – an area of locally lower pressure – has been moving across northern Australia, dragging in warm, moist air from the Gulf of Carpentaria and providing the perfect ingredients for the formation of severe thunderstorms, and even supercells.
More than 70mm (2.75in) of rain fell in an hour under the slow-moving storms over the weekend in what is usually an arid, low rainfall zone with a desert/grassland climate classification. Some parts of the region have sparse observation data, but some local stations have been able to record more than 100mm within 24 hours, with 132mm of rain at Marion Downs, Queensland.
Continue reading...Group received emails about Ahsan Mansur, the central bank official investigating money laundering allegations
British MPs believe they may have been targeted by a “disinformation” campaign aimed at discrediting the man leading efforts to trace funds allegedly laundered from Bangladesh into the UK.
MPs raised the alarm after receiving emails about Ahsan Mansur, who was installed as the central bank governor of Bangladesh last year, after a student-led revolution swept away the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina.
Continue reading...Ismail Barhoum and medics die in attack, which Israel says was based on extensive intelligence
An Israeli airstrike on Sunday night hit the largest hospital in southern Gaza, killing five people, including a Hamas political leader.
The Gaza health ministry said the strike hit the surgery department at Nasser hospital in the city of Khan Younis. The Israeli military said its attack followed extensive intelligence and used precise munitions to minimise harm at the site.
Continue reading...As Washington signals hope for ‘real progress’, Moscow warns ‘difficult negotiations’ lie ahead
US and Ukrainian officials have met for further talks aimed at hammering out a ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine, with Washington signalling its hope for “real progress” even as Moscow warned that “difficult negotiations” lie ahead.
The gulf in expectations marked the start of the latest round of negotiations in Saudi Arabia, which was set to follow with a meeting between American officials and Russia on Monday. The US is pushing for a broad ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine by 20 April, according to Bloomberg, though sources said the timeline may slip given the wide gap that exists between Kyiv and Moscow’s positions.
Continue reading...Ebrahim Rasool, declared persona non grata by Washington, was surrounded by crowds at Cape Town airport
The South African ambassador who was expelled from the US and declared persona non grata by the Trump administration was welcomed home on Sunday by hundreds of supporters who sang songs praising him.
Crowds at Cape Town International airport surrounded Ebrahim Rasool and his wife Rosieda as they emerged in the arrivals terminal in their home town, and they needed a police escort to help them navigate their way through the building.
Continue reading...Labour MP and Lib Dem leader express concern social media companies could be let off hook just as benefits are cut
Keir Starmer has been warned against “appeasing” Donald Trump as he considers reducing a major tax for US tech companies while cutting disability benefits and public sector jobs.
His chancellor, Rachel Reeves, confirmed on Sunday that there were “ongoing” discussions about the UK’s £1bn-a-year digital services tax that affects companies including Meta and Amazon.
Continue reading...