Republican US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy confirmed he would meet Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California on Wednesday, defying dire warnings from China that he would be "playing with fire.". McCarthy, the top Republican in Congress who as House speaker is second in line to the presidency after the vice president, had earlier vowed to follow Democrat Nancy Pelosi, whom he succeeded as speaker, by traveling to Taiwan.
A court in Bangladesh granted bail to a journalist on Monday after his detention under a controversial digital law prompted outcry. . Shams was freed from the Dhaka Central Prison just outside the capital at 6:30 pm (1230 GMT), Tipu Sultan from the Bengali-language daily told AFP. "He secured bail from the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court earlier in the day," he said.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused some $2.6 billion worth of damage to the country's heritage and cultural sites, a United Nations agency said on Monday.. Culture, tourism, sports and entertainment have lost a combined $15.1 billion in revenues since the Russian invasion in February 2022, the UN's educational, scientific and cultural organisation UNESCO also said.
Donald Trump prepared to fly Monday to New York for his historic arraignment on criminal charges, taking the United States and the office of the presidency into uncharted and potentially volatile territory.. Trump said on his social media platform that he will decamp from his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida and fly at midday Monday to New York, the city where he was born and made his name.
Russia alleged on Monday the "terrorist attack" that killed a top military blogger the day before was orchestrated by Ukraine with the help of supporters of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.. The Kremlin condemned the "terrorist attack" and said "there is evidence... that the Ukrainian special services may be related to its organisation".
The Philippines announced Monday the location of four additional military bases to be used by US troops, with one site near the hotly disputed South China Sea and another not far from Taiwan.. It was expanded to nine, but the locations of the four additional bases were withheld until Monday while the government consulted with local officials.
At least three people were shot dead and another eight were wounded during an overnight flare up in drug gang violence in the crime-plagued French port of Marseille, police said Monday.. - 'Easy money' - Last year, 32 people were shot dead in gang violence in Marseille, the highest level since 2016, according to the local prosecutor's office.
The trial of a 69-year-old Lebanese-Canadian charged over a fatal 1980 bomb attack outside a Paris synagogue opened on Monday after more than four decades of legal wrangling.. - 'End of an ordeal' - Three years later, a French court overturned the earlier decision and ordered Diab to stand trial after all, on charges of murder, attempted murder and destruction of property in connection with a terrorist enterprise.
Five weeks after Greece's worst rail disaster, which killed 57 people, partial service resumed on Monday on the main train line linking Athens and Thessaloniki, the country's second-largest city.. The crash prompted weeks of service shutdowns but passenger services between Athens and the international airport resumed on March 22 and freight trains between the port of Piraeus and Thessaloniki began running again a week later. mr/giv/gil/jmm
A former headmistress was found guilty on Monday of sexually assaulting two sisters at an ultra-orthodox Jewish school in Australia, 15 years after she escaped arrest by fleeing to Israel.. Prosecutors alleged during the trial that Leifer sexually assaulted three sisters who were studying at the Adass Israel School, which is part of a reclusive Jewish sect on the city's outskirts.
