World News

Pelosi's Asia tour set to kick off under Taiwan cloud

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi was expected to begin her Asia tour Monday in the shadow of diplomatic tensions with China, with no word yet if she will make a stop in Taiwan.. Pelosi is expected to begin the tour in Singapore, where meetings with the prime minister and president are on the agenda.

N.Ireland bids farewell to peacemaker Trimble at Lisburn funeral

A funeral service for David Trimble, the Nobel peace prize-winning former first minister of Northern Ireland whose statecraft helped end decades of conflict, will be held Monday in his hometown of Lisburn.. In the same year as the agreements were signed, Trimble was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts, alongside pro-Ireland nationalist leader John Hume.

Beirut's blast-damaged grain silos partially collapse

Parts of Beirut's grain silos collapsed on Sunday, just days before the second anniversary of a catastrophic explosion at the Lebanese capital's port that ravaged the stores and swathes of the city.. "I cried when I learned that they collapsed," Cecile Roukoz, who lost her brother in the explosion, told AFP. "We want a part of them to stay as a witness to the crime, as a collective memory to the city, and in memory of those who lost their lives for no reason."

UN force admits deadly shooting at DR Congo border post

UN chief Antonio Guterres said he was "outraged" after two people were killed and several others injured when UN peacekeepers opened fire during an incident in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on the Uganda border on Sunday.. The town is in eastern DR Congo's Beni territory on the border with Uganda. 

Israel PM urges UN to dismantle rights panel over 'anti-Semitic' remarks

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Sunday upped pressure on the United Nations to disband a commission investigating Israel, appealing to the secretary-general over "anti-Semitic" remarks from a member of the body.. "These anti-Semitic remarks are a stain on the entire United Nations and are not befitting of a person with such a position of responsibility," Lapid said in a letter to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Israel's prime minister vows probe into 'sex slave' prison case

Israel's premier promised an investigation Sunday into allegations by a female former guard at a maximum security prison that she was repeatedly raped by a Palestinian inmate after being forced to work as a "sex slave" by her superiors.. She said she was "handed over" to him by her superiors and became his "private sex slave". 

War in Ukraine: latest developments

Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine: - Russia says drone attack hits Crimea navy HQ - Russian authorities in the Crimean Black Sea peninsula -- seized by Moscow from Ukraine in 2014 -- say a small explosive device from a commercial drone, likely launched nearby, hit the navy command in Sevastopol. . Ukraine says Russia was behind the attack, with Zelensky accusing the Moscow of the "deliberate mass murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war".

Climbing Mont Blanc a tall order as Europe swelters

Rocks the size of fridges have been tumbling from Mont Blanc as summer temperatures soar, scaring away many hikers from Western Europe's highest mountain.. The sweltering temperatures of recent weeks have destabilised the mountain, according to Noe Verite, a warden at a shelter on the "Trois Monts" path.

Stay or go? Parents agonise as shells fall on Ukraine's Bakhmut

Four-year-old Tanya started in her mother's arms, eyes wide open, as the boom of artillery fire echoed around the battered frontline Ukrainian town of Bakhmut.. But most of those refusing to leave Bakhmut share a common story: too poor, too sick, too old to start over in a new place. 

August signing of Chad peace plan expected in Qatar: sources

Qatar seeks to hold a ministerial summit in early August to seal an accord between Chad's military government and opposition rebels on a national peace dialogue, negotiators said Sunday.. "Qatar would like to get an accord settled this week so they can hold an international meeting soon," said one negotiator.