Belarus has freed Sergey Tikhanovsky, a key dissident figure and the husband of exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, following a rare visit by a senior US official, Tikhanovskaya’s team announced on Saturday. Tikhanovsky, a popular blogger and activist who was jailed in 2020, arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania, alongside 13 other political prisoners, his wife’s team said. The release came just ...
A draft-dodging scandal in Taiwan allegedly involving a number of actors, influencers, and musicians has cast an unflattering spotlight on the conscript and reservist forces which could one day stand between the island and a possible invasion by China. Taiwan’s military service regime, which runs alongside its conventional military, faces accusations of failing to prepare conscripts for an actual war ...
The US has struck three key nuclear sites in Iran, President Donald Trump said on Truth Social Saturday evening as the Iran-Israel conflict enters a second week. The Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz sites lie at the heart of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and had previously been targeted by Israeli strikes. Here’s what we know about them. Natanz The nuclear complex, about ...
Pro-Palestinian activists broke into Britain’s largest air base and damaged two military aircraft in central England early Friday. Palestine Action, a UK-based group that aims to disrupt the operations of weapons manufacturers supplying the Israeli government, posted footage of the action to its X account. The video shows two people riding on electric scooters on the tarmac of RAF Brize ...
Lawmakers in Britain have narrowly approved a bill to legalize assisted dying for terminally ill people, capping a fraught debate in Parliament and across the country that cut across political, religious and legal divides. MPs passed the bill by 314 votes to 291, in their final say on the question. The bill – which has split lawmakers and sparked impassioned ...
Ten months after the luxury superyacht Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily in a sudden storm, salvage crews managed to lift it 50 meters (164 feet) from the seabed on Friday afternoon, the company running the $30 million recovery operation said. The superyacht was scheduled to be lifted at the weekend, but salvage crews from TMC Marine said the ...
Fearing the repercussions of a total regime collapse in Iran, Gulf Arab states have intensified their outreach to the Trump administration and Tehran over the past week. The United Arab Emirates, a US ally that has long been opposed to an unsupervised Iran nuclear program, has been in contact with officials in Tehran and Washington to avoid further escalation, according ...
As US President Donald Trump weighs joining Israel’s assault on Iran, questions are mounting over whether such an intervention could trigger regime change in Tehran – an outcome that risks splintering the country and sending shockwaves across the region. Home to long-simmering separatist movements that have vied for power and independence, Iran could face internal fragmentation and chaos if its ...
“Iran believes in civilian dialogue,” he said. “Directly or indirectly is not important.” “President Trump can easily stop the war by only one telephone (call) to (the) Israelis,” he said, repeating the Iranian position that talks were impossible while Israeli bombs were striking Iran. Farahani said that Iran would not countenance halting nuclear enrichment – which Tehran insists is for ...
US President Donald Trump’s self-imposed two-week delay to decide whether to strike Iran has sparked confusion and conjecture in Israel. Some of Israel’s most senior officials had openly pushed for US involvement, arguing that American military involvement can shorten the conflict and allow Israel to achieve its goal of removing what is has long perceived as an existential threat of ...