International

Former Estonian president Arnold Ruutel, seen as one of the fathers of the country’s return to independence in 1991, has died at the age of 96, the president’s office said overnight. Ruutel was a communist party official at the end of the 1980s just as the Soviet Union was beginning to unravel, before becoming a protagonist in the Baltic country’s ...

Auckland was the first major city to welcome 2025 with thousands of revellers counting down to the New Year and cheering at colourful fireworks launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, the Sky Tower, and a spectacular downtown light show. Countries in the South Pacific are the first to ring in the New Year with midnight in New Zealand striking 18 ...

Jimmy Carter, the 100-year-old former US president and Nobel peace laureate who rose from humble beginnings in rural Georgia to lead the nation from 1977 to 1981, has died, his nonprofit foundation said Sunday. Carter had been in hospice care since mid-February 2023 at his home in Plains, Georgia — the same small town where he was born and once ...

At least 120 people were killed when an airliner landed without wheels, veering off the runway and erupting in a fireball as it slammed into a wall at South Korea’s Muan International Airport on Sunday, the national fire agency said. Jeju Air flight 7C2216, arriving from the Thai capital Bangkok with 181 people on board, was attempting to land shortly ...

South Korea’s parliament impeached acting President Han Duck-soo on Friday, less than two weeks after suspending President Yoon Suk Yeol’s powers over his short-lived declaration of martial law, plunging the country deeper into political chaos, reports Reuters. The impeachment of Han, the acting president since Yoon was impeached on Dec. 14 for declaring martial law on Dec. 3, has pushed ...

More than 1,500 prisoners escaped from a Maputo prison Wednesday, taking advantage of the third day of unrest triggered by the controversial confirmation of the long-ruling Frelimo party as the winner of recent elections. A total of 1,534 detainees escaped the high-security prison located about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the capital, said national police chief Bernardino Rafael at a ...

An Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet with 67 people on board crashed on Wednesday in western Kazakhstan after veering from its scheduled route, officials said. Kazakh authorities said 28 people had survived the crash of the Embraer 190 near the city of Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, reports AFP. The plane was ...

The United States and the United Kingdom have expressed deep concern over the recent handing down of convictions by Pakistani military courts to 25 civilian supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan over their alleged involvement in riots last year. The convictions had previously also been criticized by the European Union and domestic human rights activists. “The United States is ...

US immigration authorities removed over 270,000 people last financial year, figures showed Thursday, weeks before Donald Trump takes office threatening to deport millions of migrants, reports AFP. The tally of removals is the final annual report under President Joe Biden, and is higher than at any time in the last decade — including during Trump’s first term as president. The ...

Sri Lanka’s navy had rescued 102 Rohingya refugees from war-torn Myanmar adrift in a fishing trawler off the Indian Ocean island nation, bringing them safely to port. A navy spokesman on Friday said that the group, including 25 children, were taken to Sri Lanka’s eastern port of Trincomalee and they had been provided food and water. “Medical checks have to ...