TORONTO – A shooter killed nine people and wounded dozens more at a secondary school and a residence in a remote part of western Canada on Tuesday, authorities said, in a rare mass shooting in the country. The suspect, described by police in an initial emergency alert as a “female in a dress with brown...
TEHRAN – Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said yesterday that his country would “not yield to excessive demands” on its nuclear programme, after Tehran resumed talks with the United States. He also said Iran was ready for “any verification” of its nuclear programme and insisted it was not seeking an atomic weapon. Iran and the United...
WASHINGTON – The United States will deploy 200 troops to Nigeria to train its armed forces in their fight against jihadist groups, Nigerian and US officials said Tuesday, as Washington increases military cooperation with the West African country. “We are getting US troops to assist in training and technical support,” major general Samaila Uba, a...
KHARTOUM – A drone strike blamed on Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces killed two children and injured 12 others yesterday in the southern city of El-Rahad, a medical source told AFP. El-Rahad lies in Sudan’s Kordofan region, currently the fiercest battlefield in the war raging between the RSF and the regular army since April 2023....
ADDIS ABABA – Eritrea on Monday denounced accusations by Ethiopia that Eritrean troops were present inside the country as “false and fabricated”. Relations between the two Horn of Africa countries have long been fraught, but in recent months, Addis Ababa has accused Eritrea of supporting insurgents on Ethiopian soil, allegations Asmara denies. On Saturday, Ethiopia...
MOGADISHU – On Monday, Somalia signed a defence agreement with Saudi Arabia, highlighting how the Horn of Africa is turning into a battleground for proxy conflicts between Gulf monarchies, with Abu Dhabi in conflict with Riyadh. The region, strategically located between the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal on one of the world’s busiest trade...
BEIJING – Beijing said yesterday it has lodged “solemn representations” with countries that condemned the 20-year prison sentence given to Hong Kong pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai for national security crimes. Countries including the United States, Britain, and Australia have spoken out against Monday’s sentence, with US secretary of state Marco Rubio calling it “unjust and...
TEHRAN – Iran cautioned on Tuesday about a “destructive” impact on diplomacy ahead of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming visit to Washington, where discussions are anticipated to centre on US negotiations with Tehran. “Our negotiating party is America. It is up to America to decide to act independently of the pressures and destructive influences...
PARIS – French president Emmanuel Macron has called on Europe to boost investment in strategic sectors or risk being “swept aside” in the face of competition from the United States and China, in an interview published yesterday. The French leader warned that US “threats” and “intimidation” were not over and urged against complacency in an...
MOSCOW – The Kremlin yesterday accused the United States of using “suffocating measures” against Cuba, a traditional Russian ally, as an energy crisis on the socialist Caribbean island worsened under US sanctions. Cuba is reeling from a US-ordered halt in oil shipments from Caracas after American troops captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro last month. The...