Countries

There are several ways to describe someone held against their will, each with its own implications. The word “prisoner” suggests someone detained on suspicion of crimes or captured during times of war. “Hostage,” on the other hand, signifies a civilian held against their will.

The waste, which came in 10 large containers, was declared as mixed metal scrap but turned out to be circuit boards mixed in a huge pile of metal scrap, said Theeraj Athanavanich, director-general of the Customs Department.

Mexico’s security chief confirmed Tuesday that 17 family members of cartel leaders crossed into the U.S. last week as part of a deal between a son of the former head of the Sinaloa Cartel and the Trump administration.

In the U.S., drug prices are shaped by complex negotiations involving pharmacy benefit managers that act as middlemen between drugmakers and employer clients and health insurers and have been criticised for inflating costs. In Europe, countries generally have public health systems that negotiate directly with manufacturers and keep costs down.

Class action from more than 3,000 group members argues vast majority of strip-searches at music festivals between 2018 and 2022 were unlawful

German prosecutors have said three Ukrainian men acting as "foreign agents" for Russia were arrested on suspicion of planning to plant explosive devices in transported goods.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has criticised Britain’s invitation to Mr Donald Trump for a second state visit, saying it undermined his government’s effort to project a united front against the US President’s talk of annexing Canada.

Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canadians "weren't impressed" when the U.K. decided to offer U.S. President Donald Trump an unprecedented second state visit while he was threatening Canada's sovereignty.

On April 28, Erika Mateo, a 24-year-old Guatemalan woman who was 9-months pregnant, was found wandering alone in the Arizona desert after crossing the Mexican border and seeking asylum in the US.

Chinese labour is actively and visibly contributing to the construction of Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land. Ironically, this reality stands in direct contradiction to China’s own stated policy; a decade ago, it forbade Chinese construction crews from working in Israeli settlements.

Haiti has no president or elected officials. Instead, an expensive nine-member presidential council holds power without oversight or accountability.

As India and Pakistan traded missile strikes over the weekend, and the world watched with horror as the two nuclear-armed neighbours erupted into open conflict, military analysts spotted something curious. Pakistan, it seemed, had used Chinese jets to shoot down India’s planes.

No evidence has been seen that a genocide is occurring in Gaza or that women and children were targeted by the IDF, UK government lawyers have claimed, as a high court case opened into the handling of arms exports controls to Israel.

Nine Israeli missiles have slammed into and around the courtyard of the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing at least 16 people and wounding 70, the enclave’s Ministry of Health says.

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China has reportedly taken aim at last week’s trade deal between the UK and US that could be used to squeeze Chinese products out of Britain’s supply chains.

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Something a little lighter. Lighter than a witch, if you will.

This is just all-around confusing. Iran working with Saudi is like the proverbial "cats and dogs living in harmony."

Saudi Arabia is home to nearly 4 million domestic workers, including 1.2 million women and 2.7 million men from Africa and Asia who play an essential role in enabling the country's economic development and supporting family life. Yet, the experiences of Kenyan women outlined in this report illustrate how many of these workers endure gruelling, abusive and discriminatory working conditions, often amounting to forced labour and human trafficking.

An Israeli air strike on the emergency department of Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza has killed a well-known Palestinian photojournalist, medical sources and eyewitnesses say.

The UK’s largest Pride organisers have suspended political party participation in their events in “unequivocal solidarity” with the transgender community.

More than 200 marine species, including deepwater sharks, leafy sea dragons and octopuses, have been killed by a toxic algal bloom that has been affecting South Australia’s coastline since March.

Jason Burke Mon 12 May 2025 12.51 EDT

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has banned a major faction of the far-right "Reichsbürger" movement. Some leaders of the group, the "Kingdom of Germany," have been arrested, including its self-declared king.

Almost 300 people were killed when the Malaysian Airlines flight was shot down over Ukraine in 2014. The UN aviation council has ruled that Russian-backed separatists were to blame.

By Reuters May 13, 20255:51 AM EDT

A Paris court on Tuesday found actor Gerard Depardieu guilty of sexually assaulting two women on a film set and handed him an 18-month suspended sentence, with the judge saying he appeared not to have grasped the "traumatic" impact of his behaviour.

The tariff relief, which affects big Chinese e-commerce players including Shein and Temu, follows a deal between Beijing and Washington to unwind most of the duties imposed on each other's goods since early April, after weekend talks in Geneva.

The woman who appeared before the Munich Labor Court earlier this year was once considered a star of German scientific research. The researcher, whose name we are shortening to Z., was celebrated, honoured, and in high demand. She revolutionised an entire field; her lectures filled halls, she was showered with praise and prestigious awards. She was among the most frequently cited researchers in Germany and gained international attention as a top talent.

Brazil's central bank said Monday it will sign a currency swap agreement with the People's Bank of China, with a maximum outstanding value of 157 billion reais ($27.69 billion) and a five-year term.

Now complete including a trot up Everest

Trump launches blistering new trade attack against Brussels, as he agrees to cool tariff war with Beijing.

Donald Trump will inevitably claim Monday’s temporary truce in the US-China trade war as a victory, but financial markets seem to have read it for what it is – a capitulation.

Pope Leo XIV on Monday called for the release of imprisoned journalists and affirmed the “precious gift of free speech and the press” in an audience with some of the 6,000 journalists who descended on Rome to cover his election as the first American pontiff.

The new Pope, Leo XIV, should direct an urgent review of the Vatican’s 2018 agreement with the Chinese government that allows Beijing to appoint bishops for government-approved houses of worship, Human Rights Watch said today. He should also press the government to end the persecution of underground churches, clergy, and worshipers.

The Brazilian Presidential Palace said Envision Energy would be investing in the production of sustainable aviation fuel from sugarcane in Brazil.

*[This is an op-ed by **Tenzin Dorjee*, senior researcher and strategist at the Tibet Action Institute and lecturer in the discipline of political science at Columbia University, and *James Leibold*, professor of politics and Asian studies at La Trobe University in Melbourne, specializing in Chinese ethnic policy, nationalism, and authoritarian governance.]

Gaza’s water “comes from wells with salt water unfit for consumption. They have water treatment plants, Israel should hit those plants. When the entire world says we have gone insane and this is a humanitarian disaster — we will say, it’s not an end, it’s a means.” That was the opinion of Giora Eiland, adviser to the defense minister and former head of the Israeli National Security Council, writing in Yedioth Ahronoth on October 9, 2023.⁠[1]

May 12, 2025 at 2:58 pm

Very roughly, the plan to get rid of fossil fuels looks like:

“April 2025 has marked another historic milestone. For the second time this year, we have recorded the lowest number of murders in over two decades,” Dr Kevin Blake, the police commissioner, said in a statement.

Israel has asked judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) to withdraw arrest warrants against its prime minister and defence minister while the ICC reviews Israeli challenges to its jurisdiction over the conduct of the Gaza war.

Argentina's Supreme Court discovered dozens of boxes filled with Nazi material dating from World War II, including photos and postcards, among its archives in its basement.

Jets could continue to fly following an atomic blast under special insurance policies being drawn up to address the possibility of conflicts escalating in Ukraine and Kashmir.

A Kurdish militia group that has waged a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state for four decades said on Monday that it would lay down its arms and disband, a decision that could reshape Turkish politics and reverberate in neighboring countries.

On May 3, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for human rights in Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, called for the prosecution of leading European Union officials for complicity in the war crimes committed by Israel.

By MEE staff Published date: 11 May 2025 21:07 BST

https://archive.ph/trWoe

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Dozens of boxes of Nazi material confiscated by Argentinean authorities during World War II were recently rediscovered in the Supreme Court's basement, the court said on Sunday.

[Bias alert - #NYT usually favors Israel]

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said a proposal to ban children under the age of 16 from social media will be part of the government’s work program, increasing its chances of becoming law.

Taliban authorities have barred chess across Afghanistan until further notice over concerns it is a source of gambling, which is illegal under the government's morality law, a sports official said on Sunday.

In February, US President Donald Trump declared that “The US will take over the Gaza Strip” and “level out” the remaining buildings and transfer the Palestinian population to “other countries.” At the time, both US and international media dismissed Trump’s plan as an “outlandish” scheme with no prospect of realization.

By Reuters May 11, 2025 12:39 PM EDT

Israel is "worried about any deal" Trump might strike with Iran, one source told NBC News.

David Lammy is asking BBC bosses to draw up tens of millions of pounds’ worth of cuts to the World Service as part of the spending review, as the fallout continues from Keir Starmer’s decision to slash the aid budget.

Donald Trump is accustomed to getting his own way. That could change next week when he’s confronted by the mess he’s making in the Middle East. As he begins a three-day trip to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, the US president is promising great things. As ever, he’s delusional. The reality is that reckless, incoherent and neglectful US regional policies are failing across the board. A fundamental course correction is urgently required.

Siwar Ashour was born into war and hunger and has known nothing else. She is now in real danger of dying without ever having known a moment of peace or contentment.

A probe launched from the Soviet Union more than five decades ago has plummeted back to Earth, splashing down in the Indian Ocean. Kosmos 482 had been bound for Venus but never reached its destination.

By MEE staff Published date: 9 May 2025 14:10 BST

The newly appointed Pope Leo XIV spoke out against Russia's continued war against Ukraine in an interview on May 9.

Last December, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an Islamist militant group, launched a sudden offensive that sent shockwaves through the region. One by one, major cities began to fall—first Aleppo, then Hama, and soon Homs—as the rebels pushed their way closer to Damascus, Syria’s capital. President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which had survived well over a decade of civil war thanks to the likes of Iranian and Russian backing, found itself increasingly unable to deter the rebels’ advances; Iran was tangled up in its own proxy battles with Israel, while Russia was stretched thin with its war in Ukraine. In other words, Assad was on his own. The rebels, it seemed, understood this, and so they seized their chance. Damascus fell in a matter of days, and Assad fled to Moscow.

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