BEIJING: China on Tuesday accused President Donald Trump of “pouring oil” on the mounting conflict between Iran and Israel, after the US leader warned Tehran residents to “immediately evacuate”. Following decades of enmity and a prolonged shadow war, Israel launched a surprise aerial campaign last week against targets across Iran, saying it aimed to prevent…
WASHINGTON: The White House insisted Monday evening that US forces remained in a “defensive” posture in the Middle East, despite a military buildup over the Israel-Iran war and a shock warning from President Donald Trump to evacuate Tehran. Trump’s brief warning on social media, without further details, raised speculation that the United States may be…
SAN FRANCISCO: The US Department of Defense on Monday awarded OpenAI a $200 million contract to put generative artificial intelligence (AI) to work for the military. San Francisco-based OpenAI will “develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains,“ according to the department’s posting of awarded contracts….
BOGOTA: Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe, who was shot in the head while campaigning in Bogota earlier this month, was in an “extremely critical” condition, doctors warned Monday. Uribe, a 39-year-old conservative senator, was shot twice in the head and once in the leg by a 15-year-old suspected hitman while giving a speech on June…
KANO: Authorities in Nigeria’s northwestern Katsina state struck a peace deal at the weekend with criminal gangs to try to end years of violence, a government official said Monday. Katsina is one of several states in northwestern and central Nigeria terrorised by criminal gangs that the locals refer to as bandits. The gangs raid villages,…
WASHINGTON: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday did not rule out plans to assassinate Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying it would “end the conflict” between the two arch-foes. In a 20-minute interview with US network ABC News, the Israeli leader insisted his country’s deadly aggression to “defang” Iran was justified, and equated…
KØGE: Denmark on Monday deployed two unmanned ships, developed by US company Saildrone, to bolster surveillance in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, Danish officials and the firm said. Two other drones were launched last week and are participating in the NATO mission Task Force X. These unmanned ships, which will be tested for…
WASHINGTON: Prosecutors in Minnesota plan to bring first-degree murder charges against the suspected killer of a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband, officials said Monday. The suspect, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, allegedly disguised himself as a police officer, then shot and killed Democratic state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark at their home early Saturday….
‘Don’t let beautiful Tehran become Gaza’: Iranians tell of shock and confusion Israel continued to strike Iran’s capital Tehran on Sunday night Long queues at petrol stations and bakeries. Long lines of cars trying to escape the capital. And long, frightening nights. Residents of Tehran – still shocked by Israel’s sudden attack on Iran in…
KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday he planned to discuss new weapons purchases for Ukraine with U.S. President Donald Trump. Zelenskiy, who is visiting Austria, would attend the Group of Seven summit in Canada on Tuesday, where he hopes to meet Trump on the sidelines of the meeting. “One of the questions that I…
