WASHINGTON: The United States is restarting student visa appointments but will significantly tighten its social media vetting in a bid to identify applicants who are hostile towards the United States or pose a threat to national security, according to an internal State Department cable reviewed by Reuters. U.S. consular officers are required to conduct a…
Thousands of people are fleeing Tehran as Israel continues with its air strikes Fear and stress are evident in my sister’s voice in Tehran, despite the crackling, intermittent WhatsApp connection that – miraculously – still works from time to time. Clarity is what she wants from me, knowing I am a journalist with the BBC…
Trump weighs joining Iran strikes after calling for ‘unconditional surrender’ US President Donald Trump is considering whether to join Israel’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, as the conflict continues for a sixth day and angry rhetoric ramps up between all sides. American strikes could involve using superior weaponry to hit an underground nuclear site at…
Oleksandr Bondarchuk was unable to make it to a shelter when the strikes hit Kyiv. “It was terrible,” he said. “Everything was destroyed.” Evhen Povarenkov was standing at a line of police tape that separated the public from the intensive search and rescue operation around his building. He stared up at what was left of…
JERUSALEM: Israel will ease domestic restrictions imposed on its population due to the ongoing war with Iran and will “reopen its economy”, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday. “The decision to gradually reopen the economy and various regions is a message of victory over the Iranian enemy,“ Katz claimed in a statement. “They come…
KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is scheduled to participate in person at the June 24-25 NATO summit in The Hague, a source in the Ukrainian presidency told AFP on Wednesday. NATO members are expected to agree a major increase in defence spending under pressure from US President Donald Trump at the gathering. “The decision will…
LONDON: Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales, who is recovering from cancer, has pulled out of attending the Royal Ascot race meeting, her Kensington Palace office said on Wednesday. The famed sporting event in Berkshire in southern England is a key event in the royal calendar. Catherine, also known as Kate, would not be attending Royal…
ISTANBUL: A far-right political opponent of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday slammed ongoing graft probes into Turkey’s opposition as unfair, a day after being released from jail. Umit Ozdag, who heads the small anti-immigrant Victory party, was placed in pre-trial detention on charges of inciting public hatred on January 20. A court on Tuesday…
BERLIN: Maritime rescue organisations said Wednesday they had pulled more than 175,000 people from the Mediterranean over the past 10 years, as waves of migrants sought to use the dangerous sea route to reach Europe. The group of 21 NGOS active in the region estimated that at least 28,932 people had died while trying to…
BERLIN: Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Wednesday called Iran to resume talks over its nuclear programme as the conflict between Israel and the Islamic republic raged. Wadephul said he had delivered the message to his Iranian counterpart in a phone call on Monday together with the French and British foreign ministers and the European…
