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Fighting between the national army and the opposing Sudan People’s Liberation Movement militia, has intensified, particularly in Jonglei’s Akobo County – and civilians continue to bear…
The US is preparing a draft resolution condemning Iran ahead of next week’s meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog’s Board of Governors, diplomats said yesterday, a step that could complicate wider talks between the US and Iran.Washington and Tehran are negotiating an extension of their ceasefire that would pave the way for talks on issues including Iran’s nuclear programme, with US President Donald Trump insisting Iran must never develop a nuclear weapon.Iran says it never would.Israeli and US military strikes last June destroyed or badly damaged the three uranium-enrichment plants known to have been operating in Iran at the time. Much of its highly enriched uranium, however, is thought to have survived, though the UN nuclear watchdog has not had access to check.With a quarterly meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation board taking place next week, Washington is preparing a text, though it has yet to circulate it and details are therefore unclear, diplomats accredited to the IAEA said.Iran has bristled at previous resolutions the board has passed against it, often retaliating by escalating its nuclear activities or scaling back cooperation with the agency. A more imminent concern this time are the talks with the US”I believe it may antagonize the Iranian side,” Russia’s ambassador to the IAEA, Mikhail Ulyanov, told reporters.Russia and China are the two countries that have opposed all recent resolutions against Iran at the IAEA board, which were submitted jointly by the United States, Britain, France and Germany, and have passed by a clear margin.”As far as I know, they are going to call upon Iran to provide access to the agency’s personnel to nuclear facilities on the territory of Iran,” said Ulyanov, while adding he did not believe the US would actually submit the draft.The U.S. mission to the IAEA declined to comment.The last time the IAEA passed a resolution against Iran was in November, to say Iran must inform the IAEA “without delay” of the status of its enriched uranium stock and bombed atomic sites, which it has yet to do.A resolution in June found Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years, raising the prospect of reporting Tehran to the U.N. Security Council, but the board has yet to take that extra step. Source link
World championship leading teenager Kimi Antonelli continued his remarkable run of successes on Saturday by claiming pole position for Mercedes ahead of four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull for Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix.The 19-year-old Italian clocked one minute and 12.051 seconds to beat the Dutchman by 0.043 seconds in the final minute of a thrilling qualifying session that left both Ferraris on the second row of the grid.After four wins, Antonelli will be seeking to become the first Italian to win five consecutive races since Alberto Ascari achieved the feat for Ferrari in 1952 after extending Mercedes’ run to six successive poles this year.Antonelli said he had produced “a magic lap”.”It was so close with Max!” he said after securing his fourth pole of the season.Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was third ahead of Charles Leclerc, Isack Hadjar in the second Red Bull and Mercedes’ George Russell, who is 43 points behind Antonelli in the drivers’ title race.McLaren’s Oscar Piastri outpaced team-mate and world champion Lando Norris to qualifying seventh.Antonelli’s pole was the first by a Mercedes driver since Hamilton in 2019 and he became the first Italian to take pole in Monaco since Jarno Trulli in 2004.The session began in warm sunshine with a long queue weaving out of the pits to warm their tyres in preparation for a flying lap, albeit in heavy traffic.An early radio call from Hamilton to complain Leclerc was “backing into me” reflected the tension in the cockpits before Hadjar vented to his frustrations.Leclerc topped the early runs ahead of Norris and Hamilton while Russell toiled for a clean lap before Gabriel Bortoleto clipped a barrier at the chicane and came to a halt, causing a six-minute red flag stoppage.This left most drivers chasing a lap in the final seconds of Q1 while the main contenders stayed in the pits.Leclerc led the way into Q2 ahead of Verstappen and Antonelli while a lap from Sainz, in the added time, saw him claim 10th and avoid an early exit. Alonso outburst Out instead went the two Cadillacs, both Haas drivers and both Aston Martins, with two-time champion Fernando Alonso, 21st, making clear his distaste for the new ‘hybrid era’ cars.”The worst generation of cars I have driven in Monaco,”he said.”Hybrid cars should not be racing. Simple as that.”After 21 previous appearances, including two wins and two poles, Alonso, at 44, is the most experienced Monaco driver on the grid.Verstappen led out for Q2, narrowly avoiding a pit-lane clash with Sainz before the precocious Antonelli set the pace in 1:12.778 ahead of Verstappen until Leclerc moved within 0.070 seconds of him.It was tight and changeable at the top as Red Bull burst into the frame, Verstappen going fastest in 1:12.499 to beat Antonelli by 0.205 with Hadjar third 0.223 adrift ahead of the Ferraris and McLarens.This time, both Williams and both Audis were eliminated along with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto Racing Bulls’ rookie Arvid Lindblad.Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly made the top ten shootout.The final ten had another chance to compose a perfect pole lap.Leclerc bailed out of his first flying run, but hit the sweet spot on his second to clock 1:12.351 and snatch provisional pole.In a sensational sequence, the celebrating Monegasque crowd were silenced as Verstappen clocked 1:12.094 before, Antonelli blew that away as the tension erupted in Italian euphoria around the Monte Carlo harbour. Related Story Source link
The commemoration of the International Day of UN Peacekeepers came hours after another blue helmet serving with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) died from injuries sustained in a mortar attack, as hostilities continue between…
US Vice President JD Vance on Friday waded into a British dispute that has erupted over the murder of a student, blaming his death on what he said was civilizational decline and the failure to stop the ‘mass invasion of migrants’.Last year, Henry Nowak, an 18-year-old white man, was handcuffed by police as he lay dying from stab wounds after his killer falsely alleged a racist attack. The killer, a Sikh man, was sentenced on Monday to life in prison.Video footage showed officers ignoring Nowak's pleas as he lay dying, sparking questions over why the police had believed the allegation of racism and not Nowak who said repeatedly that he had been stabbed and could not breathe.’Henry Nowak died the same way a civilization dies: abandoned, handcuffed by authorities who neither trusted nor cared for him, and accused of hate crimes he did not commit,’ Vance said on X. ‘Each time a life like his is lost, the proper response — the only response — is righteous anger.’Vance said Nowak would be alive today ‘if the last few generations of European elites had stood their ground against the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants, many of whom despise the West and the people who love it’.A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, responding to Vance's comments, said the Nowak family did not want his death to be used to create further division or hatred.’We should respect their wishes,’ the spokesperson said. ‘Even in the most terrible circumstances, our politics should bring people together. That is who we are as a country.’The case has sparked widespread anger in Britain, with populist political leader Nigel Farage and tech billionaire Elon Musk amplifying right-wing talking points that the country has ‘two-tier policing’ where fears of being called racist have led to ethnic minorities being given greater protections than others.Starmer has said police had serious questions to answer about their handling of the incident, including how accusations of racism informed police thinking, and an investigation is taking place.But he condemned a violent and disorderly protest that took place on Tuesday night and said it was ‘unforgivable’ to exploit the death to stir tension after Farage called for people to respond with ‘pure cold rage’.He also told Musk to stop interfering in British politics on Thursday after the tech boss posted repeatedly about the case and said it showed that police were biased against white people in Britain.The local police force has rejected accusations of any bias, but police chiefs have said they would review guidelines that were drawn up in response to decades of well-documented incidents of racism in policing on how officers should treat ethnicities differently.Relations between the US and Britain — historically close allies — have publicly deteriorated since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began in February, with President Donald Trump repeatedly mocking Starmer for failing to provide greater support.Vance has previously accused European leaders of censoring free speech and failing to control immigration, and the US State Department on Thursday condemned what it called ‘ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing’ in Nowak's treatment.A spokesperson for Starmer said on Friday that Britain's relationship with the US remained ‘incredibly strong’ but rejected the State Department comments.Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy told Sky News on Friday that he welcomed the fact that the US government had extended its condolences to the Nowak family but said he did not recognise ‘this caricature of Britain having a two-tier criminal justice system’. Source link
Marc Marquez delivered a masterclass performance to win Saturday’s MotoGP sprint at the Hungarian Grand Prix, leading from start to finish at Balaton Park despite telling fans just days earlier to 'forget' about him even fighting for a podium. The Ducati rider, who recently recovered from double surgery on his shoulder and foot last month, controlled the race from pole position to finish 1.548 seconds clear of KTM's Pedro Acosta. The victory also saw Marquez tie Jorge Martin's record of 18 sprint victories in MotoGP, capping a remarkable turnaround from his modest pre-race expectations on Thursday. ‘If you're starting on the front row, it's a big help and then the strategy was to push in the beginning. That is when I'm feeling fresh and I survived in the end,’ Marquez said after his third sprint victory of the season. ‘So the strategy works in a better way. Tomorrow will be a longer race, let's see how we can manage.’ Aprilia's championship leader Marco Bezzecchi finished third after starting sixth on the grid while Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez came in fourth. MARQUEZ STORMS INTO LEAD When the lights went out, Marquez shot away from pole to lead into turn one ahead of Acosta, while Bezzecchi made a superb start to jump from sixth on the grid to third. Marquez wasted no time implementing an aggressive strategy, streaking away to build more than a second's advantage in just two laps. ‘It was amazing, the pace that he put from the beginning,’ Acosta said. ‘I take like some laps to be ready for the push but anyway, we have to be happy … We have to just try to improve for (the race) tomorrow.’ Behind the leading duo, Bezzecchi was fighting to hang on to third as Gresini Racing's Fermin Aldeguer stayed glued to his rear tyre. But Bezzecchi was able to breathe a sigh of relief when Aldeguer nearly lost control on a chicane before he regained balance and rejoined in fifth place behind Fernandez. With Marquez in cruise control up front and Acosta unable to mount a challenge as he cut his losses, Bezzecchi secured the final podium spot despite struggling with grip and tyre issues. ‘It was a very tough sprint. Very, very difficult because the track was pretty strange, the grip at the beginning especially was very low,’ Bezzecchi said. ‘So it was difficult for me to find the rhythm. Fortunately the start was good … I started to really have troubles with the rear (tyre), so very happy with this result. It came with a lot of tough moments.’ Source link
FILE PHOTO: Citizen candidates attend a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) naturalization ceremony at the Brooklyn Cyclones Maimonides Park in the Brooklyn borough of New…
Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway smiles as she arrives for a reception of the Norwegian athletes who took part in the Paralympics in Milano Cortina 2026,…
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) emphasised that the Iranian regime’s persistent terrorist acts against vital infrastructure and civilian facilities clearly demonstrate its intent to destabilise security and stability in the region and undermine peace efforts.GCC Secretary-General, Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi expressed his condemnation and denunciation in the strongest possible terms of the ongoing hostile Iranian attacks targeting the State of Kuwait and the Kingdom of Bahrain.”These treacherous Iranian terrorist acts represent a dangerous and irresponsible escalation, a blatant violation of all international laws and norms, and a direct threat to regional stability,” he underlined.He stressed that the security of Kuwait and Bahrain is an indivisible part of the security of the GCC nations, and that the Council countries stand in a united and steadfast position alongside the State of Kuwait and the Kingdom of Bahrain, fully supporting all measures and steps they undertake to protect their security, safeguard their sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as ensure the safety of their peoples. Related Story Source link
A general view of housing in the capital city of Thimphu. (Reuters/File Photo) The tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is worried about its declining population and has announced cash incentives to families to produce more children.Nestled between China and India in the eastern Himalayas, Bhutan, a country of fewer than 800,000 people, is offering families monthly incentives of 10,000 ngultrums (about $105) for every third and subsequent children born on or after June 4, 2026 until the child reaches three, the government said in a statement on Thursday. It will also cover eligible third and more children who were born before but have not yet attained three years of age as of the above date. Cabinet Secretary Kesang Deki said the incentive would be given to families for any number of children after the second child. “They can have three, four, five, six or seven children,” she told Reuters yesterday. Bhutan’s total annual births have fallen from 11,001 in 2015 to 8,153 in 2024, a decline about 26%, and the total fertility rate — children per woman — has declined to almost the replacement level of 2.1 in the period, official data show. A declining and ageing population, together with outward migration, has long-term implications for Bhutan’s workforce, communities, and socio-economic development, the statement said.Young Bhutanese people are increasingly seeking opportunities abroad mainly in Australia amid growing economic unhappiness in the landlocked Buddhist kingdom. The new policy reflects the government’s “commitment to the welfare of mothers, children, and families, and to the long-term sustainability of Bhutan’s population”, it added. The neighbouring Indian state of Sikkim also announced in 2023 incentives such as year-long maternity leave for women, month-long paternity leave for men, and financial support for those seeking pregnancy through in-vitro fertilisation.Bhutan is known for its pioneering Gross National Happiness index, an alternative economic gauge that takes into account factors normally ignored by gross domestic product measures, such as recreation and emotional well-being. Source link