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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (right) and Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk shake hands after a document signing ceremony at the Mariinskyi Palace in Kyiv Thursday, amid…
HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al-Thani, President of the Olympic Council of Asia and President of the Qatar Olympic Committee, attended the welcome dinner hosted yesterday by Kirsty Coventry, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in Milan, on the sidelines of the 145th IOC session. The session was held in the city of Milan and brought together presidents of national Olympic committees, members of IOC, and presidents of international sports federations. The dinner provided an opportunity to exchange views on a number of issues related to Olympic affairs, within the framework of the side meetings accompanying the IOC session, which contribute to strengthening communication and co-ordination among sports leaders at the international level. The dinner was also attended by HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani,Vice-Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of Qatar Foundation and a member of the IOC Education Commission. Source link
Observers film ICE agents as they hold a perimeter after one of their vehicles got a flat tyre on Penn Avenue in Minneapolis. – AFP President Donald Trump has not discussed “formal plans” to deploy US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to polling sites at November’s midterm elections, the White House said on Thursday, while declining to rule out their presence near voting locations.Trump said on Monday that Republicans should “nationalise” and “take over” voting in at least 15 unspecified locations, repeating his false claims that US elections are plagued by widespread fraud.His remarks were echoed by Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser and influential right-wing commentator, who repeated false claims that people living in the US illegally vote in large numbers and said on his War Room podcast on Tuesday: “You’re (expletive) right we’re gonna have ICE surround the polls come November.” …
Dancers perform during the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the San Siro stadium in Milan, northern Italy, yesterday. (AFP) US pop diva Mariah Carey helped to get the party started yesterday as the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics staged a unique opening ceremony combining elements from the co-hosts, seeking to reflect both city and mountain life. Carey performed the 1950s Italian song “Nel blu, dipinto di blu” (“In the blue, painted in blue”) with its famous “Volare” (“To fly”) refrain to cheers in Milan’s San Siro stadium. Italian President Sergio Mattarella was introduced to the fans via a recorded video clip in which the 84-year-old was seen travelling through the city on one of Milan’s historic trams. The opening stages also included a tribute to the late Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani, who made Milan his base and died last September. Co-host Cortina d’Ampezzo had its own supporting role in the celebrations from more than 400km (250 miles) away in the mountains, in a spectacle entitled “Armonia” (Harmony) expected to draw a huge global audience on television and online. There was some confusion over access in Cortina. Loredana Vido, from Padova, owner of a second home in Cortina, was blocked at the start of Corso Italia, the town’s main street, and said: “We were not told that everything would be closed off. We were told it was free entry.” Athletes were also parading in the mountain venues of Livigno and Predazzo, in a Games spread over 22,000 square kilometres. The ceremony celebrated the diversity of Italian life, from fashionable Milan to the smaller mountain towns in the Alps that host the outdoor events at the Games, which run until February 22.Some in Cortina were pleased to get a slice of the action without having to trek to Milan and back. For the first time, two Olympic cauldrons, one of the symbols of the Games, will be lit simultaneously and burn throughout the Games – one at Milan’s Arco della Pace (Peace Arch) and the other in Cortina’s Piazza Dibona. Milan enjoyed a sunny afternoon and the mood outside the stadium was festive as crowds built up. …
“Deep down, I knew what I had experienced was not something any girl should go through,” she emphasised. FGM was once considered an unavoidable rite of passage…
Australia and Indonesia signed a security treaty yesterday, paving the way for closer co-operation and new military training facilities in the latter. The pact will facilitate defence initiatives that include embedding a senior Indonesian officer within Australia’s defence force, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said after the signing in Jakarta. Australia will also support the development of military training facilities to boost Indonesia’s ability to conduct joint drills, he said. Canberra has been seeking to bolster its military power in the Asia-Pacific region to counter China’s growing influence. Indonesia has proven more cautious with its foreign policy, not wanting to be seen taking sides and upsetting Beijing, its biggest trading partner. Albanese hailed the agreement as “a historic moment in our nations’ relationship”. “Australia and Indonesia share one of the world’s longest maritime boundaries, which naturally makes us close partners. But today, we are more than just partners, we are close friends,” he added. Source link
A flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists who attempted to reach Gaza last year will set sail for the besieged territory again next month, one member said yesterday. The Global Sumud Flotilla said the new mission set for March 29 would be “the largest co-ordinated humanitarian intervention for Palestine in history” and will mobilise “thousands from over 100 countries”. “We will be sailing from Barcelona, Tunis, Italy and many other ports not yet made public,” Brazilian activist Thiago Avila said. The group said an overland convoy would also leave for Gaza on the same day, without specifying from where. The campaigners sought to break an Israeli blockade by delivering aid to Gaza by sea last October, before they were intercepted by Israel, detained and deported. Israel controls Gaza’s borders and scrutinises all aid coming into the territory. The activists describe their actions as a “non-violent response to genocide, siege, mass starvation, and the destruction of civilian life in Gaza”. Source link
Patrick Reed continued his impressive start to the season by claiming the solo lead at the halfway stage of the Qatar Masters yesterday. At Doha Golf Club, Reed carded a four-under-par 67, finishing his round with a birdie on the par-five 18th to move to 12 under for the tournament. The American holds a one-shot advantage over Joakim Lagergren after the Swede produced a flawless 66 without dropping a shot. Sweden’s Joakim Lagergren is one shot behind the leader after round two. PICTURES: Noushad Thekkayil Reed, who announced on January 28 that he will leave LIV Golf and return to the PGA Tour in 2027, admitted the round was not without its challenges. “Honestly, today was a little frustrating, especially early,” said Reed, whose only bogey came at the 15th hole. “My ball-striking wasn’t quite as sharp as it was yesterday, but I missed in the right spots and that allowed me to still get balls on the greens. Going round this place and feeling like you didn’t hit it quite as well as you wanted to, and hit 17 greens is always a positive,” the 2018 Masters winner said. USA’s Patrick Reed carded a four-under 67 in the…
Jean-Pierre Lacroix was speaking in the UN Security Council during the annual briefing by heads of police components of UN peace operations. “Despite severe constraints, our police personnel continue…
A police car is parked outside a residential building where the shooting took place. A top Russian military intelligence general was shot in a Moscow apartment building yesterday and hospitalised, Moscow said, in what it said was an assassination attempt orchestrated by Ukraine. There was no comment from Kyiv, which has claimed responsibility for some of the several high-ranking military officials that have been killed since Moscow launched its full-scale offensive in February 2022. Russian investigators said Vladimir Alekseyev – the deputy head of Moscow’s GRU military intelligence, sanctioned in the West for his alleged role in cyberattacks and charges that he organised a nerve agent attack on a Russian defector in Britain – was shot by an “unidentified individual”. It said the suspect fled the scene and the general was admitted to hospital. Law enforcement officers and journalists work outside a residential building where…