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Trump rejects Iran proposal for deal to reopen Hormuz US President Donald Trump on Saturday rejected a truce deal proposed by Iran that Tehran said could have reopened the Strait of Hormuz to shipping within a week. The waterway is key to the world’s energy supply and is now central to the conflict between the US and Iran, which is at a stalemate after nearly seven months. “I reject their proposa…

Pope celebrates giant Paris mass in landmark visit Pope Leo on Saturday celebrated an open-air mass in front of hundreds of thousands of faithful in Paris after riding in the Popemobile along the iconic Champs Elysees to the cheers of huge crowds clutching French and Vatican flags. The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics is on a four-day trip to France, a secular country with deep Catholi…

2 dead, 4 missing after explosion destroys building in Athens Two people ⁠have died and another four ⁠are missing after a residential building collapsed following an explosion in a tourist area of central Athens, a Greek fire brigade official said on Saturday. The blast on Friday destroyed a two-storey ‌building in Plaka, near some of Athens’ most visited sites including the Acropolis and the Tem…

Why Pakistan’s endless war on militants fails to break the cycle For over two decades, Pakistan has waged countless counterterrorism campaigns against Taliban and Baloch insurgents in its western regions bordering Afghanistan and Iran, yet remains mired in a cycle of violence it cannot break. Scores of soldiers, policemen and civilians are killed every month in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakh…

CNN blocked from Trump’s trip as White House signals new media curb The White House signalled on Friday night that CNN would be left off Air Force One for President Donald Trump’s Saturday trip, the latest media restriction from the administration in an ongoing dispute with First Amendment implications. The news organisation was replaced by Real America’s Voice News, a conservative network, for t…

‘Never too late’: Filipino domestic helpers pursue degree dreams they put on hold When Dyan Agonoy left the Philippines to work as a domestic helper in Hong Kong, she had to leave her family behind. “I’ve missed a lot of my kids’ milestones, our special occasions. I’m always the only one missing from the pictures,” she said. Agonoy left university, married young and started a family. Without the …

What Donald Trump and Xi Jinping revealed in the body language with their wives As Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump wrapped up their three-day state visit on Friday, a stark contrast in the two presidential couples’ hand-holding dynamics was on display, body language experts said. The exchanges between Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, and Trump and first lady Melania Trump, we…

Iran offers US plan to reopen Hormuz within 7 days Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that Tehran had offered Washington a plan that would see the Strait of Hormuz reopened to maritime navigation within seven days once agreed. Araghchi met with US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff for talks on Tuesday, and previously set out conditions for ending the war and reopenin…

Black woman Tasia Fortune’s hanging was ‘staged’ after her death, Mississippi police say Investigators believe Tasia Fortune was already dead before the black woman’s body was hanged from a tree behind an abandoned home in the Mississippi capital this summer, a detective testified on Friday. The hanging of Tasia Fortune’s body, which was found on August 3, was “staged”, Jackson police detective S…

China set to decide if Costa Rican or Guyanese diplomat becomes first woman UN chief China is poised to decide which of two Latin American women becomes the first to lead the United Nations, after three rounds of informal voting in the Security Council failed to produce a favourite. Several UN delegations that spoke to the South China Morning Post over the past three days said Beijing was weighin…