Abdiwahab Ahmed

As Vienna readies for the Eurovision Song Contest's provocative songs and glittering spectacle next week, the festival's 70th edition is unfolding under heavy security and an intensifying row over Israel's participation. The world's biggest live televised music event will feature contestants from 35 countries — the lowest total since participation widened in 2004 — after several countries, including Ireland, withdrew over Israel's war in Gaza. The semi-finals on Tuesday and Thursday will narrow the field before Saturday's…

With tensions still simmering in the Middle East, China's top diplomat Wang Yi urged an immediate halt to the fighting on Tuesday and pressed the United States and Iran to restore access through the Strait of Hormuz "as soon as possible" during talks in Beijing with his Iranian counterpart. "China considers that a complete cessation of fighting must be achieved without delay, that it is even more unacceptable to restart hostilities, and that continuing to negotiate remains essential," he said, according to a statement from…

Mounting concern over disruptive travelers has prompted Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary to call for a curb on alcohol sales in airport bars before morning departures, arguing that the move is needed to reduce incidents involving drunken and aggressive passengers. Speaking to The Times in an interview published today, the airline chief said the issue had been intensifying. He said Ryanair, which operates primarily across Europe, was now forced to divert nearly one plane every day because of passenger misconduct linked…

Ted Turner, the brash media entrepreneur who remade television journalism by launching CNN in 1980, has died at 87, the network announced. The mustachioed Southerner, a passionate yachtsman and prominent philanthropist, had been living with Lewy Body Dementia, a degenerative disease. His business reach extended well beyond news and into sports clubs and other ventures. Cable News Network shattered the conventions of broadcast journalism with its commitment to round-the-clock coverage, then vaulted to worldwide prominence…

A fragile diplomatic opening emerged on Wednesday as Iran said it was reviewing a fresh US proposal, after sources indicated Washington and Tehran were nearing a one-page memorandum that could halt the war in the Gulf while postponing the hardest disputes, including Iran's nuclear programme. An Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, quoted by Iran's ISNA news agency, said Tehran would soon send its response through Pakistan, the host of the war's only peace talks and, since then, the main channel for messages between the two…

Two people were killed after a car tore into a crowd in central Leipzig, and the 33-year-old man accused of carrying out the attack has now been committed to a psychiatric hospital by court order. A judge said there were "compelling reasons" to believe the suspect was acting "in a state of at least significantly diminished responsibility", prosecutors in Leipzig said in a statement. According to investigators, the German national drove at high speed along a main street in the historic heart of the eastern city yesterday,…

Panic tore through a school in northeast Brazil after a teenage boy opened fire, killing two staff members and wounding two others, including a student, as terrified pupils scrambled to flee by climbing over a wall, authorities and a witness said. A 13-year-old boy was arrested in connection with the attack at Sao Jose Institute in Rio Branco, the capital of Acre state, according to a statement from the local government. A witness said that as the gunfire erupted, some students tried to escape by scaling a wall that…

Just hours before Ukraine’s unilateral ceasefire was set to begin at midnight, officials in Kyiv said Russia had launched fresh attacks, following a wave of strikes that killed at least 28 people in cities across the war-scarred country. Russian authorities had not reported any Ukrainian attacks several hours after the proposed truce was due to start. In southern Ukraine, however, officials in the Zaporizhzhia region said early this morning that Russian forces had struck local infrastructure. Both Russia and Ukraine…

Oil prices pulled back on Tuesday as traders weighed signs that shipping could resume through the Strait of Hormuz, even as fresh clashes between the United States and Iran kept a floor under the market and underscored the risk of wider disruption. Brent crude futures were down $4.18, or 3.6%, at $110.26 a barrel this evening, after closing 5.8% higher yesterday. US West Texas Intermediate crude dropped $4.34, or 4.1%, to $102.08, following a 4.4% rise in the previous session. Maersk said the Alliance Fairfax, a US-flagged…

As celebrities swept up the Met Gala’s red carpet in New York in towering looks and high drama last night, an Irish woman was quietly reshaping the evening from behind the scenes, helping make the event accessible for the first time. Sinéad Burke, chief executive and founder of the strategic accessibility consultancy Tilting the Lens, attended the invitation-only gala as an adviser to The Met's Costume Institute. Burke is already a familiar figure in fashion, having appeared among five disabled people featured across a…