Ex-Malaysian prime minister jailed 15 years for abuse of power, money laundering

Malaysia’s High Court on Friday sentenced former Prime Minister Najib Razak to 15 years in prison after finding him guilty of abuse of power and money laundering tied to the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, deepening the legal reckoning over a case that has reshaped the country’s politics and reputation. Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah said the sentences “are to run concurrently,” and ordered fines and asset seizures. Najib’s lawyers said they will appeal the ruling next week. The verdict adds to a cascade of criminal cases…

Renewed attacks hit Kyiv ahead of Zelensky-Trump meeting tomorrow

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia launched a massive pre-dawn missile barrage at Kyiv early this morning, triggering explosions across the capital as air defenses engaged cruise and ballistic threats, Ukrainian officials and witnesses said. The strike came two days before a planned meeting in the United States between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Donald Trump to refine a proposed security accord aimed at ending nearly four years of full-scale war. Reuters eyewitnesses reported air defense activity over the city,…

Gaza hospital warns it received only two days’ fuel supply

Gaza’s Al-Awda Hospital has resumed limited operations after the World Health Organization delivered 2,500 liters of diesel, a stopgap supply expected to last roughly two and a half days amid a deepening fuel crisis and a fragile truce in the territory. The hospital in central Gaza’s Nuseirat district had temporarily halted most services earlier in the day because its generators were nearly dry, according to senior hospital manager Ahmed Mehanna. Al-Awda typically cares for about 60 in-patients and receives nearly 1,000…

Police arrest 25-year-old after stabbing of three women in Paris Metro

PARIS — French police arrested a man suspected of stabbing three women at separate stations along Paris Metro Line 3 on Thursday afternoon, prosecutors said, in a spate of attacks that briefly rattled one of the capital’s busiest commuter corridors. The incidents unfolded between 4:15 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. local time (3:15-3:45 p.m. GMT), with the victims attacked at République and Arts et Métiers — both near the Marais district — and at Opéra, according to RATP, the Paris transit authority. Emergency responders treated the…

Three killed as torrential rains and flash flooding batter California

LOS ANGELES — California braced for further downpours and high winds after a series of powerful Pacific storms drenched the state, unleashing flash floods, mud and debris flows, and prompting emergency declarations from Los Angeles County to the San Francisco Bay Area. Fueled by an atmospheric river known as the Pineapple Express — a plume that channels deep tropical moisture from near Hawaii to the U.S. West Coast — the storms were forecast to drop roughly a month’s worth of rain on parts of the state, according to the…

Lavrov Promotes ‘Ubuntu’ Philosophy for Strengthening Russia-Africa Media Partnerships

Russia's Media Quandary in Africa: A Call for Partnership This article examines the challenges and opportunities faced by Russia in establishing a stronger media presence in Africa, highlighting insights from key figures at the recent Ministerial Conference in Cairo, Egypt. Overview of Lavrov's remarks on media absence Comparison with Chinese media strategies in Africa Calls for improved cooperation between Russian and African media Lavrov's Critique of Media Representation During a plenary session in Cairo,…

Blast at mosque in Syria’s Homs leaves six dead

HOMS, Syria — A deadly explosion struck the Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque in the predominantly Alawite Wadi al-Dahab neighborhood of Homs during Friday prayers, killing six people and wounding 21, Syria’s Interior Ministry said Friday. “A terrorist explosion targeted the Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque during Friday prayers in Al-Khadri Street in the Wadi al-Dahab neighbourhood of Homs,” the ministry said in a statement carried by state media, adding that six people were killed and 21 others wounded. Syria’s state news agency, SANA,…

Israel condemns countries denouncing new West Bank settlements as immoral

Israel has condemned a joint statement by 14 countries — including Ireland, France and Britain — that denounced its approval of new settlements in the occupied West Bank as illegal under international law, with senior officials calling the criticism discriminatory and vowing to press ahead. “Foreign governments will not restrict the right of Jews to live in the land of Israel, and any such call is morally wrong and discriminatory against Jews,” Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said. “The cabinet decision to establish…

Israel says it assassinated Iranian Quds Force member in Lebanon

Israel says its forces have killed a member of Iran’s Quds Force in Lebanon, identifying the man as Hussein Mahmoud Marshad al-Jawhari and alleging he helped plan attacks from Syria and Lebanon. In a statement, the Israeli military described al-Jawhari as a key operative in the Quds Force’s Unit 840 and said he “operated under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)” in terrorist activities directed by Iran against Israel and its security forces. The military said he was killed in the area of Ansariyeh, without…

Zelensky hails productive U.S. talks on a war-ending peace deal

Zelensky hails ‘very good’ talks with Trump envoys as Ukraine steps up strikes; Poland scrambles jets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he held “very good” talks with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff focused on ending Russia’s “brutal” war, as Kyiv intensified long-range strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure and Poland intercepted a Russian reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea. “We discussed certain substantive details of the ongoing work,” Zelensky said in a social…