Israel launches new airstrikes in southern Lebanon after warnings

Israeli airstrikes hit towns in south Lebanon on Wednesday as the Israeli military said it was targeting Hezbollah weapons storage facilities, a day after Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives met for direct talks under a U.N. ceasefire mechanism. The strikes struck Mahrouna, Jbaa, Majadal and Baraasheet, Lebanon's official National News Agency reported, and an AFP photographer saw smoke rising above Jbaa. The Israeli army said it "began conducting strikes on Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon" after…

Global websites go offline as Cloudflare investigates new outage

Cloudflare outage briefly knocked a host of websites and monitoring tools offline Tuesday morning, including DownDetector, the real-time service that tracks online outages, the company said. Cloudflare said shortly after 9 a.m. that it "is investigating issues with Cloudflare Dashboard and related APIs (application programming interfaces)." The company said minutes later it had implemented a potential fix and was monitoring results, but multiple sites and platforms nevertheless experienced interruptions. DownDetector —…

Flights resume at Edinburgh Airport after major IT systems outage

Edinburgh Airport said flights have resumed after a temporary suspension this morning caused by an issue with its air traffic control provider. The airport, which is the sixth-busiest in the U.K., said travel was halted for a time while the problem was addressed. It handled 15.8 million passengers last year. Officials provided few details about the nature of the fault or which air traffic control provider was involved. Edinburgh Airport said the disruption was not linked to a separate Cloudflare outage affecting internet…

U.S. strikes suspected drug boat in Pacific, four dead

The US military said a strike on an alleged drug‑trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific killed four people, a development that has reignited scrutiny of an increasingly aggressive counter‑narcotics campaign that has left more than 87 dead and exposed deep fractures in Washington over rules of engagement and accountability. The episode comes amid sustained controversy over an incident in early September in which US forces struck the wreckage of a vessel that had already been disabled, killing two survivors. That earlier…

Putin pledges steady oil supplies to India during summit with Modi

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s pledge to maintain “uninterrupted shipments” of fuel to India crystallized the central dilemma at the heart of his state visit to New Delhi: energy security versus geopolitical cost. At a summit dominated by energy, defence and trade, President Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to translate decades-old ties into concrete guarantees even as the United States applies heavy pressure — including 50% tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump — to penalize New Delhi for continued…

Putin Pledges to Capture Donbas Despite Fresh US-Ukraine Talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview that Moscow will seize full control of Ukraine's Donbas by force unless Ukrainian troops withdraw — a demand Kyiv has flatly rejected as unacceptable. The comments underscore the widening gap between battlefield realities and diplomatic efforts to end nearly four years of war. "Either we liberate these territories by force of arms, or Ukrainian troops leave these territories," Putin told India Today in remarks broadcast on Russian state television ahead of a visit to New…

Trump Pardons Democratic Congressman Convicted in Bribery Scandal

President Donald Trump on Monday granted a full and unconditional pardon to Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, who had been facing federal charges in a bribery and conspiracy case, saying on his Truth Social platform that the justice system had been "weaponised" by his predecessor. "I am hereby announcing my full and unconditional PARDON of beloved Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar ... I don't know you, but you can sleep well tonight - Your nightmare is finally over!" Trump wrote. The move ends a high-profile prosecution in which…

France Confirms Two MERS Cases Linked to Visiting Tourist Group

PARIS — French health authorities have isolated two people infected with the virus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) after they returned from a joint tour of the Arabian Peninsula, the health ministry said late Tuesday. Both patients are in a “stable” condition in a French hospital, the ministry said in a statement, and all measures have been put in place to limit the risk of transmission to their entourage and to health-care staff. The ministry said those measures include contact tracing, “barrier…

‘Japa’ Exodus: Why Millions of Nigerians Leave Every Year

“Japa” is Yoruba slang for “to leave” — a word that has become shorthand across Nigeria for a mass movement of people seeking lives abroad. The exodus is not only a migration trend; it is a cultural phenomenon, a catchall for frustration and hope in a nation where a booming headline economy sits uneasily beside entrenched poverty and insecurity. Nigeria is young and vast: more than 230 million people, a median age of about 18, and roughly two‑thirds under 30. Economists predict growth this year and next, yet everyday…

Ireland weighs a ban on children’s social media use, department says

Ireland is weighing whether to bar children and young people from social media — a so-called "digital age of majority" — as governments worldwide watch Australia’s landmark under-16 ban for lessons on enforcement, rights and technical feasibility. Officials in Dublin told reporters the country prefers a coordinated European Union approach, noting the issue should be considered “by the EU and EU member states together” and that any move must respect the rights of children and young people. The European Commission has…