World

Live updates: Truce opens what leaders call a 'historic' window for peace Middle East

A ten-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel has taken effect, while President Donald Trump said the next round of US-Iran talks could happen as soon as this weekend, fueling hopes that the war with Iran may be approaching its end. Mr Trump said Iran had proposed not possessing nuclear weapons for more than 20 years. Tehran's nuclear ambitions remained a central obstacle during talks in Islamabad last weekend. "We're going to see what happens. But I think we're very close to making a deal with Iran," he told reporters…

LIV Golf has moved to stamp out fresh doubts about its future, insisting the Saudi-backed circuit will press on “uninterrupted and at full throttle” despite growing talk that its financial support could be withdrawn. The breakaway league, launched in 2021, upended professional golf and quickly established itself as a direct challenger to the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. It lured in some of the sport’s biggest stars, among them Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, before later adding leading European figures such as Jon Rahm and…

A nation shaken by a rare burst of school violence is preparing to bury nine victims after a 14-year-old opened fire in Kahramanmaras, in an attack authorities say bore a disturbing reference to a notorious US mass killer on the suspect’s WhatsApp profile. The shooting in the southern province of Kahramanmaras marked Turkey’s second school gun attack this week, an alarming sequence in a country where such incidents have been uncommon. Officials said the 14-year-old entered two classrooms while armed with five guns and fired…

In a sharp rebuke delivered in Cameroon, Pope Leo accused leaders of pouring billions into war while the world is “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants,” escalating his rhetoric just days after US President Donald Trump targeted him on social media. Addressing a meeting in the largest city in Cameroon’s anglophone regions, the pontiff condemned politicians who cloak conflict in religious language and called for a “decisive change of course” in an area scarred by a nearly decade-long crisis that has claimed thousands of…

Switzerland’s investigation into the deadly Crans-Montana fire has widened, with four additional current and former officials now facing criminal scrutiny, according to sources close to the case. "The investigation has been extended to include four new individuals, bringing the total number of defendants to 13," the public prosecutors' office in southwest Switzerland's Wallis canton confirmed to AFP. Those newly drawn into the case are the Crans-Montana municipal councillor responsible for security, the person who previously…

A 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon is set to begin at 10 o'clock tonight (Irish time), opening a narrow but potentially significant window for talks on a permanent security and peace agreement, the US State Department said. It added that both sides could extend the truce by mutual agreement. Israel's military campaign in Lebanon has become a central stumbling block in efforts to secure the broader peace deal sought by US President Donald Trump to end the war on Iran, which he launched with Israel in late February.…

With diplomacy and battlefield rhetoric colliding, Israel's security cabinet met tonight to weigh a possible ceasefire in Lebanon, according to a senior Israeli official, more than six weeks after a war with Hezbollah spun out of the wider US-Israeli confrontation with Iran. Earlier in the day, US President Donald Trump suggested the war with Iran might be nearing an end, telling the public to brace for an "amazing two days". Another senior Israeli official said Benjamin Netanyahu's government was facing intense pressure…

An apparently AI-generated image of Jesus embracing US President Donald Trump has reignited controversy around the Republican leader, coming just two days after he removed another post that drew backlash for seeming to liken himself to Christ. Reposted on Mr Trump's Truth Social account, the image depicts Mr Trump with his eyes shut, leaning temple-to-temple with Jesus, who is shown in the same pose. Mr Trump appears behind a microphone, with an American flag visible in the background. The original post carried the caption:…

Steven Spielberg gave CinemaCon in Las Vegas an early jolt with new footage from his upcoming sci-fi feature Disclosure Day, telling the audience there is “more truth than fiction” behind the film’s premise. The Oscar-winning filmmaker introduced the project during Universal’s presentation at the annual convention of cinema owners and industry executives. With Disclosure Day, Spielberg returns once again to alien-themed storytelling, almost 50 years after Close Encounters of the Third Kind first brought his fascination with…