World

A devastating highway bombing in Colombia has killed 20 people and injured 36 others, marking one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in the region in years, according to a statement posted on X by the local department’s governor. The blast - which local and national authorities have blamed on armed groups - struck just one month before Colombians are due to elect a new president on 31 May. Cauca Department Governor Octavio Guzman called it the area’s "most brutal and ruthless attack against the civilian population in…

Shuttling between regional capitals in a last-ditch diplomatic push, Iran's foreign minister returned to Islamabad on Sunday as mediators tried to prevent peace contacts between Tehran and the United States from collapsing altogether. After departing Pakistan, Abbas Araghchi travelled on to Muscat in Oman and is due in Moscow on Monday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, though there was still no sign that direct negotiations between Iran and the US were about to restart. On Saturday, US President Donald Trump…

Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheál Martin has denounced what he called the “shocking” apparent assassination attempt on US President Donald Trump overnight. Speaking in Cork, Mr Martin said the scenes were “very serious and very shocking” to witness. “There can be absolutely no place for violence in politics, and our thoughts are with the police officer, the agent who was injured, and with everyone affected by an event of this nature.” Mr Martin said there was mounting evidence of rising political violence around the world, adding…

Watch: Trump says the shooter was a 'sick person' US

Four decades after Reactor 4 exploded at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster is once again shadowed by danger. At 01:23am on 26 April 1986, an explosion tore through the reactor during a failed safety test, blasting apart the roof and sending a vast cloud of radioactive material into the atmosphere. Radiation spread west and north across Europe for days, while neighbouring Belarus absorbed the heaviest share of the fallout. Soviet authorities waited 36 hours…

A fresh wave of Israeli strikes hit southern Lebanon on Saturday, Lebanese state media said, after earlier attacks killed six people despite a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that had only recently been extended. The latest strikes came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to "forcefully attack Hezbollah targets", following accusations by the army that the group had violated the truce. Earlier, Lebanon's health ministry said that "Israeli enemy strikes on a truck and a…

TMZ’s newly opened Washington bureau has arrived in the capital at a moment of extraordinary turmoil, as a cascade of political scandals forces a reckoning across Capitol Hill. Over the past two weeks, Congress has been rocked by allegations and abrupt departures, with three representatives leaving office before facing expulsion votes in the House. Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick stepped down this week after an investigation concluded that she committed more than 20 ethics violations, including campaign finance breaches,…

Chaos shattered the White House Correspondents' Association dinner when US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were rushed from the venue by Secret Service agents after what the president later described as an apparent attack. Trump said a "shooter has been apprehended" after the sudden evacuation from the dinner. The Secret Service said Mr Trump and his wife "are safe" after being removed in response to a loud, unidentified noise. Officials said one person was taken into custody and that the episode unfolded…

Mali’s army said it was fighting off attacks by "terrorist groups" after coordinated assaults struck parts of the west African country, where more than a decade of jihadist violence has battered security and shaken daily life. Witnesses described clashes in the capital, Bamako, as well as in other major urban centres in the landlocked nation, where the military took power in successive coups in 2020 and 2021. In a statement, the army said: "Terrorist groups, not yet identified, early this morning targeted certain points and…

An oil tanker has been hijacked off Somalia’s coast and forced into the country’s territorial waters, according to the British maritime security agency UKMTO, in a fresh sign of mounting danger for vessels moving through the region. The incident underscores the growing hazards facing ships in the Red Sea corridor, an increasingly vital supply route as Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz — the gateway to the Gulf on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula — tightens pressure on maritime traffic. UKMTO said the tanker was…