World

Empty chairs, loud message: What the UN walkouts during Netanyahu’s speech reveal about a shifting world order Scores of diplomats rising and filing out of the General Assembly hall as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the podium was not simply a moment of theatrical protest. It was a diplomatic thermometer reading for a world growing colder toward the Israeli government’s conduct in Gaza. “Ireland was not present in the General Assembly for the speech by PM Netanyahu,” a spokesperson for Ireland’s Department…

EU ministers push for a “drone wall” after airspace incursions rattle eastern members Brussels — European Union defence ministers have moved rapidly from talk to planning after a wave of drone incursions and airspace violations raised alarm among eastern member states, agreeing on the urgent need to create a so‑called "drone wall" to protect the bloc's borders. The call for action was sharpened this week after a series of incidents that included Denmark temporarily closing some airports following unidentified drone…

Netanyahu’s UN rebuke exposes a deeper diplomatic rupture over Gaza When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the podium at the United Nations General Assembly this week, it was not just another speech. It was a coda to a seismic shift in Western policy — and a defensive, at times embittered, attempt to push back. "Over time, many world leaders buckled," Mr. Netanyahu told delegates, accusing governments of caving "under the pressure of a biased media, radical Islamist constituencies and antisemitic mobs." Scores…

Guilty verdict in Auckland filicide forces hard questions about mental illness, accountability and community care The Auckland High Court delivered a short, stark verdict last week: Hakyung Lee, a New Zealand citizen born in South Korea, was found guilty of murdering her two young children and hiding their bodies in suitcases. The image of the remains — Yuna Jo, 8, and Minu Jo, 6 — discovered in a storage unit in south Auckland after years missing, jolted a country and prompted painful public debate about how societies…

Hong Kong hunkers down as Super Typhoon Ragasa, 2025’s most powerful storm, barrels toward China coast Hong Kong shut schools, emptied offices and saw frantic supermarket runs on Wednesday as authorities sounded a high-end typhoon alert for Ragasa, the strongest tropical cyclone recorded so far this year. The observatory raised the signal to No. 8 — a warning that typically closes shops and halts much public transport — warning of hurricane-force winds offshore, heavy rain and potentially dangerous storm surge as the storm…

Trump’s abrupt pivot: backs full Ukrainian recovery, urges NATO to shoot down Russian aircraft NEW YORK — In a striking reversal that could reshape Western diplomacy toward Moscow, former U.S. president Donald Trump said Wednesday that Ukraine could “fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form,” and he urged NATO members to shoot down Russian aircraft that violate their airspace. The comments came after a private meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.…

Federal jury convicts man accused of plotting to assassinate Donald Trump A federal jury in Florida on Monday convicted Ryan Routh, 59, of attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump, finding him guilty on all counts after a trial that reopened wounds about political violence in the United States. Routh, who lived most recently in Hawaii, faces a possible sentence of life in prison. How the plot unfolded, according to prosecutors Prosecutors painted a picture of careful, patient planning. They say Routh…

Gaza-bound flotilla reports drone attacks as European ministers push for urgent vote on sanctions Activists aboard a Gaza-bound flotilla off the Greek island of Crete say several of their vessels were targeted overnight by drones and experienced radio jamming and explosions — claims that add fresh urgency to a growing European push to punish both Hamas and hardline Israeli actors over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. “We will not be intimidated,” say flotilla organisers The Global Sumud Flotilla, a coalition of 51 boats…

Gaza’s skyline is being erased — and with it a fragile chance for peace Israel’s campaign in Gaza has entered a new, harsher phase: airstrikes and ground operations that have begun to smash the high-rises that once housed families, businesses and entire neighbourhoods. The intensified demolition of towers in Gaza City — as many as 20 high-rise buildings hit this week — is part of an assault that health authorities say left dozens dead and has pushed the territory further toward a humanitarian abyss. At the same time,…

When a Late-Night Monologue Becomes a Constitutional Flashpoint Donald Trump’s public praise for the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night program crystallized into a broader confrontation this week over free speech, corporate pressure and the reach of government regulators. What began as barbed comedy about the shooting of a controversial conservative activist has escalated into a national debate over whether regulators and broadcasters can — or should — be pushed into policing political speech. A comedian pulled off…