A dramatic cave rescue in Laos gathered pace this morning as Thai rescuers said four more men had been brought out alive after 10 days trapped in a semi-submerged cavern. The breakthrough came ‌hours ⁠after another man was pulled from the flooded cave last night, though two others are still missing. Lee Kian Lie, a Malaysian rescue diver, said the four were freed after crews pumped water out of the cavern. Video recorded by Mr Lee at the scene showed teams working beneath a makeshift tent as they tended to four people on…

A sharper warning from Washington echoed through Singapore on Saturday as US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth called on Asian allies to spend more on their militaries, arguing that only a stronger regional front can check China’s rising power and stop any slide toward dominance. Addressing the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s leading gathering of defence ministers, military officials and diplomats, Mr Hegseth said the region needs a more capable and more self-reliant network of partners to deter aggression and keep the strategic…

A drone strike reported by Russia at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has revived fears around the safety of Europe’s largest nuclear facility, even as officials said critical equipment was not damaged. Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear energy company, said a Ukrainian drone hit the turbine hall of Power Unit No. 6 and exploded, leaving a hole in the wall but sparing the plant’s main systems. "This afternoon, a Ukrainian kamikaze combat drone struck the turbine hall building of Power Unit No. 6,…

Lebanon’s prime minister has sharply accused Israel of waging a “scorched-earth policy” in the country’s south, pressing for an end to the fighting as Israeli warplanes launched new strikes and the military ordered evacuations across more than a dozen areas. His warning came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli troops had pushed further into Lebanon. Responding in a televised address, Nawaf Salam described the intensifying campaign as a “dangerous” escalation and appealed for “a swift and real…

As Ebola tears through eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the head of the World Health Organization is urging the world not to look away. Arriving in the outbreak’s epicentre, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus appealed for stronger international backing as authorities race to contain a virus spreading through one of the country’s most fragile regions. Speaking to reporters in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, the WHO director general said the international community was already assisting the DRC government in its response to…

Israel’s campaign in Lebanon has pushed beyond a key geographic line, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying Israeli troops have crossed the Litani River and moved deeper into the country. During a visit to Division 36 on Israel’s northern frontier, Mr Netanyahu said Israeli forces were also active in Beirut and the Bekaa Valley as Israel widened its operations against Hezbollah across Lebanon. On 31 March, Mr Netanyahu said the zone under Israeli occupation in Lebanon would extend as far as the Litani River, roughly…

After more than a week in darkness and rising floodwater, one of seven men trapped in a semi-submerged cave in Laos was brought out alive, according to the rescue team leading the operation. The men had been stranded in the cavern since 20 May in a remote, mountainous part of central Xaysomboun province, where they were searching for gold when flash floods cut off their escape, according to early reports from state media. Rescuers found five of the men alive on Wednesday, sheltering together in a narrow shaft about 300m from…

The European Commission has hit Chinese-owned online marketplace Temu with a €200 million fine, accusing the retailer of letting illegal products flow to shoppers across the bloc, including unsafe baby toys and faulty chargers. "The company failed to diligently identify, analyse and assess the systemic risks of illegal products being offered on its platform and the resulting harm to consumers in the European Union," the European Commission said in a statement. It said the evidence suggests EU consumers are highly likely to…

A Russian drone smashed into an apartment building in Romania, a NATO member, injuring two people in a city close to the Ukrainian border, the country’s defence ministry said. "During the night of 28 – 29 May, the Russian Federation resumed drone attacks on civilian and infrastructure targets in Ukraine, near the river border with Romania," the Romanian defence ministry said. "One of these drones entered Romanian airspace, was tracked by radar as far as the southern part of the city of Galati, and crashed onto the roof of an…

Italian authorities have seized assets and businesses worth more than €200 million as they tighten the net around money allegedly laundered from drug trafficking tied to a notorious mafia boss. Matteo Messina Denaro, arrested in 2023 after three decades as a fugitive, had long been one of the defining figures of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra’s violent campaign against the Italian state in the 1980s and 1990s, a period that included the murder of prosecutor Giovanni Falcone. Known as “U Siccu,” or “the skinny one,” Messina Denaro…