Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is heading to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for what the Pentagon described as an effort to “engage with troops,” placing fresh attention on a US base that sits at the center of one of Washington’s most fraught relationships. The trip, disclosed in a single-sentence Pentagon statement, comes as the United States intensifies pressure on Cuba through sanctions and a punishing oil blockade. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly indicated he wants to bring down Cuba’s communist government, tying that…

Washington has declared its response complete after a US Apache helicopter was shot down near the Strait of Hormuz, a dramatic escalation that again throws any prospect of a US-Iran peace deal into doubt. US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees American forces in the Middle East, said on X that it had "completed self-defence strikes against Iran". "CENTCOM forces struck Iranian air defence, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz with precision munitions from US Air Force and Navy…

Behind a glass barrier and in handcuffs, five pro-Palestinian activists accused of attacking the offices of a major defence contractor in Ulm are being tried under conditions their lawyer says breach European human rights law. The defendants — among them Daniel Tatlow‑Devally, a 32-year-old from Dublin — are accused of smashing property and spray-painting walls at the German premises of Elbit Systems last September. The company is headquartered in Israel and supplies weapons systems to the Israeli Defence Forces. "Our…

Brussels has moved to tighten the screws on Moscow again, unveiling the European Commission’s 21st package of sanctions against Russia more than four years after the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Under the latest measures, Russian combatants would be barred from entering the European Union, 30 more ships will be added to a sanctions list that already covers 632 vessels, and a further 31 Russian banks will also come under restrictions. EU member states will now have several weeks to examine the measures…

With the war grinding into a fifth year, Volodymyr Zelensky won fresh backing in London from the leaders of Britain, France and Germany for his push to open direct ceasefire talks with Russia, according to a joint statement released after defence discussions. Mr Zelensky joined British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at 10 Downing Street, where the four met as the conflict continued to exact a heavy toll across Ukraine. The leaders said they "supported the…

A deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake off the southern Philippine island of Mindanao has killed at least 32 people and injured dozens more, disaster officials said, as Manila intensified search-and-rescue efforts across the region. The quake struck early in the morning about 20 km off the coast of Sarangani province, setting off tsunami warnings in several countries. Powerful tremors were felt across Mindanao and as far as Manado, 420 km away on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island. In General Santos City, the hardest-hit area and home…

Hopes for a Middle East breakthrough surged after US President Donald Trump said negotiators had entered the “final throes” of efforts to secure a peace deal, following a pause in fresh fighting between Iran and Israel that had threatened to reignite the months-long war. Trump has repeatedly insisted an agreement with Tehran is close at hand. But diplomacy has repeatedly lost momentum, and the two sides have continued to exchange fire despite a ceasefire that has formally been in place since 8 April. Iran and Israel “were…

Pope Leo XIV delivered his bluntest message yet to Spain’s Catholic hierarchy on the abuse crisis, telling bishops they must hear survivors, acknowledge the truth and provide reparations for harm that has badly damaged the Church’s moral standing. Speaking to an assembly of Spanish bishops in Madrid today, the Pope condemned sexual abuse in the Church as a "scourge" and urged leaders to build what he called a "culture of care". "Faced with this scourge, the ecclesial community is called to respond with listening, truth,…

Few people have watched the arc of Canada-US politics as closely as Caroline Mulroney. The daughter of former prime minister Brian Mulroney, she grew up around a cross-border relationship shaped in part by her father’s bond with Ronald Reagan — a partnership that helped produce a landmark Canada-US free trade agreement and set the tone for decades of co-operation. "It was his work with Ronald Reagan that led to our first free trade agreement with the United States, built on their friendship and the belief that our economies…

Armenia’s governing Civil Contract party captured just under half the vote in a parliamentary election that doubled as a referendum on its peace push with Azerbaijan and its steady turn toward the West, away from longtime patron Russia. With ballots counted from every polling station, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s party secured 49.8% of the vote, according to results released today by the Central Election Commission (CEC), slipping from the 54% it won in the 2021 election. The count also pointed to a…