A Tesla Cybertruck exploded in flames outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on Wednesday, killing the driver and injuring seven others, and the FBI was investigating whether the blast was an act of terrorism, officials said. Videos taken by witnesses inside and outside the hotel showed the vehicle exploding and flames pouring out of…
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Wednesday that he welcomed equal, dignified, healthy and orderly exchanges with China, but wondered whether there was goodwill from Beijing given what he said was their blocking of simple things like tourism. Lai, who took office in May, has regularly offered talks with China but been rebuffed. China views democratically…
President-elect Donald Trump said he would attend next week’s state funeral for Jimmy Carter, the former US president who died on Sunday at the age of 100, and predicted that only House Speaker Mike Johnson could win the vote for the House’s top job. As Trump entered a New Year’s Eve Party at his Mar-a-Lago home…
South Korean investigators said Wednesday they would execute an arrest warrant for Yoon Suk Yeol over his declaration of martial law by the deadline on January 6, as the impeached leader’s supporters rallied outside his residence. Supporters and opponents of Yoon, who was suspended from office by lawmakers over his attempt to subvert civilian rule last month,…
Russia launched a drone strike on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Wednesday, causing damage in at least two districts, city officials said. Kyiv’s air force warned of drones approaching the city as an air-raid alert was declared. Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said air-defenses were repelling an enemy attack, and that debris had sparked fires in…
Ukraine said on Tuesday it downed six of 21 missiles launched overnight and in the early morning by Russia, reporting minor damage in the capital of Kyiv and hits on infrastructure in the northern Sumy region. A woman was wounded in the Kyiv region, where a private house was damaged, the interior ministry said on Telegram….
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa met with high-level Christian clergymen on Tuesday, amid calls to guarantee minority rights after seizing power earlier this month. “The leader of the new Syrian administration, Ahmed al-Sharaa, meets a delegation from the Christian community in Damascus,” Syria’s General Command said in a statement on Telegram, which included pictures of the…
Israel’s military said two projectiles were fired from Gaza on Wednesday in the first minutes of the new year, one of which was intercepted while the other landed in an open area. Alert sirens sounded around midnight (2200 GMT) in the western Negev, the Israeli military said, and “two projectiles were identified crossing from the central Gaza…
The US military said Tuesday that it had conducted multiple precision strikes against Iran-backed Houthi targets in Yemen’s Sanaa and coastal locations within Houthi-controlled territory over the last 24 hours. Over two days, US Navy ships and fighter jets hit a Houthi command and control facility and advanced conventional weapon (ACW) production and storage facilities that included…
Elon Musk adopted the moniker “Kekius Maximus” on X Tuesday, sparking speculation among his 210 million followers about his mysterious new handle that is a mash-up of an alt-right symbol, a memecoin, and the lead character of the movie Gladiator. Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and a confidant of US President-elect Donald Trump, also…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left hospital against his doctors’ advice to vote on a bill in parliament that would help fund the nation’s wars, legislation that has failed to get the backing of his entire coalition. Netanyahu left for the Knesset after National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of one of the coalition parties,…
London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Tuesday followed other prominent politicians from Britain’s ruling Labour party by drawing a line under his previous outspoken criticism of US president-elect Donald Trump. Khan — one of Britain’s most high-profile Asian-origin politicians, speaking a day after day it was revealed he had been knighted by King Charles III, told…
Russia’s energy giant Gazprom said on Wednesday that gas exports via Ukraine to Europe had been halted from 08:00 Moscow time (0500 GMT) as the transit deal has expired. Ukraine said on Wednesday that the transit of Russian natural gas through its territory had been halted as of 7 a.m. local time (0500 GMT), citing…
France’s top diplomat and defense chief arrived on Monday in Lebanon, where a fragile truce since late November ended intense fighting between Israel and militant group Hezbollah. Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu met with Lebanon’s army chief Joseph Aoun, and on Tuesday are due to visit UN peacekeepers near the Israeli border. A…
The US Treasury Department said Monday that a China state-sponsored actor was behind a cyber breach resulting in access to some of its workstations, according to a letter to Congress seen by AFP. The incident happened earlier this month, when the actor compromised a third-party cybersecurity service provider and was able to remotely access the Treasury workstations…
