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Taiwan said yesterday it is an “independent” nation, hours after US President Donald Trump warned the democratic island against declaring formal independence.Trump wrapped up a state visit to Beijing on Friday where Chinese President Xi Jinping had pressed him not to support Taiwan, which China claims is part of its territory. Taiwan depends heavily on US security backing to deter China from carrying out its threat to annex the island by force.Taiwan “is a sovereign and independent democratic nation, and is not subordinate to the People’s Republic of China”, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.The ministry also insisted that US arms sales were part of Washington’s security commitment to Taiwan, after Trump said it “depends on China” and was a “very good negotiating chip for us”. Taiwan’s statements came after Trump issued a warning to the island against making a declaration of independence.“I’m not looking to have somebody go independent. And, you know, we’re supposed to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war. I’m not looking for that,” he told Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier”. “I want them to cool down. I want China to cool down,” Trump said.“We’re not looking to have wars, and if you kept it the way it is, I think China’s going to be OK with that.” But Trump added that “nothing’s changed” on US policy towards Taiwan.The US recognises only Beijing and does not support formal independence by Taiwan, but historically has stopped short of explicitly saying it opposes independence. Under US law, the US is required to provide weapons to Taiwan for its defence, but it has been ambiguous on whether US forces would come to the island’s aid.Xi had begun the summit with a warning on Taiwan, whose President Lai Ching-te considers the island already independent, making a declaration unnecessary. The Chinese leader told Trump that missteps on the sensitive issue could cause “conflict”.Taiwan’s Presidential Office noted yesterday the “multiple reaffirmations from the US side, including President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, that the consistent US policy and position toward Taiwan remain unchanged”. “Taiwan looks forward to continuing to work with the US under the firm commitments of the Taiwan Relations Act,” spokeswoman Karen Kuo said in a statement.US weapon sales Ahead of the summit, Trump had said he would speak to Xi about US arms sales to Taiwan, a departure from Washington’s previous insistence that it would not consult Beijing on the matter.Taiwan’s parliament recently approved a $25bn defence spending bill that will be used for US weapons. Lawmakers have said the funds will cover nearly $9bn of the $11.1bn arms package announced by Washington in December and a second phase of arms sales — not yet approved by the US — worth more than $15 bn.Speaking to reporters on Friday en route to Washington, Trump said on arms sales: “I’ll make a determination over the next fairly short period of time.”Taiwan’s foreign ministry said arms were “not only a US security commitment to Taiwan clearly stipulated in the Taiwan Relations Act, but also a form of joint deterrence against regional threats”. Tzeng Wei-feng of the National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations in Taipei said the Trump administration was “leaning to China’s position” on Taiwan in order to have better relations with Beijing and could “change the arms sale package a little bit to show their goodwill”.Trump “overtly stating that arms are a bargaining chip is exactly what Taiwan didn’t want to hear,” Lev Nachman, a political science professor at National Taiwan University, told AFP.“The hope is that arm sales were non-negotiable, because it’s part of the six assurances, and what Donald Trump is essentially saying is that one of those assurances no longer matters.”

Taiwan will deepen ties with the US ​following talks between President ‌Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, its ‌foreign minister said yesterday, adding ‌that it was China that ‌was increasing regional "risks".Trump said earlier yesterday on his way home from Beijing that ⁠he had discussed US arms sales to Taiwan with President Xi and said he would soon make a decision on the matter, highlighting a flashpoint in US-China relations.The US is Taiwan's most important international backer, while China, which claims the democratically governed island as its own, has demanded that such arms sales stop.In a post on ​his Facebook page which did not directly reference Trump's remarks, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said many Taiwanese had been "concerned" by the US president's meeting with Xi."I want ‌to report to everyone ⁠that my diplomatic ​team and I have continued to closely monitor the situation, ​and have maintained good communication with the US," Lin said."Taiwan occupies a key geostrategic position and is a responsible and trustworthy partner of the international community. Looking ahead, we will continue to deepen co-operation with the US and like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific," he added.Lin pointed to comments by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday that US policy towards the island remains unchanged. Trump reiterated that stance in his comments to reporters on board his plane ‌yesterday.Last December the ‌US approved an $11bn ⁠arms sales package for Taiwan, the largest ever, and a second one ⁠worth some $14bn is awaiting Trump's ⁠approval, Reuters has previously reported.China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan, whose government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, with the means to defend itself.Lin said Taiwan has always been a contributor to, and guardian of, ​peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait."The party that has truly continued to heighten regional risks is China, with its expanding military activities and authoritarian oppression in recent years," Lin said."China, which is attempting to change the international order and the status quo of regional peace and stability, is the main source of threat that is widely concerning the international community."Xi told Trump on Thursday that mishandling the countries' disagreements over Taiwan could ‌push China-US relations ​to a "dangerous place".

The World Health Organisation said yesterday that more hantavirus cases could emerge after the disease killed three passengers from a cruise ship but it expected the outbreak to be limited if precautions were taken.Another sick passenger from the MV Hondius landed in Europe earlier in the day, as the vessel headed to the Spanish Canary Islands and health officials scrambled to map the outbreak of the potentially deadly human-to-human strain.The fate of the Hondius sparked international alarm after three people travelling on it died, though health officials have played down fears of a wider global outbreak from the rat-borne virus, which is less contagious than Covid-19.WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists in Geneva that five confirmed and three suspected cases had been reported overall, including the three deaths."Given the incubation period of the Andes virus, which can be up to six weeks, it's possible that more cases may be reported," he said, referring to the rare strain detected aboard the Hondius, which can be transmitted between humans.The Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands later announced another patient had tested positive.But the WHO's emergency alert and response director Abdi Rahman Mahamud insisted: "We believe this will be a limited outbreak if the public health measures are implemented and solidarity shown across all countries."People thought to have contracted the virus are being treated or isolating in Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and South Africa.Hantavirus is a rare respiratory disease that is usually spread from infected rodents and can cause respiratory and cardiac distress as well as haemorrhagic fevers. There are no vaccines and no known cure for it.A passenger is thought to have contracted the virus before boarding the ship in Argentina and eventually infected others on board as it sailed across the Atlantic.Three evacuees were whisked away from the ship on Wednesday when it anchored off Cape Verde and a fourth landed yesterday in Amsterdam, said the vessel's operator, Netherlands-based Oceanwide Expeditions."No symptomatic individuals are present on board" the ship at the moment, as it sails toward the Spanish island of Tenerife, it said in a statement.The ship is scheduled to arrive there on Sunday and those on board evacuated.The ship's Dutch operator Oceanwide Expeditions said there were 149 people on the ship, including 88 passengers.Two people who returned to the UK from the ship have been advised to self-isolate, the UK Health Security Agency said, adding they were asymptomatic and insisting the risk to the public was "very low".Officials in Argentina said they planned to test rodents in the coastal city of Ushuaia, from where the ship had set sail on April 1.

Around 1,500 ships and their crews are trapped in the Gulf due to the Iranian blockade in the strait of Hormuz, the secretary general of the UN's International Maritime Organization (IMO) said in Panama on Thursday.The war in the Middle East, unleashed February 28 by Israel and the United States against Iran, provoked reprisals from Tehran across the region and a shipping blockade in Hormuz, a crucial global trade route."Right now, we have approximately 20,000 crewmen and around 1,500 ships trapped," Arsenio Dominguez told the Maritime Convention of the Americas.Dominguez said that maritime shipping moves over 80 percent of total consumed products in the world.The stranded crew members "are innocent people who are doing their jobs every day for the benefit of other countries," but "are trapped by geopolitical situations outside their control," Dominguez told the gathering of industry executives and IMO representatives.Before the conflict's outbreak, a fifth of the world's total petroleum and gas passed through the Strait of Hormuz. The closure has led to a significant global surge in the price of hydrocarbons.On Monday, US President Donald Trump announced a naval operation to escort the trapped ships and force the opening of the strait, but called off the push shortly after.Washington is now waiting for an Iranian response to proposals for ending the war and reopening the Hormuz strait.jpo/sms

Pope Leo XIV will meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday, the Vatican said Monday, just weeks after serious criticism of the pontiff by US President Donald Trump.The private visit with the top US diplomat, who is a Catholic, will take place at 11:30 am (0930 GMT), according to a calendar published on the Vatican's media site.A Vatican source on Sunday confirmed for AFP Italian media reports that the meeting was an attempt to "thaw" relations between the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics and the US government.Rubio is also expected to meet Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani while in Rome, according to an Italian government source on Sunday. Rubio had also asked for a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, one of Trump's closest European allies, against whom he turned after she defended the pope, the source added.Leo has increasingly spoken out against international conflicts and the politicians waging them, and last month issued his most forthright critique yet of the Trump administration's actions.Thursday's visit will be the second time that the pope and Rubio have met. The secretary of state was received at the Vatican with US Vice President JD Vance in May 2025, just days after Leo was elected pope.

Nigeria’s giant Dangote refinery is benefiting from record margins for producing jet fuel that it is mostly selling abroad, while the domestic airlines it also ‌supplies have threatened to stop flying because of the surge in fuel prices. The refinery, the largest on the continent, was built to turn ‌Africa’s biggest oil producing country into a net exporter of refined products, end Nigeria’s reliance on ‌fuel imports, and shield its economy from global energy ‌shocks. It became fully operational at the start of ‌this year and is producing at its maximum capacity of 650,000 barrels per day. That has improved local fuel availability but domestic fuel prices are still among the highest in Africa as Nigeria’s market is fully deregulated, meaning fuel prices are not subsidised by the government as they are in most African countries. The issue is further complicated by the state oil company’s long-standing debt repayment agreements that mean Dangote has to import most of its crude oil, making it easier to balance its books if it sells abroad.Industry body the Airline Operators of Nigeria said prices, taking logistics and storage costs into account, have climbed to 3,300 naira ($2.44) ​per litre, nearly triple the level in February before the start of the Iran war. Nigeria’s energy regulator said Dangote was selling jet fuel at 1,879 naira ($1.39) per litre, little changed from imported fuel prices of about 1,900 naira ($1.41) per litre delivered to Lagos earlier ‌this month. The MiddleEastern conflict has led to unprecedented energy disruption and ​the risk of jet fuel shortages is pressing. Airlines around the world have hiked prices, ​added fuel surcharges and grounded planes. Nigerian airlines last week threatened to halt all flights, prompting the government on Thursday to approve measures including some relief on debts owed by local airlines and ordering talks to try to agree lower prices. Dangote, meanwhile, as a new, highly efficient refinery, has been able to take advantage of record margins for producing jet fuel from crude.Its profits could be even higher if it could rely on Nigerian crude and avoid almost all freight costs. State oil firm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s joint-venture crude, however, is tied to oil-backed loans and pre-export deals. That means much of Nigeria’s roughly 1.5 mn barrels per day of production goes to paying debts to international oil majors, banks and traders. The NNPC does not ‌disclose its obligations, but analysts estimate they amount ‌to about 400,000 bpd. Dangote Group Vice President Davekumar Edwin said Dangote imported most of its crude from the US, as well as some from other African producers and Brazil. He did not give precise figures. He said the bulk of the 24 mn litres of jet fuel it produces daily was shipped to Europe, although he also said the refinery largely supplied the needs of Nigerian airlines, which the aviation industry estimates at about 2.1 mn litres per day. As European buyers are willing to pay a premium ahead of the peak demand summer travel season, European imports from Nigeria have averaged 78,000 to 96,000 barrels per day in April so far, data from Kpler ​and LSEG showed, the highest on record.Alan Gelder, senior vice president for refining, chemicals and oil markets at Wood Mackenzie, said European refiners had earned about $15 per barrel. He estimated Dangote’s margins at more than double that as a result of access to Nigerian crude and the plant’s scale and sophistication.

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday praised the Iranian ‌people for battling to ‌stay independent in the face of ‌US and Israeli pressure and said Moscow would do all it could to help Tehran. Russia has offered to mediate to try to help restore calm to the Middle East following US and Israeli strikes, which Moscow has strongly condemned. It has also repeatedly offered to store Iran’s enriched uranium as a way of defusing tensions, a proposal spurned by the US. “We ​see how courageously and heroically the Iranian people are fighting for their independence and sovereignty,” Putin told Araghchi, saying he hoped they could get ‌through what he called a “difficult period” ​and that peace would prevail. “For our part, we will ​do everything that serves your interests and the interests of all the peoples of the region to ensure that peace is achieved as quickly as possible,” said Putin.Putin received Araghchi in the presidential library in Russia’s former imperial capital St Petersburg as sources from mediator Pakistan said work had not halted to bridge gaps between the US and Iran. Putin said he received a message from Iran’s new Supreme Leader, ‌Mojtaba Khamenei, last week, and ‌asked Araghchi to convey to him that Russia intended to continue its strategic partnership with Tehran. That 20-year agreement was sealed last year. Russia is building two new nuclear units at Bushehr — the site of Iran’s only nuclear power plant — and Iran has supplied Russia with Shahed drones for use against Ukraine, the production of which Moscow has since localised. Araghchi, who said he wanted to ​brief Putin on the situation around his country, thanked Putin for Moscow’s support.“It has also been proven to all that Iran has friends and allies, such as the Russian Federation, who stand by Iran precisely in difficult times,” he said.Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said that Moscow wanted to see the US and Iran continue negotiations. There should be no return to military action, he ‌added, something he ​said was not in anyone’s interests.

Ukraine and Azerbaijan signed six co-operation agreements yesterday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, as he pushes to share Kyiv’s drone expertise amid the Middle East war.Zelensky has clinched several defence deals with Gulf countries that suffered Iranian drone attacks with Kyiv offering its experience and expertise after more than four years of relentless Russian strikes.“We have signed six documents today,” said Zelensky in the Azerbaijan capital Baku, without specifying which fields. “Today, the number one area is security. This concerns the defence-industrial complex,” he said. “We have shared our experience in countering the aggressor today”.Speaking alongside Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev, Zelensky said Ukrainian drone experts were already working in Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic on the Caspian Sea that borders southern Russia. In early March, drones launched from Iran hit an Azerbaijani airport and exploded near a school, wounding four people and raising fears of a spillover of the conflict into the Caucasus.Since then, already tepid relations between Baku and Tehran have declined further. The Ukrainian president also said he was ready to hold trilateral talks on ending the war with Russia in Azerbaijan, if Moscow showed a willingness to do so.“We shared with the president of Azerbaijan that we are ready for trilateral talks,” said Zelensky. Azerbaijan repeatedly expressed support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sent humanitarian aid after the Russian invasion in 2022.Ties between Moscow and Baku have cooled over the past year, after an Azerbaijani passenger plane was mistakenly hit by a Russian anti-aircraft missile in 2024, causing a crash that killed 38.

Pope Leo sharply decried the ‌exploitation of natural resources in Africa on Saturday, blasting “despots and tyrants” who guarantee ​wealth but do not deliver on their ‌promises, leading to suffering and deaths.In a speech in oil-rich Angola, the ‌third stop on his four-country Africa tour, Leo ‌called on Angolans to work for ‌a society free from the “slavery imposed by the elite who are laden with much wealth but false joys.” Leo has taken on a new forceful speaking style during the tour this week amid attacks from U.S. President Donald Trump. On the flight from Cameroon to Angola, he sought to downplay their feud, telling reporters that comments he made about “tyrants” earlier in the trip were not directed at Trump and that it was not in the pope’s interest to debate him. Once on the ground in the Angolan capital, Luanda, Leo lamented that “powerful interests lay their claim” on the ​former Portuguese colony’s natural resources, an apparent reference to foreign companies benefiting from Angola’s oil and diamond sectors and its nascent critical minerals sector. “All too often people have looked - and continue to look - to your lands ... in ‌order to take,” the pope said in remarks delivered to Angolan ​President João Lourenço and other political leaders.“How much suffering, how many deaths, how ​many social and environmental disasters are brought about by this logic of extractivism!” the pope said. Leo, originally from Chicago, kept a relatively low profile for a pope in his first 10 months but in recent weeks has become outspoken on a range of issues. He has issued sharp denunciations of war and inequality on the 10-day Africa tour, one of the most complicated ever arranged for a pontiff, with stops in 11 cities and towns in four countries, traversing nearly 18,000 km (11,185 miles) over 18 flights. Despite being one of the leading oil-producing nations in sub-Saharan Africa, Angola’s population of 36.6 million people is still confronting extreme poverty, ‌with more than 30% living on less ‌than $2.15 per day, according to the World Bank. More than half of the country identifies as Catholic. Leo called on Angolans “to break this cycle of interests, which reduces reality, and even life itself, to mere commodities.” He urged the country’s political leaders to focus on helping all their people, and not just corporate interests. “History will then vindicate you, even if in the near term some may oppose you,” he said. Earlier on Saturday, before flying to Angola, Leo celebrated a farewell Mass in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, urging participants not to lose hope despite the ​challenges faced by the Central African country, which include a simmering conflict that has killed thousands. “In moments when we seem to be sinking, overcome by adverse forces, when everything appears bleak ... Jesus is with us always, stronger than any power of evil,” the pontiff told a crowd the Vatican estimated to number 200,000, which would make it the biggest event of his tour so far. “In every storm, he comes to us and repeats: ‘I am here with you: do not be afraid’,” Leo said. Crowds greeting the pope on his visit to Cameroon were enthusiastic, including an estimated 120,000 people who ‌attended a Mass on Friday ​in Douala, lining the streets along his routes and wearing colourful fabrics featuring images of his face.

Hungarian pro-EU prime minister-elect Peter Magyar pledged yesterday to usher in a “new era” after defeating long-time nationalist leader Viktor Orban in elections seen as a blow to hard-right populism.Orban, a self-described “thorn” in the European Union’s side who was backed by US President Donald Trump and maintained close ties to Moscow, was ousted in Sunday’s ballot after 16 years in power. Hungarians fed up with corruption handed conservative former government insider Magyar a decisive victory, with a two-thirds majority in parliament. The vote saw a record turnout.Magyar, 45, said he would do “everything in our power” to ensure the “beginning of a new era”, adding Hungarians “didn’t vote for a mere change of government, but for a complete regime change.” In power since 2010, Orban has transformed the central European country of 9.5mn people into a model of “illiberal democracy”, making wide-ranging reforms that restricted civil rights and the independence of the judiciary, media and academia.In that, he frequently clashed with Brussels, which has frozen billions of euros in funds over rule-of-law concerns. Magyar said he was “willing to take on” reforms, including anti-graft measures, to seek to unlock the funds.He urged President Tamas Sulyok, an Orban ally, to convene parliament “as soon as possible”. The president has 30 days, or until May 12, to do so.Sulyok on Facebook said he had invited the leaders of parliamentary parties to a meeting tomorrow. “Our country has no time to waste. Hungary is in trouble in every respect. It has been plundered, looted, betrayed, indebted and ruined,” Magyar told reporters.Many EU leaders welcomed Magyar’s win, while the Kremlin said Moscow hoped for “pragmatic” relations with Hungary’s new government and China — which Orban also courted — congratulated Magyar.Magyar thanked both Moscow and Beijing for “being open to pragmatic co-operation, just as Hungary is.” Orban, 62, conceded defeat on Sunday, saying the message was “painful but unambiguous”.Magyar was a supporter of Orban for years before emerging as his most serious challenger. He stepped into frontline politics just two years ago, promising to fight corruption and offering better public services.He garnered support against a backdrop of economic stagnation and despite an electoral system skewed in favour of Orban’s Fidesz. Ahead of the vote, US Vice-President JD Vance, one of the most fervent supporters of far-right parties in Europe, visited Hungary last week to attend a rally with Orban.His boss, Trump, had promised to back Hungary with the United States’ “economic might” if Orban’s party won. The election “could mark a real turning point for Donald Trump’s culture war in Europe”, said Pawel Zerka, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.It gave “confidence (to) pro-European forces across the continent” and meant that association with Trump’s culture war was now becoming “more of a liability than an asset”, he said. Orban, who repeatedly blocked EU moves to help Ukraine fight Russia’s invasion, made Ukraine a central campaign issue, portraying Kyiv as “hostile” to Hungary. Like Orban, Magyar opposes sending EU military aid to Ukraine or offering Ukraine a fast-track route to join the 27-nation bloc. He reiterated that stance yesterday, saying: “We are talking about a country at war. It is completely out of the question for the European Union to admit a country at war.”On election night, jubilant supporters poured into the streets to celebrate in the capital, Budapest.“At long last it feels so good to be Hungarian. It’s like a weight lifted off our shoulders,” Csilla Bekesi, 25, told AFP.

Asian countries including Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia ​and Sri Lanka ‌are lining up to buy Russian oil as the ‌Iran war blocks supplies, raising ‌the possibility that demand may ‌exceed supply, several sources including Russia said. Since the war in Ukraine prompted European customers — once the biggest buyers of Russian oil and gas — to shun Moscow, India and China have accounted for around 80% of Russian oil exports. Turkey has also been a significant buyer. But in recent weeks, a host of Asian countries have been lining up, according to various sources ​including media and Russia. “Demand is high, particularly for alternative destinations. As a result, a point may come when it becomes difficult to meet additional demand,” ‌Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response to ​a question about Russian oil demand. A fifth of ​global oil production has effectively been blocked from reaching the market due to the US-Israeli war on Iran which has halted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Russia has benefited from high oil prices and a 30-day sanctions waiver from the US for purchases of Russian oil at sea. Oil revenues and natural gas sales generate around a quarter of the country’s state funds. Russia’s ability to boost oil exports ‌is, however, constrained, in part ‌by Ukrainian drone attacks which have effectively shut down at least 40% of the country’s oil-exporting capacity. The Philippines has purchased two of Russia’s far-eastern ESPO Blend cargoes of some 1.5mn barrels, resuming its Russian oil purchases for the first time in five years, according to LSEG data. The Sara Sky and Tiger Wings tankers shipped oil to the country’s Limay port, ​where the terminal for the Bataan refinery is located. Thailand has also held discussions with Russia on potential crude purchases, according to its Deputy Premier Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn.Several Sri Lankan media outlets reported on talks about Russian oil supplies to Sri Lanka too. Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visited Moscow this week, asking Russian oil and gas firm Zarubezhneft to boost its investment in Vietnam and to ‌supply crude ​oil to the Southeast Asian country on a long-term basis.

In sub-zero temperatures outside Moscow, teams of husky dogs pull tourists from Oman and the United Arab Emirates across picturesque snow-covered fields in sleds, delighting their passengers who have never experienced a Russian winter before. Nearby, ‌a couple from Qatar feed a small herd of deer and other tourists ​from the Middle East drive ‌a hovercraft at high speed across a snowy lake. “It was like drifting in ‌the desert but here on ice,” said Badreya ‌Almarooqi, a tourist from the UAE ‌at the Nazarievo Husky Park — 45km west of central Moscow — where signs are written in Arabic as well as Russian. North of the city, another group of Gulf tourists crowd into a hot air balloon to drift over a vast snowy landscape. “(It was) one of the best activities in my life!” said Ayoub Aziz, a tourist from Saudi Arabia drawn to the experience in the Dmitrov district 65km from the city centre, one of many such activity destinations dotted around the capital. Four years into Russia’s war in ​Ukraine, Moscow’s pivot away from the West and its quest to draw nearer to other parts of the world has produced an Arabic-speaking tourism boom. There are more direct flights between Moscow and key Gulf capitals, ‌new visa-free regimes and closer diplomatic ties due to the ​roles of Gulf states in brokering prisoner exchanges or ​the handover of children to Ukraine. With more than 800,000 visits last year, tourists from China, long a close Russian partner, lead official figures by a long way. But Saudi Arabia secured the number two slot for the first time last year with nearly 75,000 tourists, a year-on-year increase of nearly 36%, while more than 59,000 tourists came from the UAE, putting it in sixth place. “Virtually all Arab countries have at least doubled their numbers, said Alexander Musikhin, general director of the Intourist tour operator. “But there are also destinations like Saudi Arabia, which has increased its arrivals in Russia — and in Moscow in particular — by ‌almost 15 times compared with the ‌pre-pandemic period,” he said. Visitors from the Gulf stay in high-end hotels in the centre of the capital and are a common sight in upmarket Russia-themed restaurants and well-known shopping streets or malls. They often spend at least 200,000-300,000 roubles ($6,523) on extra services, tour operators say, and would spend more if the rules did not limit them to bringing in $10,000 in cash without a declaration. Western sanctions mean Visa and Mastercard do not work in Russia, “so it has to be in cash”, UAE tourist Rashan Godani said. Despite its war with Ukraine, Russia welcomed a total of 1.64​mn tourists in 2025 according to the country’s association of tour operators, 4.5% up on 2024, but sharply down on 2018, the year Russia held the World Cup when 4.2mn foreign tourists visited. By contrast, 2.45mn Russians visited the UAE alone last year, up by nearly a quarter year-on-year, and some Russian businessmen have opened up offices in Dubai. Musikhin, the Intourist head, said fallout from the conflict was limiting growth. He cited the periodic and temporary closure of Russian airports due to Ukrainian drone attacks and the longer time it takes tourists to cross ‌the border due to heightened ​security checks.“Tourists are generally understanding about this,” he said.

Agency still has not visited most sensitive bombed sitesLarge stock of uranium near weapons-grade unaccounted forSome of it was underground at Isfahan tunnel complexIAEA increasingly concerned about newest plant at Isfahan. The UN nuclear watchdog issued a confidential report yesterday urging Iran to let ‌it inspect all its nuclear sites and pointing at Isfahan as a ‌place of interest because of ‌a new enrichment plant and near-bomb-grade uranium ‌that was stored there. The report was sent to members of the International Atomic Energy Agency ahead of a quarterly meeting next week of its 35-country board, amid nuclear talks between the US and Iran, the latest round of which was held on Thursday with no breakthrough. Like previous IAEA reports, it could be used by Washington to support its argument that Tehran has not been transparent about its nuclear activities, at a time when US President Donald Trump has massed forces in the region and threatened ​new military action. The US and Israel bombed Iranian nuclear sites last June, and Iran has since refused to show what happened to its stockpile of highly enriched uranium or allow IAEA ‌inspectors access to sites where enrichment took place.“While the ​Agency acknowledged that the military attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities had ​created an unprecedented situation, it is critical for it to conduct verification activities in Iran without any further delay,” the report seen by Reuters said. INDISPENSABLE AND URGENTAllowing inspections was “indispensable and urgent”, it said. It also said a successful outcome in the US-Iranian negotiations would have a “positive impact on the effective implementation of safeguards in Iran and the resolution of issues described in this report”. The IAEA estimates that Iran had 440.9 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60% before last year’s Israeli-U.S. attacks — enough, if enriched further, for 10 nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick. The ‌agency andWestern powers believe ‌the bulk of that is still intact. Washington wants Tehran to give it up. The report provided new details about activity at Isfahan, where diplomats have said much of the Islamic Republic’s most highly enriched uranium has been stored in a tunnel complex that appears to have averted destruction last June. For the first time, the report confirmed that material enriched to up to 20% and 60% had been kept there. In satellite imagery, the IAEA had observed “regular vehicular activity around the entrance to the tunnel complex at Isfahan in ​which (uranium) enriched up to 20% and 60% U-235... was stored,” it said. The US-Israeli attacks are believed to have destroyed or badly damaged the three uranium enrichment sites known to have been operating at the time. Shortly before Israel launched its attack, Iran said it was setting up a fourth enrichment plant in Isfahan, though the IAEA still does not know its precise location or whether it is operational, the report said.“It is a matter of increasing concern that Iran has never provided the Agency with access to ‌its fourth declared enrichment facility ​since it was first declared by Iran in June last year,” the report said.

Kashmiri Muslim men offer prayers on the second Friday of the holy fasting month of Ramadan along a street in Srinagar, Indian Kashmir, February 27, 2026.

A Turkish military pilot was killed on Wednesday when an F-16 fighter jet crashed shortly after take-off during a mission flight, local authorities said. Governor Ismail Ustaoglu said the aircraft went down shortly after takeoff during a mission flight. Turkish media reported that the crash site was in the Naipli area of Balikesir's Karesi district, and traffic on part of the Istanbul-Izmir highway was temporarily halted as emergency teams worked at the scene. In a statement, Turkey's defence ministry said a technical investigation had been launched to determine the cause of the accident, adding that search teams were dispatched to the site immediately after contact was lost. The Turkish Interior Ministry said it was monitoring the investigation in coordination with relevant authorities.

Soldiers yesterday killed a powerful Mexican drug cartel leader who was one of the most wanted men here and in the US, several media outlets reported. There was no immediate confirmation from the government of the death of Nemesio Oseguera, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. He had a $15mn bounty on his head. Oseguera is one of the biggest drug suspects to be taken down since the capture of the founders of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin Guzman ‘El Chapo’ and Ismael Zambada. Both are serving time in the US. Oseguera, whose nickname was “El Mencho,” was reported killed by the Mexican security forces, newspapers El Universal and Reforma, and by the Televisa network. Earlier, people with guns set cars and trucks on fire in anger in the western state of Jalisco, blocking several roads inresponse to a security operation taking place in the region. This technique is used to thwart police trying to move in on a high-value target. The violence spread to the neighbouring state of Michoacan, where Oseguera’s cartel also has a presence. His cartel was formed in 2009 and became one of Mexico’s most violent drug trafficking organisations, according to the US Justice Department. US officials formally classified it as a terrorist organisation and accuse the cartel of sending cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl from Mexico across the border into the US.

Twenty-five Mexican troops died in clashes with cartel gunmen following a raid that led to the death of the country’s most-wanted drug lord, a top security official said yesterday. Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), was wounded on Sunday in a shootout with soldiers in the town of Tapalpa, in Jalisco state, and died while being flown to Mexico City, the army said. News of his death triggered spasms of violence, with cartel members across the country blocking roads in 20 states and torching vehicles and businesses.At least 25 National Guard members were killed in subsequent clashes, Security Secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch said. Harfuch added that a prison guard, a member of the state prosecutor’s office and 30 suspected members of Oseguera’s criminal organisation were also killed.Oseguera had a $15mn US bounty on his head. Eight suspected cartel gunmen were killed in the special forces operation to capture him and three soldiers were wounded, Defence Secretary Ricardo Trevilla said.Fearful residents went into hiding, and tourists took shelter in their hotels and resorts as cartel members went on the rampage. While US President Donald Trump had yet to respond publicly to the elimination of Oseguera, he posted briefly on his Truth Social platform: “Mexico must step up their effort on Cartels and Drugs!” Although the violence appeared to be subsiding, Mexico remained on high alert.The government sent 2,500 troops to Jalisco – a state that is scheduled to host four World Cup soccer games this summer. The streets of Jalisco’s state capital Guadalajara were almost empty yesterday.Schools, stores, pharmacies and gas stations remained shuttered, all events involving large crowds were cancelled and public transportation was suspended. Maria Medina, who works in a gas station that was torched on Sunday, said that gunmen showed up and told everyone to get out.“I thought they were going to kidnap us. I ran to a taco stand to take cover with the people there,” Medina told AFP. The violence gripped the resort city of Puerto Vallarta, and spread to neighbouring Michoacan state, where Oseguera’s cartel has been waging war against a rival coalition of criminal groups.Travel warnings from Britain, Canada and the United States were issued in the fallout, with Australia urging citizens to “exercise a degree of caution”. Washington asked US citizens to “shelter in place until further notice”.Dozens of US and Canadian flights were cancelled. Oseguera, 59, was considered the last of the drug lords who acted in the brutal mold of the now-imprisoned Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.With his son Ruben “El Menchito” Oseguera Gonzalez, 35, convicted by a federal jury in Washington in September, experts have warned the “absence of a direct succession” could lead to a power vacuum. “That opens the door to violent realignments within the organisation,” David Mora, an expert at the Crisis Group analysis centre, told AFP.Mexico said that in addition to its own military intelligence, the operation to seize Oseguera was carried out with “complementary information” from US authorities. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Washington “provided intelligence support”.Sheinbaum was adamant however that no US forces took part in the capture raid. Two suspected cartel members were arrested and a variety of weapons seized during the operation, including rocket launchers capable of downing airplanes and destroying armored vehicles, the army said.Oseguera was a founding member of CJNG, which was formed in 2009 and has grown into one of the most violent drug cartels in Mexico, ahead of the Sinaloa cartel. Washington has classified CJNG as a terrorist organisation and accuses it of sending cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl into the United States.US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau welcomed the operation and called Oseguera “one of the bloodiest and most ruthless drug kingpins”. The raid came amid pressure from Trump for Mexico to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.Trump has threatened repeatedly to slap tariffs on Mexican exports, arguing Sheinbaum has not done enough to combat the drug trade.

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung held summit talks in Seoul ​yesterday with Brazilian President Luiz ‌Inacio Lula da Silva, where they agreed to expand co-operation in ‌sectors including trade, key minerals, technology and ‌culture. The leaders plan to elevate the ‌bilateral relationship into a strategic partnership, and for the countries to work together to support stability on the Korean Peninsula, Lee said.“Peace, built on conditions where conflict isn’t needed, is the strongest form of security,” the South Korean president told a joint press conference. The leaders oversaw the signing of 10 memorandums of understanding spanning trade and industrial policy, core minerals, digital economy including AI, agriculture, health and biotech, small-business exchanges and joint policing against cybercrime, narcotics and other transnational threats. In earlier remarks, ​Lee said they adopted a four-year action plan to map out concrete steps for expanding bilateral co-operation, from strategic minerals to defence and space industries, as well as food security.Brazil is South ‌Korea’s largest trading partner in South America, making economic ​co-operation a key part of the agenda. Lula said Brazil holds the ​world’s second largest rare-earth reserves and has substantial nickel deposits, and that his government hoped to attract investment from South Korean companies.The summit came as global trade flows face added uncertainty amid increased confusion over US tariffs. The leaders also agreed on a need to resume talks to conclude a trade agreement between South Korea and the Mercosur trade bloc, according to the action plan released by Lee’s office. Negotiations began in 2018but were suspended over disagreements on protection for agricultural and manufactured goods. Lula called for discussions on green ‌industries and the energy transition and invited ‌South Korea to take part in Brazil’s Amazon Fund, a rainforest conservation financing mechanism. In a message posted to X earlier in the day, Lee welcomed Lula, who is in Seoul for his first state visit in 21 years, pointing out the similarities in their backgrounds.“As a former child labourer, you proved with your whole life that democracy is the most powerful tool for social and economic progress,” Lee wrote. “I support your life, your struggle and your achievements, which will remain forever in the ​history of global democracy.”The leaders, who first met at the G7 summit in Canada last year and later at the G20 summit in South Africa, appear to have bonded over shared experiences of childhood factory work and workplace injuries.The talks took place in South Korea’s presidential Blue House, the first large-scale official welcome ceremony to be held since Lee moved his office back to the building.A state banquet is scheduled for yesterday evening, where barbecue dishes are due to be served and Brazilian ‌bossa nova pieces performed by ​a Korean jazz band alongside a children’s choir, Lee’s office said.

Eighteen people were killed Monday when a passenger bus traveling from Pokhara to Kathmandu plunged into the Trishuli River in the Dhading District of central Nepal. Local authorities reported that the bus, carrying approximately 45 passengers, fell from the highway into the river, resulting in the fatal accident.A spokesperson for the local administration office said that most of the 27 injured passengers were transferred to hospitals in Kathmandu for treatment.Bus accidents in Nepal are typically blamed on poor road conditions and weather factors, with most accidents occurring during the monsoon season each year.

Somaliland is willing to give the United States access to its minerals and military bases, a minister has told AFP, as the breakaway region of Somalia seeks international recognition. The government in Mogadishu still considers Somaliland an integral part of Somalia even though the territory has run its own affairs since 1991, with its own passports, currency, army and police force. “We are willing to give exclusive (access to our minerals) to the United States. Also, we are open to offer military bases to the United States,” Khadar Hussein Abdi, minister of the presidency, told AFP in an interview on Saturday. “We believe that we will agree on something with the United States.”