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Candidates begin registering in complicated process to select Thailand’s new Senate
BANGKOK — Thailand on Monday officially began the selection of new senators, a process that has become part of an ongoing war between progressive forces hoping for democratic political reforms and conservatives seeking to keep the status quo. Hopeful candidates headed to district offices across the country on the first day of registration to compete for one of the 200 seats in Parliament’s upper house. The …
UN watchdog urges ‘vigilance’ against nuclear material theft
Vienna — The UN nuclear watchdog on Monday called for “vigilance” against trafficking of nuclear and other radioactive material, saying it has recorded more than 4,200 thefts or other incidents over the past 30 years. Last year, 31 countries reported 168 incidents “in line with historical averages,” the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said. Six of those were “likely related to trafficking or malicious use,” it …
Researchers use artificial intelligence to classify brain tumors
SYDNEY — Researchers in Australia and the United States say that a new artificial intelligence tool has allowed them to classify brain tumors more quickly and accurately. The current method for identifying different kinds of brain tumors, while accurate, can take several weeks to produce results. The method, called DNA methylation-based profiling, is not available at many hospitals around the world. To address these challenges, …
State media says Iranian president, foreign minister found dead at helicopter crash site
Washington — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and other officials were found dead Monday at the site of a helicopter crash in northwestern Iran, state media said. Search crews found the wreckage Monday, a day after the helicopter crashed in bad weather near Varzaqan in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. State media said the passengers were traveling back to Iran from an event just …
UK and Finland to deepen ties in face of ‘Russian aggression’
LONDON — Britain and Finland will sign a new strategic partnership on Monday to strengthen ties and counter the “threat of Russian aggression,” the U.K. foreign minister said. The two countries will declare Russia as “the most significant and direct threat to European peace and stability,” according to a Foreign Office press release. The agreement will be endorsed by U.K. foreign minister David Cameron and his …
Cannes film follows Egypt feminists on brink of adulthood
Cannes, France — Filmmakers Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir spent so much time following an all-girl theatre troupe in a remote Egyptian village that at one point someone tried to sell them a house. “He thought we were always there so we might as well live there,” Riyadh told AFP after the premiere of their documentary at the Cannes Film Festival. “The Brink of Dreams” …
Iran extends search for crashed helicopter carrying president, officials into night
Washington — Iran says a search for a helicopter that crashed while carrying its president and other senior officials in the country’s northwest extended into the pre-dawn hours Monday, as the fate of Ebrahim Raisi remains unclear. Iranian state media said the helicopter crashed Sunday in bad weather near Varzaqan in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. They said it was flying President Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian …
Islamic State claims attack in Afghanistan that killed 3 Spaniards
Cairo — Islamic State on Sunday claimed responsibility for an attack by gunmen on tourists in Afghanistan’s central Bamiyan province, the group said on its Telegram channel. Three Spanish tourists were killed and at least one Spaniard was injured in the attack, Spain’s foreign ministry said on Friday. Taliban interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qaniee four people had been arrested over the attack in which gunmen …
What happened in the UK’s infected blood scandal? Inquiry report due Monday
London — The final report of the U.K.’s infected blood inquiry will be published Monday, nearly six years after it began looking into how tens of thousands of people contracted HIV or hepatitis from transfusions of tainted blood and blood products in the 1970s and 1980s. The scandal is widely seen as the deadliest to afflict Britain’s state-run National Health Service since its inception in 1948, …
Prayers and concern in Iran as President Raisi’s helicopter still missing
Tehran. Iran — Fear and worry weighed on Iran Sunday as the Islamic Republic waited for news on the fate of President Ebrahim Raisi after his helicopter went missing in a foggy mountain area. Thousands of Muslim faithful prayed for his safe return in mosques nationwide — including amid the minarets of 63-year-old Raisi’s hometown, the shrine city of Mashhad. Tearful Iranians fearing the worst were …
China promises ‘friendship, cooperation’ as 2 Chinese warships dock in Cambodia
SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia — Two Chinese warships docked Sunday at a commercial port in Cambodia, in preparation for joint naval exercises between the two countries. The Jingangshan amphibious warfare ship and the Qi Jiguang training ship sailed into the Sihanoukville Port as onlookers waved Cambodian and Chinese flags from the piers. The port is north of the Ream Naval Base, where China has funded a broad expansion …
Europe’s far-right groups launch unofficial campaign for EU elections
Madrid — Europe’s far-right political parties unofficially launched their campaign Sunday for European Union elections in Spain with strong messages against illegal migration and the bloc’s climate policy while declaring their support for Israel in its war against Hamas. French National Rally party leader Marine Le Pen and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni tried to rally voters at an event organized by Spain’s far-right Vox party …
Armed robbers take ‘several million dollars’ of Harry Winston jewels in Paris
Paris — Armed robbers who used a motorbike as a battering ram made off with “several million euros’” [dollars’] worth of valuables in a heist of the luxury Paris boutique of self-declared “Jeweler to the Stars” Harry Winston, the French prosecutor’s office overseeing the police probe said. Having refused Saturday to confirm that Harry Winston was the target, the Paris prosecutor’s office did so Sunday, saying …
Who is Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s president whose helicopter suffered a ‘hard landing’ in foggy weather?
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi has long been seen as a protégé to Iran’s supreme leader and a potential successor for his position within the country’s Shiite theocracy. News of his helicopter making what state media described as a “hard landing” on Sunday immediately brought new attention to the leader, who already faces sanctions from the U.S. and other nations over …
Slovak PM’s life no longer in danger after shooting
Bratislava — Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s life is no longer in danger following an assassination attempt, Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak said on Sunday. A lone gunman, who appeared in court Saturday, shot Fico four times and he was at one stage said to be fighting for his life. “He has emerged from the immediate threat to his life, but his condition remains serious and …
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange facing pivotal moment in long fight to stay out of US court
London — The host of a news conference about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition fight wryly welcomed journalists last week to the “millionth” press briefing on his court case. Deborah Bonetti, director of the Foreign Press Association, was only half joking. Assange’s legal saga has dragged on for well over a decade but it could come to an end in the U.K. as soon as Monday. …
Biden risks Gaza protests at Martin Luther King Jr.’s college
ATLANTA — U.S. President Joe Biden speaks Sunday at the former university of civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr, in a bid to woo Black voters that risks being overshadowed by protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. Biden’s graduation speech at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, will be his most direct engagement with students since demonstrations over the conflict roiled campuses across the United States. …
Russia says it shot down 60 Ukrainian drones
MOSCOW — Russian officials said on Sunday that Ukraine fired nine U.S. ATACMS at Crimea and attacked Russian regions with at least 60 drones in a major attack which forced one oil refinery in southern Russia to halt operations. Russian air defenses shot down nine U.S. ATACMS missiles over Crimea along with 57 drones over Russia’s Krasnodar region and three drones over Belgorod region, the Russian …
Gaza hospital says 20 killed in Israeli strike on Nuseirat
Gaza Strip — A Gaza hospital said Sunday that an Israeli air strike targeting a house at a refugee camp in the center of the Palestinian territory killed at least 20 people. “We received 20 fatalities and several wounded after an Israeli air strike targeted a house belonging to the Hassan family in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza,” the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said in a …