Incumbent Gitanas Nauseda has won the first round of voting in Lithuania’s presidential election, putting him on track for a second and final term in office. With nearly all of the votes counted, former banker Nauseda was on 46 percent, just short of the overall majority needed for a first-round victory. Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte…
Thousands of people have protested in the Swedish city of Malmo against Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, with Israel’s war on Gaza casting a shadow over the final of the glitzy contest. On Saturday, a large crowd of protesters gathered on the central square of the Swedish host city before marching towards the contest venue,…
Air Vanuatu, the national carrier of the Pacific Islands nation of Vanuatu, has gone into liquidation a day after it cancelled all flights leaving thousands of travellers stranded. More than 20 flights to and from the Australian cities of Sydney and Brisbane, as well as the New Zealand city of Auckland have been cancelled, with…
Australia’s High Court has dismissed a closely-watched bid by an Iranian asylum seeker demanding to be released from immigration detention because he feared being held indefinitely. The man has been resisting deportation from Australia since 2018, arguing that he would be at risk because of his sexual orientation and religious beliefs Known only as ASF17,…
The world experienced its hottest April on record, continuing an 11-month streak of unprecedented high temperatures, the European Union’s climate change monitoring service has said. Each month since June 2023 has ranked as the planet’s hottest on record, compared with the corresponding month in previous years, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said on Wednesday. The…
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accused Beijing of “unacceptable” conduct after reports a Chinese fighter jet fired flares in the flight path of an Australian navy helicopter over international waters. The MH60R Seahawk helicopter was flying above the Yellow Sea on Saturday as part of the United Nations’s efforts to enforce sanctions on North Korea…
A United States soldier has been detained in Vladivostok on charges of theft in Russia’s latest high-profile detention of an American. Russia’s RIA state news agency reported on Tuesday that the soldier, identified by the court as Gordon Black, would be detained until July 2. Speaking on condition of anonymity, US officials told the Associated…
The Wall Street Journal has announced staff cuts at its Hong Kong bureau as it shifts its “center of gravity in the region” to Singapore, marking the latest blow to the financial hub’s once-thriving media industry. Editor-in-chief Emma Tucker told staff in a company-wide memo on Thursday that the newspaper was following the same path…
A member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Texas, Henry Cuellar, and his wife have been indicted on allegations that the couple accepted nearly $600,000 in bribes in exchange for their efforts to influence legislation that advanced the interests of a Mexican bank and a state-controlled energy company in Azerbaijan….
Legislators in the Solomon Islands have elected former Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele as their new prime minister. Manele, who has pledged to continue the Pacific nation’s China-friendly foreign policy, won 31 votes in a secret ballot on Thursday. His opponent, longtime opposition leader Matthew Wale, secured 18 votes. The vote in the 50-member parliament took…
