Showing 1 - 10 of 297
How a perilous US rescue mission in Iran nearly went off course
Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali and Humeyra Pamuk of Reuters, Published on 06/04/2026
» WASHINGTON - The rescue had unfolded with near‑perfect precision. Under cover of darkness, US commandos slipped deep into Iran, undetected, scaled a 7,000‑foot ridge and pulled a stranded American weapons specialist to safety, moving him toward a secret rendezvous point before dawn on Sunday. Then everything stopped.
Geisha spectacle in Japan's Kyoto celebrates arrival of spring
AFP, Published on 03/04/2026
» KYOTO (JAPAN) - Against a backdrop of blooming cherry blossoms, a group of geishas elegantly shuffle onto a stage in Japan's Kyoto city to begin a centuries-old performance celebrating the arrival of spring.
Newsmaker: Pragmatist Larijani the new power broker in Iran
Ahmed Elimam of Reuters, Published on 01/03/2026
» Veteran Iranian politician Ali Larijani, who said on Sunday a temporary leadership council would be set up after an air strike killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reemerged last year as one of the most powerful figures in the security hierarchy.
Trump’s threatened strikes to force an Iran deal risk backfiring
Natalia Drozdiak and Tony Copaccio of Bloomberg News, Published on 22/02/2026
» NEW YORK -- President Donald Trump said he is considering limited military strikes to pressure Iran into signing a new nuclear deal, but bombing the country may have the opposite effect, risking a new destabilizing conflict in the Middle East.
China has slashed air pollution, but the 'war' isn't over
AFP, Published on 17/02/2026
» BEIJING — Fifteen years ago, Beijing's Liangma riverbanks would have been smog-choked and deserted in winter, but these days they are dotted with families and exercising pensioners most mornings.
Nepal 'addicted' to the trade in its own people
AFP, Published on 16/02/2026
» KATHMANDU - Rudra Bahadur Kami returned to Nepal through a back door of Kathmandu airport in a battered coffin after working for more than a decade in Saudi Arabia to feed his family back home.
Long-delayed decision due on Chinese mega-embassy in London
AFP, Published on 20/01/2026
» LONDON - The UK government was Tuesday due to rule on plans for a sprawling Chinese mega-embassy in central London, amid security concerns and ahead of an expected visit to China by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Lid lifted on Hong Kong bid-rigging rackets
South China Morning Post, Published on 24/12/2025
» Raphael Chan entered Hong Kong’s construction industry in the mid-1990s convinced that quality building work could improve people’s lives. But he quit more than two decades later, disillusioned by what he called rampant corruption in the industry.
Oil smugglers' Cook Islands office enabling sanctions-busting 'shadow fleets'
Steven Trask of AFP, Published on 02/12/2025
» CANBERRA - Dozens of oil tankers suspected of smuggling contraband crude for Russia and Iran have been using a beachside office in the tropical South Pacific to cover their tracks, an AFP analysis of sanctions data has revealed.
Tigers in trouble as Malaysian big cat numbers dwindle
AFP, Published on 23/10/2025
» KUALA LUMPUR - For two years, Malaysian conservationists tracked a tiger named “Bulan” as she raised four cubs. Then a fatal traffic accident made her another statistic in the country’s dwindling population.