President Donald Trump fired on Thursday the last two federal election officials in charge of the agency that ensures accurate, secure votes ahead of midterms in November, US media reported.

Fighting paused in the Middle East yesterday after two days of deadly strikes between the United States and Iran, as Qatari negotiators travelled to Tehran in an attempt to get diplomacy back on track.

At least one million women and girls have lost access to life-saving support within the last year due to global donor aid cuts, a new United Nations report found yesterday.

Trump reiterates ceasefire has ended despite agreeing to continue diplomatic engagement

Passenger hospitalised with minor injuries following mid-air incident

Fresh attacks raise concerns over shipping and energy supplies

Protests driven by unemployment and weak growth could worsen labour shortages and disrupt informal trade

19 people remain missing

Around 120 million women and girls require humanitarian assistance and protection, UN Women says

On the agenda are trade, tourism and sport

A US judge ordered President Donald Trump on Wednesday to pay writer E. Jean Carroll $5 million after a civil jury found that he sexually assaulted and defamed her.

Tributes flooded in yesterday to Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler, best known for her powerful, haunting love song “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, after she died in hospital in Portugal. She was 75.

South Korea’s highest court yesterday upheld ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol’s seven-year prison sentence over crimes tied to his botched 2024 martial law declaration and its chaotic aftermath.

Australia and India yesterday reached a deal to export Australian uranium to India for use in the nuclear energy industry, while agreeing to deepen cooperation in renewables, critical minerals and green hydrogen.

A fire that tore through a shoe factory in eastern China yesterday killed at least 28 people, state media said, after dozens of fire and rescue personnel raced to extinguish the blaze.

Control over the Strait of Hormuz has become Iran’s “golden weapon,” a priority that now outweighs its nuclear programme. Tehran is willing to risk new escalations with the United States to secure dominance over the waterway, which carries a fifth of global energy supplies.

The Calcutta High Court yesterday appointed a special officer to manage the day-to-day expenses of the Mamata Banerjee-aligned TMC from three debit-frozen bank accounts of the party, reports The Hindu online.

Ukrainian drones hit a dozen more Russian tankers in the Sea of Azov overnight, Ukraine’s military said yesterday, the latest in a campaign aimed at disrupting fuel supplies to Russian forces and isolating Moscow-occupied Crimea.

New fighting erupted between the United States and Iran ahead of the burial of supreme leader Ali Khamenei yesterday, with Tehran targeting US regional allies and American strikes hitting the perimeter of an Iranian nuclear power plant.

The disgraced former president is already in detention while he appeals a separate life sentence for leading an insurrection with his martial law declaration, which he insists was motivated by the public interest.