World

Taiwan has imported nearly $5 billion worth of naphtha from the sanctioned country while supporting Ukraine, report claims Taiwan became the largest global importer of Russian naphtha during the first half of 2025, according to a report released Wednesday by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). The Helsinki-based NGO said Taiwan imported 1.9 million metric tonnes …

President Donald Trump’s claim last week that Russia was in “big financial trouble” looks only slightly hyperbolic – and it also looks like evidence that after more than three and a half years of war, the sanctions are punishing Russia’s economy and the Kremlin’s war coffers. But then there is the other news. In the past week, Moscow has won …

US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China are unlikely to ease, despite ongoing talks towards a comprehensive deal targeted for November, according to two people familiar with the matter. The US seems “very comfortable” with the current rate of tariffs, the sources said, adding that the recent negotiations have mostly revolved around “broader” issues like TikTok, subsidies and export controls …

Some British tourists travelling to the United States could face a new £185 charge from today. The US government announced the Visa Integrity Fee over the summer as part of efforts to tackle visa overstays. It exclusively targets visitors from nations outside the Visa Waiver Program who must secure non-immigrant visas. Travel specialist Brenda Beltran from Holafly clarified that most …

MP Andrey Parubiy was gunned down in Lviv earlier this year by a man who said he did it out of hate for the government Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has posthumously awarded late neo-Nazi politician Andrey Parubiy with the country’s top honor, conferring him a ‘hero of Ukraine’. Zelensky signed a decree on Wednesday, citing the neo-Nazi MP’s “outstanding personal …

The American federal government has been effectively shut down since Wednesday after the US Congress failed to pass a bipartisan funding bill, a development that could erode the country’s image and sap the morale of its team dealing with China, according to analysts. The shutdown happened because Congress could not pass either a Democratic-backed proposal aimed at extending healthcare subsidies …

A father tortured and killed his tenant after being told the 45-year-old raped his daughter and made her pregnant. The man turned himself in to police in Delhi, India, admitting to what had happened but he was quickly hailed by many as a hero for getting vengeance on his daughter. According to reports from 2014, the dad burned the alleged …

Grokipedia will be a “massive improvement” as a source of knowledge, the billionaire has claimed Elon Musk has announced plans to build a new online encyclopedia to rival Wikipedia, which he and other critics describe as politically biased. He claimed his version will be a “massive improvement” over the existing site. The planned service, called Grokipedia, will be powered by …

China’s coastguards said they were ready to uphold the country’s sovereignty in the disputed Scarborough Shoal, in a message broadcast by state broadcaster CCTV on National Day. The country has a long-running dispute with the Philippines over the reef and other areas of the South China Sea, and Wednesday’s report said the coastguards had resumed “regular patrols” in the area …

A female science teacher has apologised after pupils claimed she fed a live kitten to a snake in her classroom. The unnamed teacher of animal science in Alvord, Texas—about an hour north of Fort Worth—was accused of bringing in four sick kittens born by her cat and feeding one of them to the snake.  One of her students was so shocked that …