Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has nominated his nephew to join the central bank’s board of governors, two sources said, amid growing concern about its independence as the government seeks more support for ambitious economic targets. Investors have worried that independent monetary policymaking in Southeast Asia’s largest economy might be under pressure as Prabowo targets economic growth of 8 per cent by 2029, ⁠from about 5 per cent now. Those fears grew after Bank Indonesia (BI) unveiled...

Pakistani firefighters ‌began pulling bodies from the smouldering remains of a sprawling Karachi shopping centre on Monday where more than 60 people were still missing after a ‍massive fire that killed at least 19 people. The fire started late on Saturday at Gul Plaza, which houses 1,200 shops in a multi-storey complex spread across an area larger than a football field. The blaze in Karachi’s historic centre raged for more than 24 hours before it was mostly extinguished. Videos showed fierce...

Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) will delay the restart of its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday, public broadcaster NHK reported on Monday, after an alarm malfunction. It would have been the first reactor restart for Tepco since its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was hit by a powerful tsunami in 2011. The company had planned to restart Unit No 6 at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa on Tuesday and Unit No 7 around 2030, as Japan seeks greater energy...

The ‌Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers in Alaska to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota, the site of large protests against the government’s deportation drive, two US officials told ‍Reuters on Sunday. The US Army placed the units on prepare-to-deploy orders in case violence in the midwestern state escalates, the officials said, though it is not clear whether any of them will be sent. US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to use the Insurrection Act to...

The ‌Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers in Alaska to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota, the site of large protests against the government’s deportation drive, two US officials told ‍Reuters on Sunday. The US Army placed the units on prepare-to-deploy orders in case violence in the midwestern state escalates, the officials said, though it is not clear whether any of them will be sent. US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to use the Insurrection Act to...

At least 39 people died in southern Spain after a ‍high-speed train derailed and collided with an oncoming one on Sunday night, marking the worst railway accident in the country since 2013. The accident happened at 7.45pm near Adamuz in the province of Cordoba, about 360km (223 miles) south of the capital Madrid. It left 122 people injured, with 48 still in hospital and 12 in intensive ⁠care, according to emergency services. Drone footage at the scene showed twisted carriages lying on their side...

Ukraine’s top negotiator Rustem Umerov said ‍on Sunday that talks with US officials on a resolution of the nearly four-year-old war with Russia would continue at the World Economic Forum opening this week in the Swiss resort of Davos. Umerov, writing on Telegram, said two days of talks in Florida with a US team ⁠including envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, had focused on security guarantees and a post-war recovery plan for Ukraine. He gave no indication...

European Union ambassadors reached broad agreement on Sunday to intensify ‌efforts to dissuade US President Donald Trump from imposing tariffs on European allies, while also preparing retaliatory measures should the duties go ahead, EU diplomats said. Trump vowed on Saturday to implement ‍a wave of increasing tariffs from February 1 on EU members Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, along with Britain and Norway, until the US is allowed to buy Greenland, a step major EU...

Ukraine’s top negotiator Rustem Umerov said ‍on Sunday that talks with US officials on a resolution of the nearly four-year-old war with Russia would continue at the World Economic Forum opening this week in the Swiss resort of Davos. Umerov, writing on Telegram, said two days of talks in Florida with a US team ⁠including envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, had focused on security guarantees and a post-war recovery plan for Ukraine. He gave no indication...

European Union ambassadors reached broad agreement on Sunday to intensify ‌efforts to dissuade US President Donald Trump from imposing tariffs on European allies, while also preparing retaliatory measures should the duties go ahead, EU diplomats said. Trump vowed on Saturday to implement ‍a wave of increasing tariffs from February 1 on EU members Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, along with Britain and Norway, until the US is allowed to buy Greenland, a step major EU...

Governments reacted cautiously on Sunday to US President Donald Trump’s invitation to join his “Board of Peace” initiative aimed at resolving conflicts globally, a plan that diplomats said could harm the work of the United Nations. Only ‍Hungary, whose leader is a close Trump ally, gave an unequivocal acceptance in response to the invitations, which have been addressed to some 60 nations and began arriving in European capitals on Saturday, according to diplomats. Other governments appeared...

Governments reacted cautiously on Sunday to US President Donald Trump’s invitation to join his “Board of Peace” initiative aimed at resolving conflicts globally, a plan that diplomats said could harm the work of the United Nations. Only ‍Hungary, whose leader is a close Trump ally, gave an unequivocal acceptance in response to the invitations, which have been addressed to some 60 nations and began arriving in European capitals on Saturday, according to diplomats. Other governments appeared...

Iran’s president warned on Sunday that any US strike would trigger a “harsh response” from Tehran after an Iranian official in the ‍region said at least 5,000 people - including about 500 security personnel - had been killed in nationwide protests. Iran’s protests, sparked last month in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar over economic grievances, swiftly turned political and spread nationwide, drawing participants from across generations and income groups - shopkeepers, students, men and women, the poor and...

Iran’s president warned on Sunday that any US strike would trigger a “harsh response” from Tehran after an Iranian official in the ‍region said at least 5,000 people - including about 500 security personnel - had been killed in nationwide protests. Iran’s protests, sparked last month in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar over economic grievances, swiftly turned political and spread nationwide, drawing participants from across generations and income groups - shopkeepers, students, men and women, the poor and...

The number of firearms in Australia reached an all-time high of more than 4 ‌million in 2025, the centre-left government reported on Sunday, ‍a day after saying it would introduce a gun reform bill in parliament in response to the Bondi massacre. There were a record 4,113,735 guns in Australia last year, with ⁠1,158,654 of those in the most populous state of New South Wales where the Bondi attack took place, the government said, citing Department of Home Affairs data. The Labour government on...

Moderate Socialist Antonio Jose Seguro came ‍out on top in the first round of Portugal’s presidential election on Sunday, followed by the far-right leader Andre Ventura, and the two will face off in a February 8 run-off. In the five decades since Portugal threw off its fascist dictatorship, a presidential election has only once before - in 1986 - required a run-off, highlighting ⁠how fragmented the political landscape has become with the rise of the far-right and voter disenchantment with...

Moderate Socialist Antonio Jose Seguro came ‍out on top in the first round of Portugal’s presidential election on Sunday, followed by the far-right leader Andre Ventura, and the two will face off in a February 8 run-off. In the five decades since Portugal threw off its fascist dictatorship, a presidential election has only once before - in 1986 - required a run-off, highlighting ⁠how fragmented the political landscape has become with the rise of the far-right and voter disenchantment with...

Indonesian authorities said on Sunday they had located the wreckage of a fisheries surveillance plane that went missing in South Sulawesi province on the slope of a fog-covered mountain, and had recovered the body of one of the 10 people on board. The ATR 42-500 turboprop owned by aviation group Indonesia Air Transport lost contact with air traffic control on Saturday at about 1.30pm local time around the Maros ⁠region in South Sulawesi. There were seven crew members and three passengers on...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on ‍Saturday that this week’s Trump administration announcement on the composition of a Gaza executive board was not coordinated with Israel and ran counter to ⁠government policy. It said Foreign Minister Gideon Saar would raise the issue with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The statement did not specify what part of the board’s composition contradicted ‍Israeli policy. An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment. The board, unveiled...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on ‍Saturday that this week’s Trump administration announcement on the composition of a Gaza executive board was not coordinated with Israel and ran counter to ⁠government policy. It said Foreign Minister Gideon Saar would raise the issue with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The statement did not specify what part of the board’s composition contradicted ‍Israeli policy. An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment. The board, unveiled...

Trump administration officials had been in discussions with Venezuela’s hardline Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello months before the US operation to seize the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, and have been in communication ‌with him since then, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The officials warned Cabello, 62, against using the security services or militant ruling-party supporters overseen by him to target the country’s opposition, four ‍sources said. That security...

Trump administration officials had been in discussions with Venezuela’s hardline Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello months before the US operation to seize the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, and have been in communication ‌with him since then, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The officials warned Cabello, 62, against using the security services or militant ruling-party supporters overseen by him to target the country’s opposition, four ‍sources said. That security...

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned airlines on Friday to exercise caution when flying over Mexico, Central America and parts of South America, citing the risks of potential military activities and GPS interference. The FAA said it had issued “Notices to Airmen” covering Mexico and Central American countries, as well as Ecuador, Colombia and portions of airspace within the eastern Pacific Ocean. They say: “Potential risks exist for aircraft at all altitudes, including during...

A British teenager who praised the killer of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event ‌and said he planned to bomb British rock band Oasis’ reunion concert ‍was sentenced to detention on Friday for possession of an al-Qaeda manual. McKenzie Morgan, 18, was arrested at his home in Wales after sending messages on the social media platform Snapchat in ⁠which he praised Axel Rudakubana, who murdered three girls and stabbed 10 others in July 2024, prosecutor Corinne Bramwell...

President Vladimir Putin is mediating in the Iran situation ‍to try to quickly de-escalate tensions, the Kremlin said on Friday, after the Russian leader spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Moscow, an ally of Tehran, has condemned US President Donald Trump’s threats of new military strikes after Iran cracked down on protests that broke out late last month. Israel and the US last ⁠year both bombed Iranian nuclear sites, and Iran fought a...

Britain’s former ‍Conservative Party leadership candidate Robert Jenrick became the biggest-name defector to Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK on Thursday, saying the nation was broken and its two mainstream political parties rotten. Sacked by the Conservatives when his potential switch was leaked, Jenrick appeared alongside Farage at a press conference, the latest of 21 current ⁠or former Conservative lawmakers to join Reform. Farage’s anti-immigration party was ahead of both Prime Minister...

Pennsylvania federal prosecutors on Thursday announced charges against 26 people for allegedly rigging bets on college and Chinese professional basketball games, the latest case to accuse athletes of cheating at legalised sports betting that ⁠has exploded in popularity in the US. A 70-page indictment names more than a dozen former National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball players, a former NBA player and two sports-betting influencers who were previously charged in a sweeping NBA...

European countries sent small numbers of military personnel to Greenland on Thursday as ‌Denmark said it was pressing on with plans for a “larger and more permanent” Nato presence to secure the island coveted by US President Donald Trump. The modest European deployments, meant to help ‍Denmark prepare military exercises, sent a strong message of support a day after a meeting of officials from the US, Denmark and Greenland failed to reach any breakthrough on the impasse. After that meeting, Trump...

FBI agents searched a Washington Post reporter’s home on Wednesday as part of an investigation into sharing secret government information, officials said, ‍in a move that press advocates said threatened journalistic freedom. The reporter, Hannah Natanson, has covered US President Donald Trump’s campaign to fire hundreds of thousands of federal workers and shift remaining workers to implementing his agenda. US Attorney General Pam Bondi said federal agents had executed the search at the request...