Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Wednesday that his country’s negotiations with Israel in Washington were independent of the US-Iran deal to bring an end to the Middle East conflict. Lebanon and Israel have been holding direct talks in Washington since April, seeking to end the hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah and separate their conflict from the wider regional war. But the announcement on Monday of the US-Iran deal, which Iran and mediator Pakistan say includes Lebanon, has...

Government workers in different parts of Afghanistan have started switching off their smartphones, following an order imposed on Wednesday that they said came from Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. A letter announcing the ban on smartphones for all government employees started circulating on social media last week under the emblem of the Supreme Court, which has not responded to requests to comment. “All the heads of departments in their respective provinces are advised to inform their...

The fatal shooting in eastern Poland of a Russian artist known for his caricatures of Russian President Vladimir Putin was likely politically motivated, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday. “All indications are that this is a political murder,” Tusk said of the killing of Semyon Skrepetsky, whose real name is Robert Kuzovkov. “If it was commissioned by Russia, then this is also a very serious matter with an international dimension.” According to Polish officials, Skrepetsky was...

The son of Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was arrested on Wednesday on corruption charges, the anti-bribery commission said, the latest case to target the once all-powerful political clan. Yoshitha Rajapaksa, 38, is accused of tapping state funds for overseas training during his career as a naval officer. The Bribery Commission said he was being investigated for having risen through the ranks without the necessary qualifications and going to Britain for government-funded officer...

US President Donald Trump suspended a Senate hearing on Jay Clayton’s nomination for intelligence chief, saying on Wednesday he wanted to be sure Clayton’s current post as prosecutor would be filled by the man of his choosing. In a game of musical chairs, Trump picked Clayton, who headed the Securities and Exchange Commission during the president’s first term in office, as his director of national intelligence (DNI). Clayton has served as US attorney for the Southern District of New York – one...

Over 1,100 foreign citizens received Russian visas last year for their declared commitment to “traditional values”, state media reported on Wednesday, a track opened as Moscow hardens its anti-liberal narrative amid the war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has for years denounced anything that goes against what he calls “traditional family values” as unRussian – including everything from LGBTQ rights to mixed-gender bathrooms – portraying them as a sign of the moral decadence of the...

A new political party called Restore Britain is threatening the rise of Nigel Farage’s hard-right group, with a tougher anti-immigrant stance and the backing of tech trillionaire Elon Musk. Led by businessman and ex-football chairman Rupert Lowe, Restore is tipped to deprive Farage’s Reform UK party of victory over the ruling Labour Party in a crunch special election on Thursday. Lowe, 68, formed Restore as an alternative on the right of British politics in February following his split from...

One of US President Donald Trump’s pet beauty projects for Washington was supposed to make the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool look blue, like part of the US flag. Enter Mother Nature. Algae has proliferated in the water, turning it a swampy green. “Can you see it in my photos? Oh well, I’ll just use a filter to hide the algae,” said Farrah Lu, a 43-year-old tourist from China. The invasion comes just days after the completion of the pool repainting project, part of Trump’s drive to put his...