International news with relevance to Thai and regional readers
PARIS (Reuters) – Emmanuel Macron comfortably defeated far-right rival Marine Le Pen on Sunday, heading off a political earthquake for Europe but acknowledging dissatisfaction with his first term and saying he would seek to make amends. His supporters erupted with joy as the results appeared on a giant screen at the Champ de Mars park
The United States’ top diplomat and defence chief were Sunday set to make their first wartime visits to Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine two months ago, with fierce battles raging in the east of the country. The trip by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin comes as the war enters its third month
ZURICH, April 22 (Reuters) – The United Nations human rights office said on Friday there was growing evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine, including signs of indiscriminate shelling and summary executions, while it said Ukraine also appeared to have used weapons with indiscriminate effects. “Russian armed forces have indiscriminately shelled and bombed populated areas,
KYIV, April 21 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory on Thursday in the biggest battle of the Ukraine war, declaring the port city of Mariupol “liberated,” although hundreds of Ukrainian troops and civilians were still holding out inside a giant steel works. The United States disputed Putin’s claim and said it believed Ukrainian
Paris (AFP) – French leader Emmanuel Macron and far-right rival Marine Le Pen on Thursday made a final push for votes in France’s working-class heartlands after a pre-election debate from which the president was judged to have emerged on top. The televised debate on Wednesday evening — a pivotal moment ahead of Sunday’s run-off vote —
MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian military said Wednesday it successfully performed the first test of a new intercontinental ballistic missile, a weapon President Vladimir Putin said would make the West “think twice” before harboring any aggressive intentions against Russia. The test launch of the Sarmat missile comes amid soaring tensions between Moscow and the West
“Pirates of the Caribbean” star Johnny Depp said Wednesday that domestic abuse allegations made against him by his ex-wife Amber Heard had cost him “nothing less than everything” and claimed that she was the one who was frequently violent. Depp, taking the witness stand for a second day of testimony in his defamation case against
BEIJING (AP) — Shanghai allowed 4 million more people out of their homes Wednesday as anti-virus controls that shut down China’s biggest city eased, while the International Monetary Fund cut its forecast of Chinese economic growth and warned the global flow of industrial goods might be disrupted. A total of almost 12 million people in
April 20 (Reuters) – A Russian ultimatum to Ukrainian troops in Mariupol to surrender or die expired on Wednesday afternoon with no mass capitulation, but the commander of a unit believed to be holding out in the besieged city said his forces could survive just days or hours. Thousands of Russian troops backed by artillery
COLOMBO (AP) — Thousands of people across Sri Lanka took to the streets on Wednesday, a day after police opened fire at demonstrators, killing one person and injuring 13 others, reigniting widespread protests amid the country’s worst economic crisis in decades. Protesters used vehicles to block key roads in many parts of the country as
LVIV/KYIV, April 19 (Reuters) – Russian forces tried to push through Ukrainian defences along almost the entire front line in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, launching what President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the “Battle of the Donbas” – the long-awaited second phase of the war. A “very large part of the entire Russian army is now focused
ETHEKWINI, South Africa, April 17 (Reuters) – Rescuers searched for dozens of people still missing in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province on Sunday after heavy rains in recent days triggered floods and mudslides that have killed more than 440 people. The floods have left thousands homeless, knocked out power and water services and disrupted operations
