Dianne Feinstein, a long-serving Democratic U.S. senator from California and gun control advocate who spearheaded the first federal assault weapons ban and documented the CIA’s torture of foreign terrorism suspects, has died at 90, a source familiar with the news said on Friday. Feinstein’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on…
The U.S. federal government was two days from a partial shutdown on Friday, as a handful of hardline House Republicans refused to support a bipartisan stopgap spending bill meant to give lawmakers more time to negotiate a full-year deal. The National Park Service will close, the Securities and Exchange Commission will suspend most of its…
Irish actor known for playing Albus Dumbledore died after becoming ill with pneumonia, family statement says. Michael Gambon, who played the wise professor Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movie franchise, has died at age 82. Gambon began acting on stage in the early 1960s and later moved into TV and film. Notable film roles include…
State Department says Beijing spending billions to spread disinformation and shape opinion in favour of China and the communist party. China is spending billions of dollars a year to shape perceptions of China through influence, censorship and disinformation in a large-scale campaign that could threaten global freedoms, the United States has said. “Beijing has invested…
The deaths come as former colonial power France prepares to withdraw a counterinsurgency force stationed in the country. Seven soldiers have been killed in Niger’s southwest in an attack by suspected rebels, and five others died in a traffic accident while trying to respond to the assault. The deaths on Thursday come as former colonial…
Border opened after weeks of demonstrations by Palestinian workers through an informal agreement Qatar helped mediate, Gaza envoy says. Qatar says it successfully mediated an agreement between Israel and officials in the Gaza Strip to reopen crossing points to the besieged territory after Palestinians were prevented from working and violence broke out. The crossings were…
Moscow’s Ministry of Defence reports downing more than a dozen Ukrainian drones in latest attacks on Russian territory. A combat drone dropped explosives on an electricity substation in a Russian village near the border with Ukraine, while Russia’s Ministry of Defence reported shooting down more than a dozen Ukrainian drones over the Russian regions of Belgorod,…
Czech PM Petr Fiala says purchase of US-made F-35 fighter jets tells military allies ‘that they can count on us’. The Czech government has approved a plan to buy 24 US-made F-35 advanced fighter jets in a deal valued at approximately $6.5bn, the largest defence contract ever signed by the Czech Republic that will see…
Moscow says US, UK had role in planning and executing of attack by providing spy plane, satellite intelligence to Kyiv. Russia accused Ukraine’s Western allies of helping plan and execute a missile attack on the Russian Black Sea fleet’s headquarters in the annexed Crimean Peninsula last week. Moscow’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday…
‘The West is reliable, Russia is equally reliable,’ the Turkish president said in a recent interview, a comment that reflects his delicate balancing act. Kyiv, Ukraine – In Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s opinion, Russia and the West are “equally” reliable and trustworthy. That is what the Turkish president said on September 18 commenting on the collective West’s…
