Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar arrived in Moscow on Thursday for a high-profile visit that comes as Kuala Lumpur looks for alternative oil sources amid the Iran war-linked fuel crisis. Sultan Ibrahim landed at Vnukovo-2 International Airport at 4.20pm local time on Thursday, according to Malaysian reports, and was received by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, senior protocol officials and Malaysia’s ambassador to Russia, Cheong Loon Lai. The king is attending Russia’s May 9...

A US federal judge on Wednesday released a document described as a suicide note ⁠purportedly written by the late Jeffrey ⁠Epstein and including the line: “It is a ⁠treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye”. Epstein, the disgraced financier and accused sex trafficker, was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 in what was ruled a suicide. The handwritten note was said to have been found by his former jail cellmate, convicted murderer and ex-police officer Nicholas...

US President Donald Trump’s lawyer, hoping for an eventual Supreme Court victory, has asked a federal appeal court in New York to temporarily block a long-time columnist from collecting a US$83 million defamation award. The lawyer, Justin D. Smith, told the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in a filing on Tuesday to stay its decision supporting the award so that Trump will not have to pay writer E. Jean Carroll while he appeals to the high court. A Manhattan jury awarded Carroll the payout in...

The US Air Force is targeting a Fourth of July delivery for a Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar that would join the Air Force One fleet in time for the nation’s 250th anniversary, a US official and a person familiar with the programme said. The White House accepted the luxury jet from Qatar in 2025 ‌and asked the Air Force to rapidly upgrade the aircraft to presidential standards, with L3Harris tapped to carry out the overhaul. If the company meets its deadline, US President Donald Trump will have a...

“In an increasingly severe security environment, no single country can now protect its own peace and security alone,” declared Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last month, signalling a major shift in Tokyo’s defence posture. “Under the new system, we will strategically promote equipment transfers while making even more rigorous and cautious judgments on whether transfers are permissible,” she added, confirming long-running speculation that Tokyo would relax decades-old restrictions on...

It was billed as an Atlantic odyssey to some of the most remote islands in the world. Instead, the cruise on the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius was left stranded off Cabo Verde, formerly known as Cape Verde, with passengers in their cabins, medical workers in protective suits tending to the sick and the ship’s operator seeking a safe port. The outbreak has left three dead and eight confirmed or suspected cases linked to the ‌Dutch-flagged expedition ship. Passengers, some of whom have been...

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will not serve time with an electronic ankle tag as punishment for illegal funding of his 2012 re-election bid, an informed source said on Wednesday. Sarkozy, 71, has faced a raft of accusations since leaving office after a single term from 2007 to 2012. He has denied all allegations in all cases. Last year, he became modern France’s first-ever president to go to jail, serving 20 days in a case related to alleged Libyan funding in his 2007 election...

US forces struck an Iranian oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday, even as Washington and Tehran appeared to move closer to a tentative agreement to end their two-month war, with US President Donald Trump warning that renewed bombing could begin if Iran rejects the proposed deal. A US fighter jet disabled the tanker by targeting its rudder as the vessel attempted to breach an American naval blockade of Iranian ports, US Central Command said in a social media post. The strike highlighted...

Israel struck Beirut ⁠on Wednesday for the first time since agreeing to a ceasefire with Hezbollah last month, with Israel saying it targeted a commander of the militant group’s elite Radwan force in the city’s southern suburbs. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz announced the action in a joint statement. Israeli media reported that the commander was killed in the strike, but there was no immediate confirmation from the Israeli military or Hezbollah. The...

The FBI has opened a criminal leak investigation focusing on a journalist who wrote a critical article about Kash Patel, the head of the US law enforcement agency, the cable news channel MS Now reported on Wednesday. Patel filed a US$250 million suit last month against The Atlantic magazine and the author of the article, Sarah Fitzpatrick, calling it a “sweeping, malicious, and defamatory hit piece”. The Atlantic story accused Patel of frequently drinking to excess and said he was in danger of...

Ted Turner created CNN in 1980, revolutionising the way America, and the world, got their news, and then went on to become one of the most prominent business leaders and philanthropists of his era. A brash risk taker, Turner – whose death aged 87 was announced on Wednesday – helped reshape the television industry in the late 20th century. He also made a name for himself with spectacular business deals, his ownership of professional sports clubs, a marriage to actress Jane Fonda, his leadership...

Pope Leo will inaugurate the soaring central tower of Barcelona’s famed Sagrada Familia basilica when he visits Spain next month in a week-long trip that will also take him to a migrant reception centre in the Canary Islands, the Vatican said on Wednesday. The June 6-12 visit will first bring Leo to Madrid for meetings with the government, parliament and King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia. He will also preside over a prayer vigil with young people that will recall the last time a pope visited...