When a South Korean cargo ship exploded and caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz late on Monday, Donald Trump wasted no time declaring what he thought it meant. “Perhaps it’s time for South Korea to come and join the mission!” the US president wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, invoking the incident as fresh justification for Seoul to send naval forces to the embattled waterway. Seoul’s answer, for now, has been a polite but firm no – or at least, not yet. The explosion occurred...

Sudan’s armed forces blamed a drone attack ⁠on Monday that targeted Khartoum airport on the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia, the latest in a barrage of assaults in recent days that has shattered months of relative calm in Sudan’s capital, three years into its civil war. Reuters could not independently verify the claims. Neither country immediately commented on the allegations made late on Monday. Sudan has often accused the UAE of supporting Rapid Support ‌Forces (RSF) paramilitaries, a charge...

A Colombian girl celebrating her 10th birthday was among three people crushed to death at a monster truck display when a vehicle veered out of control and ploughed into spectators, authorities said on Monday. Hellen Velarde was attending Sunday’s exhibition in the southwestern city of Popayan as a birthday gift when she was crushed by the truck in an incident that caused widespread anger. A second girl and a young woman were also killed, local media reported. Images circulating on social media...

Britain is in talks to join the European Union’s €90 billion (US$105.13 billion) loan to Ukraine to qualify for Kyiv’s defence orders that ‌the loan finances but will have to cover some interest payments on the borrowing to be eligible, the European Commission said. “Today marks the first high-level discussion on the UK’s potential participation in the €90 billion Ukraine Support Loan, following technical exchanges between the UK Government and the Commission,” a Commission spokesman told...

Coverage of the Trump administration dominated the Pulitzer Prizes announced on Monday as the prize committee unleashed a searing attack on US President Donald Trump’s attempts to limit freedom of reporting. “We stand for civil discourse and against censorship,” said Pulitzer Administrator Marjorie Miller ahead of the announcements, which honoured coverage of Trump’s immigration crackdown and his enrichment of his allies. “Unfortunately, this bears repeating now, as media access to the White...

As the Middle East conflict spreads uncertainty among farmers around the world, Chinese farmers are carrying out their spring ploughing as usual and appear largely untroubled. “The supply of chemical fertilisers for spring ploughing is ample,” an official with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said at a news conference last month, adding that domestic fertiliser prices were “far lower than international prices” and spring sowing was proceeding as normal. While policymakers around the...

An armed man was shot by US Secret Service (USSS) agents in downtown Washington on Monday, officials said, prompting a brief lockdown of the nearby White House. The shooting near the National Mall took place just after a motorcade carrying Vice-President J.D. Vance had passed by the area, USSS Deputy Director Matthew Quinn said. Quinn told reporters he did not believe that the vice-president was an intended target and said he could not speculate if it was related to recent attempts on the life...

In global discourse, a script has been handed to us: the United States and China are locked in a “tech race”. But this is really a misnomer. True competition requires a level playing field. When one runner trips the other to ensure victory, it’s not a competition; it’s cheating. So, when Washington deploys an arsenal of sanctions, export controls and diplomatic strong-arming to hamstring China’s technological ascent, it is not competing. It is an act of suppression. This reflects a deliberate...

President Vladimir Putin on Monday declared a two-day ceasefire in the conflict with Ukraine on May 8-9 to mark Russia’s World War II victory, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky countered with his own proposed pause in fighting starting earlier, on the night of May 5-6. Putin had first spoken of a possible ceasefire coinciding with commemorations of the 81st anniversary of the victory ‌in a phone conversation last week with US President Donald Trump. Ukraine had been wary of the notion...

China’s top diplomat on the US-Mexico border denounced protectionism as a dead end at the weekend, delivering a pointed defence of open trade just weeks before Mexico, the United States and Canada sit down to review the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that governs North American commerce. Consul General Fu Xinrong told a business gathering in Tijuana that unilateralism benefits no one and called on nations to build economic ties based on sovereignty and mutual respect rather than...

Troubled pop princess Britney Spears on Monday admitted to reckless driving involving alcohol, in a plea deal that means she will avoid jail. The “Toxic” singer was arrested in March after police spotted her driving erratically on a freeway in Ventura County, near Los Angeles. She was initially charged with DUI – driving under the influence – but under the plea deal confirmed Monday she admitted to a lesser charge of reckless driving involving alcohol, drugs or both. A court in Ventura sentenced...

Chloe Zhao, Demi Moore and Stellan Skarsgard are among the jurors who will decide the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, organisers announced on Monday. Just about a week before the 79th Cannes begins May 12, organisers unveiled the nine-member jury that will deliberate on the films in competition at the annual French Riviera festival. As already announced, South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook (Oldboy) is president of the jury. Moore, 63, along with Chinese filmmaker Zhao, whose...