World

Iran Summons French Diplomat over Minister's Cannes Remarks
Iran Summons French Diplomat over Minister's Cannes Remarks

France's envoy in Tehran was summoned Sunday over "insulting" comments by France's foreign minister after an Iranian film won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, state media reported. In a post on X after dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi won the Palme d'Or on Saturday, Jean-Noel Barrot called his victory "a ...

'Just an Accident:' The Iranian Film That Won Over Cannes and Took Home the Palme d’Or
Behind the Scenes'Just an Accident:' The Iranian Film That Won Over Cannes and Took Home the Palme d’Or

From the very start of this 78th edition, the tone was set. The official poster, showing a couple running along a beach, taken from Claude Lelouch’s A Man and a Woman, said it all: a nod to romance, but also to the familiar. This year, Cannes offered both comfort and disruption. Comfort, in the form of familiar faces: Claude Lelouch, Daniel ...

Iraq's Faces Lowest Water Reserves in 80 Years
Iraq's Faces Lowest Water Reserves in 80 Years

Iraq's water reserves are at their lowest in 80 years after a dry rainy season, a government official said Sunday, as its share from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers shrinks. Water is a major issue in the country of 46 million people undergoing a serious environmental crisis because of climate change, drought, rising temperatures and declining ...

Jerusalem on Alert as Army Intercepts Yemen-Launched Missile
Jerusalem on Alert as Army Intercepts Yemen-Launched Missile

The Israeli army said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen on Sunday, shortly after air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem, according to AFP journalists. "Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted," the army said in a ...

Trump defends block on foreign students at Harvard
Trump defends block on foreign students at Harvard

US President Donald Trump defended on Sunday his administration's move to block foreign students at Harvard after a judge suspended the action, branded by the top university as unlawful. "Why isn't Harvard saying that almost 31% of their students are from FOREIGN LANDS, and yet those countries, some not at all friendly to the United ...

\
"It's in our blood": How Vietnam Made the Latin Alphabet Its Own

At a calligraphy class in Hanoi, Hoang Thi Thanh Huyen slides her brush across the page to form the letters and tonal marks of Vietnam’s unique modern script — Quoc Ngu — in part a legacy of French colonial rule. The history of romanised Vietnamese, or Quoc Ngu, links the arrival of the first Christian missionaries, colonisation by the ...

Russia and Ukraine Complete Record Prisoner Swap
Russia and Ukraine Complete Record Prisoner Swap

Russia said Sunday it had exchanged another 303 Ukrainian prisoners of war for the same number of Russian soldiers held by Kyiv -- the last phase of the largest-ever such swap between the warring countries. "In accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements reached in Istanbul on May 16, the Russian and Ukrainian sides have (over the ...

Syria to Help Locate Missing Americans
Syria to Help Locate Missing Americans

Syria's new authorities have agreed to help the United States locate and return Americans who went missing in the war-ravaged country, a US envoy said on Sunday, in another sign of thawing bilateral ties. The announcement came a day after the United States formally lifted sanctions on Syria, ending more than a decade of diplomatic ...

After Brief X Outage, Musk Says Refocusing on Businesses
After Brief X Outage, Musk Says Refocusing on Businesses

Social media platform X was hit by a two-hour outage Saturday, prompting owner Elon Musk to say he needs to spend more time focusing on his companies. His statement echoed comments earlier this month suggesting he would reduce his role in US President Donald Trump's administration. The world's richest person has an extraordinarily full ...

Syria Restructures Interior Ministry as US and EU Lift Sanctions
Syria Restructures Interior Ministry as US and EU Lift Sanctions

Syrian authorities on Saturday announced an interior ministry restructuring that includes fighting cross-border drug and people smuggling as they seek to improve ties with Western nations that have lifted sanctions. Keen to reboot and rebuild nearly 14 years after a devastating civil war broke out, the new authorities in Damascus have hailed ...

Sharaa Meets US Envoy After Lifting of Sanctions
Sharaa Meets US Envoy After Lifting of Sanctions

The US ambassador to Turkey, who has assumed the role of Syria envoy, said Saturday he had met the country's interim leader following Washington's lifting of sanctions on the war-torn country. Tom Barrack, who met with interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Istanbul, said in a statement: "I reiterated the United States' support for ...

US Strike on Yemen Kills Al-Qaeda Members
US Strike on Yemen Kills Al-Qaeda Members

The number of Al-Qaeda members killed in strikes on southern Yemen blamed on the United States increased to nine, a Yemeni security source told AFP on Saturday. The official in Abyan province, which borders the seat of Yemen's internationally recognised government in Aden, said the strikes killed nine members of the group including a local ...