Taiwan’s military will hold a five-day combat readiness drill this week, the defence ministry said yesterday, as part of modernisation plans to shift its training focus to more realistic exercises simulating war, away from setpiece events.

Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten yesterday issued a formal state apology to members of the Moluccan community for their decades-long mistreatment by the Netherlands after Indonesia won independence from colonisation.

Al Jazeera yesterday rejected Israeli accusations that one of its journalists, killed in Gaza a day earlier, was a Hamas operative, as family and colleagues mourned the cameraman in the Palestinian territory.

Israelis overwhelmingly believe that Iran emerged stronger from the Middle East war and its subsequent deal with the United States, a poll released on Sunday found.

Four people were killed, and fuel sales were suspended in Russian-occupied Crimea, the Moscow-backed authorities there said yesterday, after a massive Ukrainian barrage hit the Black Sea peninsula.

Musicians this weekend will for the first time publicly interpret music for flute and harp that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote as a 22-year-old while teaching an aristocratic French student.

Iran yesterday warned the United States to “be careful” after President Donald Trump threatened to strike the Islamic republic over its support for Hezbollah, even as the arch-foes held talks in Switzerland seeking a deal to permanently end the Middle East war.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was considering his political future yesterday, after rival Andy Burnham’s decisive election victory to parliament prompted more ministers in the governing Labour Party to call for him to go.

Jordan hanged on Sunday six men convicted of killing security personnel, a government official said, ending a nine-year moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday “terrible vandals” had sabotaged his renovation project of the Reflecting Pool in Washington, which will have to be revamped again, as it was blighted with algae and peeling paint.

The poll of 3,644 respondents, conducted between June 17 and 20 by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in collaboration with the Agam Institute, paints a stark picture of public sentiment following the US-Iran deal.

Iran said on Sunday that the ongoing conflict in Lebanon between Israel and militant group Hezbollah will top the agenda in talks with the United States in Switzerland, as well as issues such as frozen Iranian funds and the sale of the country's oil

Mediators Pakistan, Qatar also attend, Swiss foreign ministry says

In addition to Vance, the US negotiating team includes envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law.

Senior Labour figures expect statement on Starmer's future

The strike was carried out by a drone in the refugee camp and also wounded several people

The majority-Muslim southern city, in the Kordofan region, has been under siege for several months by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been at war with the regular army since April 2023

Iran says it closed Strait of Hormuz because of Israeli attacks in Lebanon

Follow-up talks had been planned in Switzerland on Friday but were postponed at the last minute after Israel launched deadly strikes in Lebanon following the deaths of four of its soldiers in combat.

The US State Department on Friday slammed Cuban economic reforms announced the previous day as “superficial smoke signals.”