The next steps in the US military campaign against Iran will commit nearly its entire inventory of stealthy JASSM-ER cruise missiles, drawing them from stockpiles devoted to other regions. The order to pull the US$1.5 million weapon from Pacific stockpiles was issued at the end of March, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Missiles at US facilities elsewhere, including the continental US, will be moved to US Central Command bases or Fairford in the UK, said the person, who...

The Trump administration has revoked the green cards or US visas of at least four Iranian nationals connected to the current or former Iranian government, including two who have been detained by immigration authorities and are to be deported. The latest actions were taken just this week when Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined they were no longer eligible for either lawful permanent resident status, or to enter the United States. The steps follow a move late last year in which the visas of...

A student who featured in a controversial Hong Kong documentary has said she did not give her consent to it being shown at an Italian film festival, reiterating her objection to it being screened publicly. Ah Ling, one of six students who featured in the coming-of-age documentary To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self, said she was only notified by Ying Wa Girls’ School on Friday that the film would be screened at the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, this month. The school also did not address her...

Russia and Ukraine traded deadly strikes overnight and on Saturday morning, killing 10 people and wounding several dozen more, officials on both sides said on Saturday. The attacks came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky travelled to Istanbul for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He will also meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians. “We are working to strengthen our partnership to ensure the real protection of lives,...

US President Donald Trump on Saturday said Iran had 48 hours left to make a deal on opening the vital Strait of Hormuz or face “Hell”. “Remember when I gave Iran 10 days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. The waterway is vital to the global oil and gas trade. “Time is running out – 48 hours before all Hell will reign (sic) down on them,” the president said on Saturday, adding: “Glory be to GOD!” Trump had initially threatened on March 21 to...

Across major African cities such as Nairobi, Lusaka, and Abuja, governments are using surveillance technologies and credit lines from China to monitor public spaces and curb crime, a new survey shows. The UK-based Institute of Development Studies (IDS) said Chinese banks were increasingly funding African governments to build and maintain digital infrastructure – including surveillance cameras and command and control centres – under the “safe city” project, also known as “smart city”, which is...

The Senegalese government has banned all but essential foreign trips for government ministers as part of cost-saving measures triggered by the energy crisis linked to the Iran war. Senegal, like many African countries, imports most of the petroleum products it consumes, leaving its economy vulnerable to supply disruptions such as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has sent the price of crude soaring. For millions in the region, soaring fuel prices have worsened the hardships they already...