Russia has freed 24 Filipinos who have been detained for months without charges in a Siberian city, after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr raised concerns about them in a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, Philippine officials said on Saturday. The 24 were scheduled to arrive in Manila on two flights early on Sunday, with the first batch to be welcomed by Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro, who accompanied Marcos in his talks with Putin on Wednesday in the Russian city of...

One of Iceland’s two remaining whaling ships set out this week to hunt the giant mammals after a two-year hiatus, local media and campaigners reported on Saturday. Iceland is one of only three countries that still openly permit whaling, alongside Norway and Japan – despite international opprobrium from the public and animal welfare organisations. A protester chained himself to the mast of the vessel before it left the port of Reykjavik on Friday. He climbed down in the evening and was escorted...

Hong Kong police have arrested a man in connection with three burglaries in Ma On Shan involving losses of more than HK$700,000 (US$89,750). Police said on Saturday that they received three burglary reports between April 26 and June 3, concerning two flats at the Sausalito private residential estate on Yuk Tai Street and a house in nearby Tai Shui Hang Village. All three homes showed signs of ransacking, with valuables, including gold ornaments and jewellery, and cash missing. The combined loss...

Iran dealt two quick blows to the interim agreement with the US on Saturday, angered by Israel’s continued attacks in Lebanon, saying it had closed the Strait of Hormuz and announcing that while its negotiators were going to Switzerland for talks, not much was likely to happen there. Key mediator Pakistan, meanwhile, said the technical-level talks would begin on Sunday in Burgenstock, Switzerland, with Qatari mediators also taking part. In Tehran’s first salvo, Iran’s joint military command said...

Hong Kong’s rail giant has launched an investigation after a woman was injured when a ceiling panel fell and hit her leg at Telford Plaza in Kowloon Bay. The MTR Corporation, which also manages the shopping centre, said on Saturday that a section of the ceiling near an entrance to Phase One had become loose and fallen shortly before midnight on June 18. Shopping centre staff immediately attended to her, called police and accompanied her to hospital for treatment, according to the MTR...

As the US voluntarily dismantles its global hegemony, China has neither the will nor the capacity to fill the role, a prominent Chinese foreign policy expert has argued. Beijing was forging an alternative path rooted in sovereign equality and multilateralism, rather than a quest for global dominance, said Da Wei, director of Tsinghua University’s Centre for International Security and Strategy. “I believe America’s global institutional hegemony is coming to an end,” Da told a public seminar at...

US President Donald Trump escalated a diplomatic row with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday, accusing her of repeatedly seeking a photograph with him and linking the dispute to tensions over Iran and Nato. The clash has opened an unusually personal rift between Trump and one of Europe’s most prominent right-wing leaders, who had sought to cast herself as a bridge between Washington and the continent during Trump’s return to power. Trump had initially told Italian broadcaster La7...