US federal prosecutors said on Sunday an Iranian national was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for allegedly trafficking arms to Sudan on behalf of Tehran. Shamim Mafi, 44, is charged with “brokering the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses and millions of rounds of ammunition manufactured by Iran and sold to Sudan”, US Attorney Bill Essayli wrote in a social media post. A resident of the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills, Mafi “is an Iranian national who became a lawful permanent...

Sven Biscop is a Belgian political scientist and strategist specialising in the foreign affairs and security of the EU and its relations with great powers. He is a director at the Egmont Royal Institute for International Relations in Brussels and a professor at Ghent University. He is also a senior research fellow at Renmin University in Beijing, where he teaches in the summer. Biscop is the author of many books, including 2024’s This Is Not a New World Order: Europe Rediscovers Geopolitics,...

Many Hongkongers would have been surprised last week that the government was postponing the introduction of basketball betting. It was only months ago that the bill had been enacted by the Legislative Council. So clearly it was a matter that fell within our high degree of autonomy. And the Hong Kong Jockey Club was known to be hard at work preparing for implementation. But listeners to RTHK’s Backchat programme in early February may have come away with an inkling that all might not be well....

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday that the military had been instructed to use “full force” in Lebanon – even during the continuing ceasefire – should Israeli troops face any threat. “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have instructed the IDF to act with full force, both on the ground and from the air, including during the ceasefire, in order to protect our soldiers in Lebanon from any threat,” Katz said at a function in the occupied West Bank. Later in the day, the army...

UK police said on Sunday they are investigating whether a string of arson attacks on Jewish sites in London are the work of Iranian proxies, as the country’s chief rabbi said British Jews are facing a campaign of violence and intimidation. The Metropolitan Police force says counterterror officers are investigating fires at synagogues and other sites linked to the Jewish community, as well as an attack on a Persian-language media company. No one has been injured in the blazes, the latest of which...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a video address released on Sunday that Canada’s strong economic ties to the United States were once a strength but are now a weakness that must be corrected. In the 10-minute address, Carney spoke about his government’s efforts to strengthen the Canadian economy by attracting new investments and signing trade deals with other countries. “The world is more dangerous and divided,” Carney said. “The US has fundamentally changed its approach to trade,...

Pope Leo on Sunday recalled the “sorrow and great suffering” Angolans endured for centuries, as the American pope prayed at a Catholic shrine located at the site of an important hub of the African slave trade during Portugal’s colonial rule. Leo travelled to the Sanctuary of Mama Muxima, nestled in the Angolan savannahs of baobab trees at the edge of the Kwanza River. It became a major pilgrimage destination after believers reported an appearance by the Virgin Mary around 1833. But the Church of...