A rare shooting at a public high school in the central Philippines that left three students dead and seven injured has gripped the country amid concerns over campus safety and the mental well-being of young people. Two Grade 9 students, aged 14 and 15, were arrested over the incident at the San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, Leyte province. The weapons involved were a .38 revolver and a 9mm pistol – the latter of which was traced to a police officer who was one of the suspects’...

An independent committee investigating Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades has ruled out seeking statutory powers to compel witnesses to testify, a move that has left some survivors concerned that key figures may avoid scrutiny. Committee chairman Justice David Lok Kai-hong said the panel would not ask the chief executive to convert it into a statutory commission of inquiry during the ongoing investigation into last year’s Wang Fuk Court blaze, which resumed on Monday after a six-week...

Russian-held Crimea, a popular tourism destination, suspended children’s summer camps and tourist activities until September 1, its governor said on Monday, as the peninsula reels from a fuel crisis due to Ukrainian attacks on its supply routes. Supplies ‌of fuel and other products to Crimea have become strained as Ukraine has targeted both sea routes and supply roads from the north. The availability of petrol and diesel in Russia, the world’s third-largest oil producer, has also been undermined...

Europe’s defence industry would gradually reduce its reliance on China during the continent’s ongoing rearmament drive, rather than decouple completely, analysts said. On Wednesday, during the Group of Seven summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, the leaders of France, Germany, the UK, Italy, the US, Canada and Japan signed a declaration on securing supply chains for critical minerals. Without naming China, the leaders agreed to “significantly reduce” their dependency on a “single supplier outside...

Hong Kong has signed six agreements with Fujian to step up collaboration in finance, trade, tourism and education, with Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu encouraging businesses from the mainland Chinese province to list on the city’s bourse for overseas expansion. At the fifth Hong Kong-Fujian Cooperation Conference on Monday, the two sides finalised 28 collaborative projects across 11 areas, including aviation and shipping, logistics, innovation and technology, legal and dispute resolution, and...

Tehran has agreed to invite International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back into the country, US Vice-President J.D. Vance said on Monday, after a first round of US-Iran talks towards ending the Middle East war. “The Iranians have agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into their country,” Vance told reporters at Switzerland’s isolated Burgenstock resort, where his talks with Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf opened on Sunday. “That is a major milestone for the American people...

Iran should use funds unlocked by Washington to buy US agricultural products, according to Vice-President J.D. Vance, who said on Monday it would help feed the country’s population while making American farmers richer. Iran has not indicated whether it would accept the terms. Vance credited US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner with the idea, which he described as a “very, very good, and very classic Trump deal”. The White House is seeking export markets outside China ahead of the...