The North Korean restaurant manager who defected from China with 12 female staff in 2016 has claimed that he was tricked into fleeing to South Korea and later blackmailed by Seoul’s intelligence services. The claims by Ho Kang-il, made in an interview with Yonhap News Agency, add weight to suggestions that the 13 North Koreans…
As the world waits for Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin’s first bilateral summit in Helsinki, Washington and Moscow have both been playing down the possibility of any major breakthroughs. Mr Putin’s spokesman said on Monday that the leaders wouldn’t make a joint statement — the two sides have disagreed over mentioning Russia’s electoral interference — and the “fact of…
Pakistan has launched its largest ever polling day security operation amid fears voting in Wednesday’s general election will be a target for militant attacks. More than 370,000 military personnel deployed to guard 85,000 polling stations for the closely fought contest. The poll for 106 million eligible voters comes after a bloody campaign which has seen…
Consecrated virgins say they are "disappointed" by the Vatican’s new guidance that literal virginity is not necessary. A document released earlier this month says that a woman does not need to have "kept her body in perfect continence" to become a consecrated virgin. The Vatican document, entitled Ecclesiae Sponsae Imago, says that the "call to…
American pop star and actress Demi Lovato has been rushed to hospital in Los Angeles after a reported heroin overdose. The 25-year-old former judge on American X Factor was said to have been found unconscious at her Hollywood Hills home. Lovato, who has been candid about her struggles with cocaine abuse and self harm, was…
It was viewed as one of Africa’s most senseless modern wars. The Badme Triangle, 250 desolate square miles of disputed rock and scrub along Ethiopia’s frontier with Eritrea, had no resources and few people. Yet, for this most paltry of prizes, two of the continent’s poorest states expended billions of pounds and as many as…
A man killed by Chicago police had a gun in a holster at his hip and was shot multiple times as he ran away, spun around and reached toward his waist, footage released Sunday from an officer’s body-worn camera shows. Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said it’s the quickest he has ever ordered such footage released and that…
Donald Trump has invited Vladimir Putin to Washington for a summit in the autumn amid a fierce backlash over his friendly stance towards Russia. Mr Trump instructed John Bolton, his national security adviser, to make the invitation just days after the two leaders met in Helsinki, where they spent two hours alone with just interpreters….
Donald Trump arrives in the UK on Thursday for his first visit as president, during which he will meet the Queen and Theresa May and visit Scotland. The US President will be delivered by Air Force One, straight from the Nato summit in Brussels, where he made a blistering attack on America’s European allies over levels of…
Syrian state media said on Sunday that Israeli rockets had struck a Syrian military position near Nairab airport on the outskirts of the city of Aleppo. "The Zionist enemy…targets one of our military sites north of Nairab airport," the Syrian state news agency SANA said, quoting a military source. It said the strikes were an attempt…