imbabwe on Wednesday said that 15 of its citizens have been killed after being recruited into the war between Russia and Ukraine, as authorities warn of fraudulent schemes to lure recruits from several other African countries into the four-year-old conflict. Information Minister Zhemu Soda told reporters in the capital, Harare, that the government is ramping up diplomatic efforts to get back home 66 other Zimbabweans who are still alive. Besides Zimbabwe, African countries such South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria have reported similar cases of their nationals being tricked to Russia with false promises of work but ending up on the...

Noelia Castillo, a Spanish woman who sought euthanasia and fought a protracted legal battle with her family over her right to do so, received life-ending medicine on Thursday in Barcelona. She was 25. For nearly two years, Castillo pursued her right to die after her father put up a lengthy legal battle when a medical body in Catalonia approved her request for euthanasia in 2024. As the family’s struggle unfolded, Castillo’s case was closely followed in Spain, which passed legislation in 2021 enshrining the right to euthanasia and medically assisted suicide for patients meeting certain conditions. Castillo’s young age, the...

Iran has banned its sports teams from traveling to countries it considers “hostile,” Iranian state TV reported Thursday ahead of Tractor FC’s scheduled soccer game in Saudi Arabia. The ban announced by Iran’s Ministry of Sports in Tehran didn’t mention the World Cup which starts June 11 in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The ministry’s statement singled out the Tractor game against Shabab Al Ahli of Dubai that was set to be played in Saudi Arabia. It’s a playoff game in the Asian Champions League Elite. “The presence of national and club teams in countries that are considered hostile...

Hungary’s pro-Russian government has launched criminal charges against a prominent investigative journalist whom it accuses of conducting spying activities in coordination with a foreign country, a minister said on Thursday. The journalist, Szabolcs Panyi, focuses on national security and intelligence reporting and has published extensive reports detailing Russian influence operations in Hungary as well as the relationship between Moscow and Hungary’s foreign minister. Panyi denies the allegations, and an outlet he writes for has accused Hungary’s government of “resorting to authoritarian tactics” to discredit the journalist and his findings. In a secret recording made without Panyi’s knowledge and released in...

Costa Rica said Thursday that it would accept 25 migrants deported from the United States per week as part of an agreement to help the Trump administration’s latest policy of deporting immigrants to “third countries.” The Central American nation joins a growing number of countries across Africa and the Americas that have signed contentious, often secretive agreements with the U.S. to accept deportees from other countries as U.S. President Donald Trump pressures governments to help him advance his agenda. In many cases, migrants who previously hoped to seek asylum in the U.S. are left in a legal “black hole” in...

Marco Rubio: “The U.S. is constantly asked to help in wars and we have. But when we had a need, it didn’t get positive responses from NATO. “A couple leaders said that Iran was not Europe’s war. Well, Ukraine isn’t our war, yet we’ve contributed more to that fight than anyone.”

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: “Arrived in Saudi Arabia. Important meetings are scheduled. We appreciate the support and support those who are ready to work with us to ensure security.”

An ‘emergency brake’ on visas has been imposed for the first time on nationals from 4 countries following a surge in asylum claims from legal routes. By the year ending September 2025, asylum applications by students from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan had risen to over 470% of their 2021 level – making them among the most likely nationalities to claim.  Meanwhile the number of Afghans on work visas claiming asylum is now outstripping the number of visas issued.  In an unprecedented step, the Home Office will end sponsored study visas from all 4 countries and skilled worker visas for...