A knife attack by a man reportedly shouting “Allahu akbar” that wounded three people at a Swiss railway station on Thursday was a “terrorist act”, a regional security official said. “I am exceptionally calling this a terrorist attack,” Mario Fehr, in charge of security in the Swiss canton of Zurich, told reporters, adding that it was clear that the motive for this “evil act of terror” must be sought “in the realm of radicalisation and extremism”. Witnesses described scenes of panic and confusion...

Israel said on Thursday it had deported all the foreign activists seized by its forces from a Gaza-bound flotilla, as the first group arrived in Turkey following global outcry over their treatment in custody. Hundreds of activists from countries around the world were placed in detention in Israel after they were intercepted at sea Monday while making the latest in a string of attempts to break the blockade of the Palestinian territory. Turkish foreign ministry sources said 422 activists,...

France’s former prime minister Gabriel Attal said on Friday he would run for president next year when Emmanuel Macron steps down, becoming the second prominent centrist to challenge the far-right. “I can’t take this kind of French politics anymore, where it’s just 50 shades of managing decline,” said the 37-year-old, who was France’s youngest prime minister when he served in 2024. He announced his bid under a blazing sun in the southern village of Mur-de-Barrez – the kind of rural area where...

Iran’s foreign ⁠ministry ⁠said in a statement on Tuesday that the United States had violated the ceasefire ‌with strikes in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province. US forces attacked missile sites in southern Iran and boats trying to lay mines on Monday, US Central Command said, imperilling a fragile ceasefire and casting new doubt on a deal to end the Middle East war. “The United States ‌committed a gross violation of ⁠the ceasefire in the Hormozgan region ⁠in the past 48 hours … Iran holds the US...

US President Donald Trump said Friday he wants his incoming acting spy chief to start firing employees, deepening the controversy over the appointment of a man with no previous intelligence experience. Bill Pulte, a Trump loyalist who heads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, was named by the Republican president on Tuesday as acting Director of National Intelligence. “If he cut, I wouldn’t mind that,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that the number of employees in Pulte’s...

War is now a possibility in Norway, by the prime minister’s own admission. The country, which borders Russia, has gone into “total defence” mode, preparing its population for the worst in light of the fighting in Ukraine. Dug beneath a peaceful park, the St. Hanshaugen air raid shelter, one of Oslo’s largest, can take in 1,100 people behind its heavy metal doors if ever the worst comes to pass. The air is chilly, the lights dim, and the toilets basic: it is far from cosy, but it is designed to...

Residents of Tehran awoke on Monday anxious and drained by the prospect of full-scale war resuming, following tit-for-tat strikes between arch-foes Iran and Israel that marked the greatest threat to the fragile ceasefire thus far. “We don’t know if there will be a war, nor if a peace deal will last,” said Maryam, a 41-year-old accountant in Tehran’s central Valiasr Square. She described a pervasive “sense of uncertainty and confusion” after Israeli strikes on Tehran on Sunday, which came in...

Actor Anthony Head, best known for his roles in Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Ted Lasso, has died at the age of 72, his family announced on Friday. The British actor, the brother of singer Murray Head, was best known as librarian Rupert Giles in the cult US supernatural television series starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, which ran from 1997 to 2003. “It is with heavy hearts that we announce the death of our extraordinary father, Anthony Head,” his daughters Emily and Daisy Head, said in a statement...

Hungarian lawmakers unanimously voted to slash their incomes and allowances on Monday, as Prime Minister Peter Magyar sought to reduce administrative costs. Critics had previously accused Magyar’s predecessor, nationalist premier Viktor Orban, of providing high salaries in an attempt to placate opposition deputies. Magyar, whose party filled with political newcomers won the April 12 elections by a landslide, was among those highly critical of the practice. All 189 representatives present in the...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will stand if a leadership contest is triggered, a senior minister said on Sunday, after media reported Starmer had contacted key backers insisting he would run in any race. This came after popular Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham, who is standing in a key by-election this month, said last week he would participate in any leadership race, although none has yet been triggered. Starmer “has been absolutely clear – were there to be a contest – you need 81...

AI is getting expensive – and companies are starting to rethink their embrace of the disruptive technology. Playing by a well-worn Silicon Valley playbook, artificial intelligence companies charged rock-bottom prices to hook customers after ChatGPT burst onto the scene. Kevin Simback of start-up incubator Delphi Labs calls it the era of “subsidised intelligence” – meaning investors were basically footing the bill so companies could offer AI on the cheap. “But the tides are beginning to turn,”...

Pope Leo on Monday told Spain’s parliament that escalating conflict, deepening polarisation and widespread disregard for human rights had pushed the world into a profound crisis, in one of his most expansive political addresses yet. Leo, who has adopted a more forceful tone recently against the direction of global leadership, also firmly repeated his opposition to increased European military spending, urging politicians instead to end the wars ravaging the ‌globe and help migrants. “The world is...