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May 8, 2025 - World

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised tests of short-range ballistic missile systems that simulated nuclear counterstrikes against U.S. and South Korean forces, state media said Friday, as the North continued to blame its rivals for escalating ten...

May 8, 2025 - World

Vice-president says US will seek to de-escalate but cannot force either nuclear power to ‘lay down their arms’JD Vance has said that the US will not intervene in the conflict between Pakistan and India, calling fighting between the two nuclear powers “fundamentally none of our business”.The remarks came during an interview with Fox News, where the US vice-president said that the US would seek to de-escalate the conflict but could force neither side to “lay down their arms”. Continue reading...

May 8, 2025 - World

Lai Ching-te says ‘message of history is clear’ as Taiwan for first time officially commemorates end of second world warTaiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, has compared his nation to the European countries heading for conflict with Nazi Germany in the 1930s, in a punchy speech commemorating the end of the second world war in Europe.“Eighty years after the end of the European war, the message of history is clear. Today, 80 years later, we share the same values ​​and face similar challenges as many of the democracies that participated in the European war,” Lai said to a group of foreign dignitaries gathered in Taipei. Continue reading...

May 8, 2025 - World

Leo XIV celebrated as second Latin American pope having spent many years in Peru’s churchPope Leo XIV – live updatesThe election of Pope Leo XIV has been celebrated across Latin America, where many hailed him as the second pontiff from the region, after his Argentinian predecessor, Francis.The news prompted particular elation in Peru, where he lived and worked for more than 20 years and was granted citizenship in 2015. In the capital, Lima, the bells of the cathedral rang in celebration. In his first appearance from the Vatican balcony, Leo XIV briefly switched from Italian to Spanish to address the faithful “from my beloved diocese of Chiclayo, in Peru”, where he served as bishop for more than a decade. Continue reading...

May 8, 2025 - World

This live blog is now closed. You can read our latest reporting on the Kashmir crisis here:India claims to have thwarted Pakistan missile and drone strikes‘There will be war’: fear and defiance across border The Pakistan Aviation Authority has announced that operations at Karachi airport will be suspended until midnight, Reuters reports. It has just gone past 6pm in Karachi.Reuters is also carrying comments from India’s foreign secretary, who has said that any further escalation would be escalation by Pakistan, and would be responded to. Pakistan would, he said, be responsible for the consequences if India infrastructure was targeted. Continue reading...