Author: Elizabeth Jenrola Oso

Hong Kong’s last major opposition party has voted to disband, marking the end of an era for the city’s pro-democracy movement. The Democratic Party (DP), long regarded as the main liberal force in Hong Kong politics, announced its dissolution after an extraordinary general meeting on Sunday. The decision follows years of mounting pressure from Beijing, which has tightened its grip on the territory through sweeping national security laws and electoral reforms. Founded in 1994, three years before Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule, the Democratic Party was once a dominant force in city-wide legislative elections. It consistently pushed for democratic…

Pelosi entered Congress in 1988 representing San Francisco and won re-election 20 times. She made history as the first woman to serve as speaker of the House, holding the post from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023.

Louvre museum in Paris

This was Kast’s third presidential bid. He was previously defeated by Boric in the 2021 runoff election.

Film director Rob Reiner, celebrated for classics including When Harry Met Sally, Misery, Stand By Me, A Few Good Men, The Princess Bride and This Is Spinal Tap, has died aged 78 in what police are treating as an apparent homicide. His wife, photographer Michele Singer Reiner, 68, was also found dead at their Brentwood home in Los Angeles. Authorities were called on Sunday afternoon following a medical aid request to the Los Angeles Fire Department. The bodies of the couple were discovered inside the property. Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department’s robbery homicide division later confirmed they were…

Bondi beach mass shooting

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has released 123 prisoners, including Nobel peace prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and opposition leader Maria Kalesnikava, following the United States’ decision to lift sanctions on Belarusian potash exports. The announcement came after two days of talks in Minsk with Donald Trump’s envoy, John Coale. It marks the largest prisoner release since diplomatic contacts between Washington and Lukashenko began. Belarus, a close ally of Russia, has long been isolated from Europe and the wider West due to its human rights record and violent suppression of protests. US officials described the move as part of an effort to…

Two soldiers and an American civilian interpreter have been killed in an ambush by Islamic State militants in central Syria, the Pentagon confirmed. Several others were wounded in the attack near Palmyra, the first incident to cause US casualties since the fall of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad a year ago. President Donald Trump described the victims as “three great patriots” and said the wounded were “doing pretty well”. He vowed retaliation, calling the assault “an Isis attack on us and Syria”. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the soldiers had been conducting a “key leader engagement” in support of counter-terrorism operations…

Chileans will vote on Sunday in a presidential runoff that pits ultra-conservative José Antonio Kast against former labour minister Jeannette Jara. The contest has been dominated by debate over migration and security, with Kast widely tipped as the favourite. Kast, 59, a former congressman, has pledged to expel tens of thousands of undocumented migrants and build fortified barriers along Chile’s borders. He is the son of a Nazi party member, an admirer of former dictator Augusto Pinochet and a staunch Catholic opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage. Jara, 51, represents a leftwing coalition and served under current president Gabriel Boric.…

The European Union has agreed to indefinitely freeze Russia’s sovereign assets held in the bloc, as Moscow escalates threats to retaliate against Euroclear, the Brussels-based securities depository responsible for safeguarding most of the immobilised funds. The move, which uses emergency powers to immobilise €210bn (£185bn) of Russia’s central bank reserves, marks a significant step towards channelling the money to support Ukraine’s defence. European Council president António Costa confirmed on Friday that EU leaders had fulfilled their October pledge to “keep Russian assets immobilised until Russia ends its war of aggression against Ukraine and compensates for the damage caused”. Previously, sanctions…