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Japan is about to start testing its fastest ever bullet train, which can reach speeds of up to 400kph. The Alfa-X train will be put into service in 2030, with plans to run it at 360kph. This will make it faster than China’s Fuxing Hao service linking Beijing and Shanghai …

Swedish prosecutors will re-open a 2010 rape case against Julian Assange, the country’s deputy director of prosecutions has announced. Eva-Marie Persson said at a press conference the inquiry, which was shelved in 2017 because Assange refused to leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London, would be restarted. The woman who claimed …

ran’s Foreign Ministry said it wants clarification of what happened at the UAE port of Fujairah, where four ships were reportedly targeted in a “sabotage operation.” Sunday’s incident at Fujairah port was “alarming and regrettable,” a spokesman for Iranian Foreign Ministry, Abbas Mousavi, said in a statement on Monday. He …

A failed fuel tube caused the first crash of an F-35 jet in September of last year, U.S. government investigators said in a report issued this week. “An investigation determined a manufacturing defect caused an engine fuel tube to rupture during flight, resulting in a loss of power to the …

A journalist critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government and its nationalist allies has been hospitalised after being attacked outside his home. The Yenicag newspaper says Saturday that columnist Yavuz Selim Demirag was beaten up by about five or six people with baseball bats after appearing on a TV show …

Prime Minister Theresa May does not need to spell out a timetable for her departure, prisons minister Robert Buckland said on Sunday, adding the leader had already announced she would leave office after the first phase of Brexit. May, who offered to quit if her deal to leave the European …

Several powerful explosions on Sunday hit the port of Fujair in UAE following a huge fire that engulfed at least seven oil tankers, state media reported. The blasts took place early on Sunday morning, according to the Lebanon-based Al Mayadeen television channel, which reported the development hours later. It said …

President Hassan Rouhani called on Saturday for unity among Iran’s political factions to overcome conditions which he said may be harder than those during the 1980s war with Iraq, state media reported, as the country faces tightening U.S. sanctions. “Today, it cannot be said whether conditions are better or worse …

A Myanmar pilot safely landed a passenger jet without its front wheels on Sunday, after landing gear on the Myanmar National Airlines plane failed to deploy, the airline and an official said. It was the second aviation incident in Myanmar this week, after a Biman Bangladesh Airlines plane skidded off …

The first Muslim mayor of the UK capital said that the torrent of Islamophobic insults and death threats is so disturbing that the authorities have to arrange round-the-clock police protection for the official. “I will not be cowed or bullied by these people, but you can’t escape the fact that …

Yemen’s Houthi movement called on the United Nations on Saturday to press the Saudi-led coalition to implement the Hodeidah agreement, al-Masirah TV said, citing the movement’s political office. The movement had started withdrawing from Saleef port in Hodeidah under a U.N.-sponsored deal, added that the Saudi-led forces should take “similar …

Earlier in the day, Gwadar Station House Officer (SHO) Aslam Bangulzai said that three or four heavily armed terrorists had attacked the five-star Pearl Continental Hotel. At around 4:50 pm we got reports that there are three to four armed men in PC Hotel,” the SHO said, adding that “the …

The White House has contacted Swiss authorities to share a telephone number with Iran in hopes that Tehran will contact US President Donald Trump, CNN reports. The White House contacted the Swiss on Thursday, the same day Trump publicly appealed to Iran to call him amid heightened tensions, the broadcaster …

The chairman of a US Congressional committee has issued subpoenas for President Donald Trump’s tax returns. Richard Neal said in a statement he did not “take this step lightly”, but believed it gave the committee “the best opportunity” to get the documents. The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service …

An Arab pro-democracy activist says he was whisked away to safety by officials in Norway, where he lives, after being told of a threat from Saudi Arabia Iyad el-Baghdadi is a Palestinian human rights campaigner and writer who won prominence during the 2011 Arab uprisings and has written critically of …

New abortion law in the US state of Georgia has fuelled calls for a Hollywood boycott from actors and production companies. A number of actors had signed an open letter in March pledging not to work there should the law pass. Governor Brian Kemp signed the so-called “heartbeat” bill on …

The Lebanese government said on Friday that only soldiers serving at the frontline with Israel would benefit from a financial incentive that was designed for frontline troops but has been widely applied. A demand for the strict application of the “Measure 3” scheme was included in a tough draft budget …

Venezuela is reopening its borders with Brazil and the Caribbean island of Aruba, Venezuela’s Economy Vice President Tareck El Aissami said on Friday, though Aruba’s government said it did not consider a re-opening “opportune.” The government of President Nicolas Maduro shut those borders in February amid an opposition campaign to …

The African National Congress retained control of South Africa’s parliament but its share of the vote fell, a rebuke from voters fed up with corruption scandals and racial inequalities that remain entrenched a generation after the party took power. Provisional results on Saturday showed the ruling party secured 57.51% of …

A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck near the Iraqi city of Sulaimaniya on Saturday. Local medics said no injuries were reported and officials said there was no significant material damage. Media said the quake occurred 71 km southeast of the city at a depth of 10 km. Sulaimaniya’s seismic monitoring office …