KIEV: Comedian Volodymyr Zelensky topped the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election with almost twice the vote share of his nearest rival, incumbent Petro Poroshenko, partial results showed yesterday. Zelensky’s political experience had been limited to playing the president in a TV show when he announced his long-shot candidacy at
HONG KONG: Asian markets rallied yesterday, building on last week’s healthy gains with investors buoyed by optimism over China-US trade talks and forecast-busting Chinese factory data. Top negotiators from China and the US flagged progress in last week’s discussions in Beijing on the tariffs row, with another round slated for
SYDNEY: Australia’s embattled conservative minority government is expected to splash the cash in the annual budget announcement today, in a bid to woo voters ahead of tough national elections. The Liberal-National coalition has been in power since 2013 but has lurched from crisis to crisis, narrowly surviving the 2016 national
LIMA: At least 20 people were killed and about 10 injured Sunday night in a bus fire at an illegal transport terminal in the Peruvian capital, emergency services said. A number of the victims burned to death, trapped on the upper level of the interprovincial bus in Lima, firefighters said.
BEIRA (Mozambique): The number of confirmed cholera cases in cyclone-ravaged Mozambique climbed sharply to 139 Thursday as authorities prepared to roll out a mass vaccination campaign to stem the spread of the deadly disease. “The total number of cholera cases is now 139,” government health officer Ussein Isse told AFP.
MOGADISHU: At least 15 people died when a car bomb exploded on a busy street and ripped into a nearby restaurant in Somalia’s capital on Thursday, medics said. Security officials and witnesses reported bodies strewn on the ground as plumes of smoke rose high into the air after the bomb
MANILA: Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, a prominent critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, was rearrested yesterday in what press freedom advocates called retaliation for her news site’s dogged coverage of the government. Ressa and her website Rappler have been hit with a string of criminal charges in recent months that have
French art masterpieces have been renamed after their long overlooked black subjects in a ground-breaking new Paris show on the representation of people of colour in art. Manet’s “Olympia”, the scandalous painting of a naked reclining prostitute that marks the birth of “modern art”, has been rebaptised “Laure” after the
An exhibition on the Duke of Wellington’s time in India opens in London Saturday, shedding light on formative years before he defeated French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo. Between 1796 and 1804, as the young Arthur Wellesley, he helped overthrow the Tipu Sultan and masterminded victory in
BUENOS AIRES: Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain announced his retirement from international football on Thursday telling critics “I gave everything” for the Albiceleste. He says he can devote more time to his family and more focus on his Premier League club Chelsea. The 31-year-old French-born forward stands down from national duty
