Reuters: World

Iran's Khamenei says 'nothing wrong' with a nuclear deal with West Iran's supreme leader said on Sunday that a deal with the West over Tehran's nuclear work was possible if the country's nuclear infrastructure remained intact, amid a stalemate between Tehran and Washington to revive a 2015 nuclear pact. Months of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington to salvage the nuclear accord with six major powers have stalled since September, with both sides accusing each other of making unreasonable demands. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's guarded approval comes days after both Tehran and Washington denied a report that they were nearing an interim deal under which Tehran would curb its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief. read more

Taiwan sends up fighters as Chinese warplanes cross strait's median line Taiwan's air force scrambled into action on Sunday after spotting 10 Chinese warplanes crossing the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait, as the island's defence ministry said four Chinese warships also carried out combat patrols. This is the second time in less than a week that Taiwan has reported renewed Chinese military activity, after 37 Chinese military aircraft on Thursday flew into the island's air defence zone, some of which then flew into the western Pacific. China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has over the past three years regularly flown its air force into the skies near the island, though not into Taiwan's territorial air space. read more

Four Colombian children found alive in jungle weeks after plane crash Four children from an Indigenous community in Colombia were found alive in the country's south on Friday more than five weeks after the plane they were traveling in crashed in thick jungle, Colombia's President Gustavo Petro said. The siblings were rescued by the military near the border between Colombia's Caqueta and Guaviare provinces, close to where the small plane had crashed. The plane - a Cessna 206 - was carrying seven people on a route between Araracuara, in Amazonas province, and San Jose del Guaviare, a city in Guaviare province, when it issued a mayday alert due to engine failure in the early hours of May 1. read more

Decrying 'witch hunt', Boris Johnson resigns from UK parliament Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson abruptly quit as a member of parliament on Friday in a furious protest against lawmakers investigating his behaviour, reopening deep divisions in the ruling Conservative Party ahead of a general election expected next year. Johnson had been under investigation by a parliamentary inquiry looking into whether he misled the House of Commons about lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street during the COVID-19 pandemic. After Johnson received a confidential letter from the committee, he accused lawmakers investigating him of acting like a "kangaroo court" and being determined to end his political career. read more

Kyiv says it intercepted call showing Russia blew up Kakhovka dam Ukraine's domestic security service said on Friday it had intercepted a telephone call proving a Russian "sabotage group" blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric station and dam in southern Ukraine. The destruction of the facility on Tuesday unleashed mass flooding, forcing thousands of residents to flee and wreaking environmental havoc. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) posted a one-and-a-half minute audio clip on its Telegram channel of the alleged conversation, which featured two men who appeared to be discussing the fallout from the disaster in Russian. read more

Trump faces US criminal charges for mishandling documents, obstruction - lawyer Donald Trump has been indicted by a federal grand jury for retaining classified government documents and obstruction of justice, according to a lawyer for the former U.S. president and another source familiar with the matter. The criminal case, brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, amounts to another legal setback for Trump as he seeks to regain the U.S. presidency next year. He already faces a criminal case in New York that is due to go to trial in March. Trump said on social media that he had been summoned to appear at the federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday. "I AM AN INNOCENT MAN!" he wrote on his Truth Social platform. read more

International help rolls in to fight unyielding Canadian wildfires Allies around the world are promising to boost support for Canada's fight against hundreds of blazes amid the country's worst-ever start to wildfire season, which is fueling concerns about the worsening consequences of climate change. Forest fires continued to burn across Canada on Thursday, forcing thousands of people from their homes and sending a smoky haze billowing over a large swath of the United States. Although wildfires are common in Canada, it is unusual for blazes to be burning simultaneously in the east and west, stretching firefighting resources and forcing the Canadian government to send in the military to help. read more

US East Coast blanketed in veil of smoke from Canadian fires Schools across the U.S. East Coast canceled outdoor activities, airline traffic slowed and millions of Americans were urged to stay indoors on Wednesday as smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted south, blanketing cities in thick, yellow haze. The U.S. National Weather Service issued air quality alerts for virtually the entire Atlantic seaboard. Health officials from Vermont to South Carolina and as far west as Ohio and Kansas warned residents that spending time outdoors could cause respiratory problems due to high levels of fine particulates in the atmosphere. "It's critical that Americans experiencing dangerous air pollution, especially those with health conditions, listen to local authorities to protect themselves and their families," President Joe Biden said on Twitter. read more

Diverted Indian jet lands in middle of Russia airspace row The diversion of a U.S.-built Air India jetliner to Russia with engine problems has thrust industry tensions surrounding Russian airspace into the spotlight - just a day after the head of a major American carrier predicted an almost identical scenario. A global industry meeting ended on Tuesday with carriers at odds over the use of Russia as a pivotal crossing point in the global air transport network, with United Airlines (UAL.O) citing trade concerns but India's flag carrier defending it. A Russian ban on some foreign carriers using its airspace, in retaliation for Western sanctions over the Ukraine war, has redrawn air routes and upset business models for some airlines that now need to fly around the world's largest country. read more

Smoke from Canadian wildfires sets off health alerts in New York, Ottawa Authorities in New York, Toronto and Ottawa on Tuesday warned residents about the health risks from air polluted by smoke from unprecedented early summer wildfires in eastern Canada. An unusually early and intense start to wildfire season has set Canada on track for its worst-ever year as warm and dry conditions are forecast to persist for months. There are blazes in nearly all of Canada's 10 provinces and territories, with Quebec the worst impacted due to multiple fires caused by lightning. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation issued a health advisory for counties including New York, Bronx, and Queens. read more

Iran presents its first hypersonic ballistic missile, state media reports Iran presented what officials described as its first domestically-made hypersonic ballistic missile on Tuesday, the official IRNA news agency reported, an announcement likely to heighten Western concerns about Tehran's missile capabilities. Iranian state media published pictures of the missile named Fattah at a ceremony attended by President Ebrahim Rahisi and commanders of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards Corps. "The precision-guided Fattah hypersonic missile has a range of 1,400 km and it is capable of penetrating all defence shields," Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guards' aerospace force, was quoted as saying by Iranian state media. read more

Blasts at major dam in southern Ukraine unleash floodwaters Blasts at a Soviet-era dam in the Russian controlled part of southern Ukraine on Tuesday unleashed floodwaters across the war zone, according to both Ukrainian and Russian forces who blamed each other for blowing-up the dam. Unverified videos on social media showed a series of intense explosions around the Kakhovka dam. Other videos showed water surging through the remains of the dam with bystanders expressing their shock, sometimes in strong language. The dam, 30 metres (yards) tall and 3.2 km (2 miles) long and which holds water equal to the Great Salt Lake in the U.S. state of Utah, was built in 1956 on the Dnipro river as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. read more