World Echo

US President Donald Trump took a secret military flight from Turkey last month in an operation that involved him being moved between aircraft in a catering truck, an extraordinary deception prompted by an Iranian assassination threat, the Washington Post reported. The ​White House said at the time that the president was flying aboard Air Force One from Turkey, where he had attended a NATO ‌summit, to Britain. But moments after Trump had boarded the plane, he left it in secret via the catering truck and boarded another aircraft for the flight to Britain, the Post said on Monday, quoting unnamed sources. The New York Times carried a similar report, quoting unnamed US officials. Trump had taken a newly renovated Qatari-donated jet to Ankara for the NATO summit but unexpectedly announced he would use ​an older Air Force One when departing the country, a move that prompted questions about the newer plane's security. The trip to NATO was the first ​international tr...

A Syrian court sentenced ousted leader Bashar al-Assad to death on Tuesday after a trial in absentia, convicting him of crimes including killings, torture, and arbitrary arrest during the country's nearly 14-year war. It was the first conviction against Assad, who was ousted in a rebel offensive in December 2024 that ended decades of his family's iron-fisted rule over Syria, and the brutal war that killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians. Assad fled the capital Damascus as rebel fighters approached nearly two years ago, and is currently in Moscow. In a trial of former government officials on Tuesday, a judge handed down a death sentence to Assad over the crimes of "premeditated and intentional murder of more than one person and of children, torture, arbitrary arrest and crimes against humanity". Read: Trump removes Syria from terror list Atef Najib, a security official under Assad, was also sentenced to death. Assad, who was born in 1965, became pr...

Rescue efforts across western Colombia carried into a second day on Tuesday as emergency workers dug through collapsed buildings and flattened homes, amid expectations that the death toll from the country's most powerful earthquake in decades could rise. The 7.4-magnitude earthquake tore through Colombia's coffee-growing heartland early on Monday, killing at least 164 people. The quake reduced multi-story buildings to rubble in cities such as Pereira and Cali, and cracked apart one of the towers of a historic cathedral in the city of Manizales. Emergency teams aided by police, soldiers and volunteers worked through the night with excavators and, at times, their bare hands, hunting for survivors beneath debris. In Cali, home to about 2.2 million people, at least 85 people were killed. Dozens of buildings were left leaning precariously or destroyed outright, forcing residents into the streets. Seve...

Bangladesh ‌Prime Minister Tarique Rahman told India's envoy on Monday that there was a need to create a "conducive environment" to boost ties between the neighbours, as Dhaka continues to press New Delhi ​over the politically sensitive issue of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's exile in ​India. Rahman's remarks underline his six-month-old government's efforts to stabilise relations with ⁠its largest neighbour while seeking progress on issues that have remained major irritants ​since Hasina's ouster in August 2024. While Rahman has sought good relations with India since ​coming to power, Monday’s comments are his first that stress the need to improve conditions to boost ties. Rahman made the comments during his first meeting with the new Indian High Commissioner to ​Bangladesh, Dinesh Trivedi. Rahman "emphasised the need to create a conducive environment to further advance ​the bilateral relations between the two countries"...

A gunman was arrested after firing shots at ‌a local government office on the outskirts of Thailand's capital on Monday, officials said, just days after a teenager's killing spree at a school in the same province reignited debate over gun control. The suspected shooter, a former lawmaker, fired at a senior provincial official and his driver, said Major General ​Dejrapee Kongdee, the police commander of Nonthaburi, which borders Bangkok. "There were two people wounded, who have been sent ​to hospital for treatment," Dejrapee told Reuters. Thailand has been reeling from a 14-year-old boy's rampage on Friday -- ⁠first at his home and then at the Debsirin Nonthaburi School -- that left nine people dead, including the shooter, and over ​20 wounded in the country's deadliest mass shooting in nearly four years. Read: Accused Thai school shooter had watched violent content online, police say Thai school children re...

Iran said it was nearing a final pact with Oman defining new shipping lanes between them through the Strait of Hormuz ​but repeated that the US must meet other conditions, including compensation and an end to sanctions and military threats, before the strategic waterway is reopened. A US official told ‌Reuters on Friday that Iran and Oman were close to a deal that could pave the way for restoring safe passage through the strait, a major conduit for oil and gas shipping before Iran blocked Hormuz in response to US and Israeli attacks on Tehran that began in late February. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday an agreement with Oman on the strait was in its "final stages" but reiterated comments made on Saturday that Tehran would not reopen the ​channel unless the US met certain demands made by Tehran. The deal with Iran would set out the new shipping lanes to be used once the US fulfils those c...