World Echo

Opposition parties in Sri Lanka accused on Saturday the government of jailing the country's former president over fears he could return to power. Former leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, 76, who lost the last presidential election in September to Anura Kumara Dissanayake, was remanded in custody Friday on charges of misusing state funds for foreign travel. Anti-graft units have ramped up investigations since Dissanayake came to power on a promise to fight endemic corruption in the island nation, which is emerging from its worst economic meltdown in 2022. Nalin Bandara, a member of parliament for the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party, who visited Wickremesinghe at Colombo's New Magazine Prison, said the former leader had called for unity to challenge Dissanayake's leftist administration. "What the former president says is that we should get onto a common stage to fight the oppression of the new government," Bandara told reporters outside the prison. Wic...

Former Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage set out plans on Saturday for "mass deportations" of migrants who have crossed the English Channel on small boats if his Reform UK party forms Britain's next government. In an interview,with Saturday's edition of The Times newspaper, Farage said he would withdraw Britain from the European Convention on Human Rights and sign deals with Afghanistan, Eritrea and other top countries of origin to repatriate illegal migrants. "We can be nice to people, we can be nice to other countries, or we can be very tough to other countries ... I mean (US President Donald) Trump has proved this point quite comprehensively," Farage said. Read More: UK pledges £1.33m for flood victims Asked if he was concerned that asylum seekers would be killed or tortured if they were sent to countries with poor human rights records, Farage said he was more worried about the threat he believed asylum seekers posed to Britons. "I can't be responsi...

The United Nations on Friday declared famine in Gaza City, the first such announcement in the Middle East and only the fifth-ever official declaration worldwide. The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed famine conditions in Gaza City and surrounding areas, warning that over 500,000 people face catastrophic hunger. Famine isn’t just a word – it’s a technical term. And it’s never declared by one organization alone. A famine confirmation is the result of a joint, data-driven analysis using agreed global standards set by the IPC. #Gaza is only the fifth famine ever confirmed by this scale.… pic.twitter.com/4KM6NjMGCI — World Food Programme (@WFP) August 22, 2025 “It is a famine: the Gaza famine,” said UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher, blaming Israel for the crisis and accusing it of “systematic obstruction” of aid deliveries. The Gaza Famine is the world’s famine. A preventable, predictable famine. ⁰⁰Enough. Ceasefire. Open all crossings, nort...

The head of the Pentagon’s intelligence agency has been fired, a move that the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee on Friday condemned as the latest example of politicizing intelligence under President Donald Trump’s administration. “The firing of yet another senior national security official underscores the Trump administration’s dangerous habit of treating intelligence as a loyalty test rather than a safeguard for our country,” said US Senator Mark Warner, vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse, who led the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), could not immediately be reached for comment. The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment. The dismissal was first reported by the Washington Post. The move marks the latest instance of the Trump administration penalizing current and former military, intelligence and law enforcement officials whose views have clashed with Trump. While it was not clear why Kruse was remov...

At least five policemen were killed in southeastern Iran on Friday after unidentified gunmen opened fire on two police patrol vehicles, Iranian news agencies reported. Iran's southeast has been the scene of sporadic clashes between security forces and armed groups, including Sunni militants and separatists who say they are fighting for greater rights and autonomy. Tehran accuses some of them of ties to foreign powers and involvement in cross-border smuggling and insurgency. Read More: Europe has no right to extend deadline for snapback sanctions: Iran According to the Yahoo News, the officers were patrolling in two police cars when they were attacked on the road near the city of Iranshahr, some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran, according to the official IRNA news agency. It did not say how many policemen were injured in the attack. No group has so far taken responsibility for the attack. Also Read: Govt makes trade breakthrough with Iran The province, b...

FBI agents searched the home of John Bolton, a former adviser to US President Donald Trump turned persistent critic, on Friday as part of a national security probe, a source briefed on the matter said. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents began searching his house in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, Maryland, at 7 a.m. as part of a probe ordered by FBI Director Kash Patel, according to the New York Post, which first reported the raid. An FBI spokesperson confirmed "court authorized activity" in the area of Bolton's home. Read More: Court voids $464m penalty on Trump "NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission," Patel wrote, without mentioning Bolton, in an X post shortly after 7 a.m. Bolton could not immediately be reached for comment. CNN reported that he said he was unaware of the law enforcement activity and was looking into it further. Bolton served as the US ambassador to the United Nations and as the White House national security adviser during Tr...

Gaza City and surrounding areas are officially suffering from famine, and the crisis will likely spread, a global hunger monitor said on Friday, an assessment that will escalate pressure on Israel to allow more aid into the enclave. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said 514,000 people – nearly a quarter of Gaza’s population – are experiencing famine, with the number expected to rise to 641,000 by the end of September. Some 280,000 of those are in Gaza governorate, covering Gaza City, which the IPC said was in famine after nearly two years of war between Israel and Hamas. It was the first time the IPC has recorded famine outside Africa. The group predicted famine conditions would spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of next month. The IPC added that conditions in northern Gaza could be even worse than in Gaza City but said limited data prevented precise classification. Cut in water supplies Israel is planning to cut water supplies to northern Gaza wh...