Author: Daily Sabah With DPA

Russia and Ukraine launched fresh drone attacks on each other overnight, resulting in injuries and damage across multiple regions, according to officials on both sides. Ukrainian authorities reported strikes in several areas. In the city of Dnipro, 15 people were injured and 15 private homes, along with several multi-storey residential and commercial buildings, were damaged, said regional Governor Serhiy Lysak. In the eastern Donetsk region, Governor Vadym Filashkin reported five people injured by Russian attacks in various communities. In the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, two people were wounded following what local prosecutors described as a large-scale drone attack. Fires broke…

Russia has “effectively” begun an offensive in Ukraine’s north-eastern regions of Sumy and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s military chief said on Wednesday. “For almost a week now, we have been observing an almost two-fold increase in the enemy’s attacks on all main sections,” Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi told the online portal lb.ua. He said Russia’s goal remains to establish a buffer zone along the Russian-Ukrainian border in the Kharkiv, Sumy and Chernihiv regions – an objective that Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly stated on multiple occasions. Despite sustained losses, Russia is reinforcing its front line presence by 8,000 to 9,000 soldiers each…

At least 79 people were killed and 155 others were injured when the roof of a nightclub in Dominican Republic collapsed, the head of the disaster relief agency Juan Manuel Méndez said, according to media reports Tuesday. Parts of the roof collapsed on the party-goers during a concert by the merengue singer Rubby Pérez. The newspaper Listín Diario’ reported citing Pérez’s manager as saying that the musician died in the collapse. Local authorities did not initially confirm the information. Pérez, who was popular in Latin America, had initially been reported injured. The regional governor of the Monte Cristi province, Nelsy…

German car manufacturer Audi saw its global deliveries fall in the first quarter of the year, despite a strong performance from its electric vehicles. Deliveries from January to March dropped 3.4% to 383,401 vehicles, attributed to a 7% crash in China, where the company faces intense local competition. Audi delivered 48,599 vehicles to North America, representing a 2.1% drop that is likely to be exacerbated by 20% US tariffs on car imports that went into force last week. The domestic market in Germany provided a more positive picture, with sales up 4.8% to 48,477, while deliveries in the rest of…

The United States will further raise its tariffs on imports from China, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday. “Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” Trump added. China, the world’s second-largest economy after the US, has already seen its…

US President Donald Trump took a step back from his international trade conflict on Wednesday and announced a 90-day pause for some tariffs that have just come into force. On his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that he had “authorized a 90 day PAUSE” on tariffs, with the exception of those on China. Instead, he said, a universal customs rate of 10% would apply during the three-month break, effective immediately. Trump said he had made this decision “based on the fact that more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and…

Russia and Ukraine launched fresh drone attacks on each other overnight, resulting in injuries and damage across multiple regions, according to officials on both sides. Ukrainian authorities reported strikes in several areas. In the city of Dnipro, 15 people were injured and 15 private homes, along with several multi-storey residential and commercial buildings, were damaged, said regional Governor Serhiy Lysak. In the eastern Donetsk region, Governor Vadym Filashkin reported five people injured by Russian attacks in various communities. In the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, two people were wounded following what local prosecutors described as a large-scale drone attack. Fires broke…

The leader of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) on Wednesday criticized Donald Trump’s tariff policy, despite her admiration for the US president. “My message to Donald Trump is that tariffs are fundamentally bad for free trade. They harm us both, and that’s clear to see everywhere,” Alice Weidel told journalists in Berlin in response to a question. The US president’s move is not surprising, she said, “but the whole approach is of course much too aggressive and it also damages the American economy.” Weidel, who has sought proximity to the US government, said a few days ago that tariffs…

Shortly before talks between Tehran and Washington on Iran’s nuclear programme, the Iranian president has surprisingly left the door open to US investment in the country. “I see the Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] several times a week. He has no objections to American investors in the country,” said President Masoud Pezeshkian, according to the state news agency IRNA on Wednesday. “What we reject are conspiracies, subversion attempts and the incorrect policies they pursue,” he said. On Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi plans to hold indirect talks with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in the Gulf state of Oman.…

The United Nations estimates that about 13,000 civilians have been killed since the start of the war in Ukraine, UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher told the Security Council on Tuesday. According to data from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), at least 12,910 civilian deaths in Ukraine – including 682 children – have been confirmed, and nearly 30,700 were injured between February 24, 2022 and March 31, 2025. Fletcher added that the true toll is likely to be far greater. More than 170 civilians were reported killed between the end of February and the end…