Author: Daily Sabah With Reuters

A magnitude 7 earthquake struck Tonga on Sunday, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) said. The quake was at a depth of 16 km (10 miles), GFZ said. GFZ had earlier pegged the earthquake at 6.6. Hazardous tsunami waves from this earthquake are possible within 300 km of the epicenter along the coasts of Tonga, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System said. Tonga is a Polynesian kingdom of more than 170 South Pacific islands.

Republican President Donald Trump said on Sunday he was not joking about seeking a third presidential term, which is barred by the U.S. Constitution, but that it was too early to think about doing so. Trump, who took office on January 20 for his second, non-consecutive White House term, has made vague allusions to seeking a third one but addressed it directly on Sunday in a telephone interview with NBC News. “No, I’m not joking. I’m not joking,” Trump said, but “it is far too early to think about it.” “There are, there are methods which you could do it,…

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese touted his Labor party’s credentials on affordable healthcare on Saturday, the first full day of campaigning for a general election expected to have cost of living as a central issue. Albanese on Friday called the election for May 3 as his centre-left Labor runs neck-and-neck in opinion polls with the Liberal-National opposition led by Peter Dutton, who has campaigned on a housing crisis that he says is putting home ownership out of reach. After enjoying a healthy lead for much of his term, Albanese’s personal approval ratings are now near those of Dutton, a former…

Russia’s Defence Ministry on Saturday accused Ukraine of attacking Russian energy facilities in the past 24 hours despite a moratorium on striking each other’s energy infrastructure. The ministry said Ukraine attacked power grids in the Belgorod region several times leaving about 9,000 residents without power supply. Reuters could not immediately confirm the account.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it will investigate a close call that occurred on Friday between a Delta Air Lines flight and a U.S. Air Force jet near Reagan Washington National Airport. Delta Flight 2389, an Airbus A319 headed for Minneapolis, was cleared for takeoff around 3:15 p.m. ET (1915 GMT), while four U.S. Air Force T-38 Talons were inbound to nearby Arlington National Cemetery for a flyover, the FAA said. The Delta jet received a cockpit collision warning alert that another aircraft was nearby, and controllers issued corrective instructions to both aircraft, it said.

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday launched a nuclear-powered submarine equipped with hypersonic Zircon missiles capable of travelling at several times the speed of sound. Russian news agencies, referring to a video link from the Arctic port of Murmansk, said Putin launched the vessel, named Perm after a city in the Urals, with the order: “I hereby authorise!” The Russian agencies, quoting documents associated with the launch, said the Perm is the first nuclear-powered submarine to be equipped with Zircon missiles as a standard feature. Zircon missiles have a range of 900 km (560 miles) and their speed renders them very…

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he had spoken with officials in Myanmar about the earthquake that hit the country and that his administration would be providing some form of assistance. “We’re going to be helping,” he told reporters at the White House.

Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil will remain behind bars in Louisiana at least until a U.S. judge decides whether the Palestinian activist should challenge his imprisonment in a federal court there or in New Jersey. President Donald Trump’s administration argues that Khalil’s challenge should be heard in Louisiana where he is now detained and where any appeals would be heard by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the most conservative in the country. U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz in Newark, New Jersey, did not say on Friday when he would rule but said it was his hope that “judges…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that Kyiv’s forces had taken “certain steps” in Russia outside the Kursk region to ease pressure on Ukrainian troops in the area. Zelensky did not elaborate. His comments, made to reporters in Kyiv, followed reports from Russian military correspondents that Ukrainian troops were also inside the adjacent Belgorod region and were fighting battles with Russian forces there.

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday launched a nuclear-powered submarine equipped with hypersonic Zircon missiles capable of travelling at several times the speed of sound. Russian news agencies, referring to a video link from the Arctic port of Murmansk, said Putin launched the vessel, named Perm after a city in the Urals, with the order: “I hereby authorise!” The Russian agencies, quoting documents associated with the launch, said the Perm is the first nuclear-powered submarine to be equipped with Zircon missiles as a standard feature. Zircon missiles have a range of 900 km (560 miles) and their speed renders them very…