Today's top story
World
Jun 11, 2026 · 09:00 GMT
A Thai court has sentenced two Uyghur men to death over the 2015 bombing of Bangkok's Erawan shrine, which killed 20 people and injured more than 120. Prosecutors call it justice for a mass-casualty attack; the men have long denied involvement, and rights groups question the trial — pointing to allegations of coerced confessions and a decade in detention.
Thai authorities say the two men were behind the 2015 Erawan shrine bombing — one of the deadliest attacks in Bangkok's history, killing 20 — and the court handed down death sentences after a long-running case.
BBC ↗The Uyghur defendants have long denied involvement, and rights advocates question the fairness of the trial — raising concerns about coerced confessions, the men's vulnerable status as Uyghurs, and nearly a decade spent in detention before the verdict.
The Guardian ↗
Deadly protests have erupted in Kenya against a US plan to build an Ebola quarantine facility at Laikipia Air Base — demonstrators cite infection fears and a lack of transparency, and a protest leader says police shot dead protesters. President Ruto defends the facility as 'the right thing,' pointing to a longstanding US-Kenya partnership on health.
Saudi Arabia has signed a railways deal with Turkey — after similar moves with Syria and Jordan — to help revive the historic Hejaz railway linking the four countries. Ankara casts it as vital regional connectivity and a sign of Turkish-Gulf rapprochement; Israeli coverage frames the emerging corridor as one that pointedly bypasses Israel.
Peru's presidential runoff between right-wing Keiko Fujimori and leftist Roberto Sanchez — for the ninth president in a decade — went down to the wire. With about 95% of ballots counted, Sanchez has edged ahead of Fujimori, though the overseas vote is still to come and the result is not yet final.
The ICC's oversight body has suspended chief prosecutor Karim Khan and referred him to disciplinary proceedings over sexual misconduct allegations, with the court's 125 member states set to vote on his fate. The Assembly says it is upholding accountability; Khan rejects the suspension and denies wrongdoing, and his defenders question the timing as he faces US sanctions over his arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders.
France and Germany have abandoned the FCAS programme — the next-generation fighter, worth an estimated €100bn, meant to replace the Rafale and Eurofighter — after their aerospace champions, Dassault and Airbus, failed to agree on who leads. Some call it a damaging blow to Europe's push for a united defence; others say a dysfunctional 'forced marriage' was never going to work.
As Russia and Ukraine traded fresh strikes, Zelensky's European allies set out five conditions for peace talks and he signalled he would accept freezing the current front line as the 'quickest' route to ending the war. Kyiv and Europe frame it as a serious, guarantee-backed offer; Moscow keeps fighting and wants any deal on its own terms.
At least 11 people were killed and dozens wounded in Pakistan-administered Kashmir after the region's top court upheld 12 legislative seats reserved for Kashmiri refugees living in Pakistan. The outlawed Joint Awami Action Committee, which wants those seats abolished and more rights for residents, says police fired on civilians; authorities cast it as containing violent, banned protests before a planned rally.
Final results handed PM Pashinyan's party a landslide in a parliamentary election seen as a referendum on his turn away from Russia toward the EU — cementing the westward shift. His camp calls it a free European choice; Moscow frames the vote as Western-engineered.
President Ramaphosa unveiled a five-pillar plan to curb illegal immigration — tougher borders, more deportations, closing loopholes. He frames it as lawful order; but it lands amid xenophobic violence, with two Mozambicans killed and Malawi, Ghana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe repatriating citizens as anti-migrant groups set a June 30 deadline.
Albin Kurti's Vetevendosje won Kosovo's snap election but fell short of a majority, on low turnout. Supporters hail a renewed mandate for sovereignty and reform; the EU congratulated Kurti while pointedly urging 'compromise', amid worries about coalition deadlock and frozen dialogue with Serbia.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang for his first state visit since 2019, hailing an 'invincible friendship' with Kim Jong Un. Beijing and Pyongyang frame it as a deepening partnership in a multipolar world; the US, South Korea and allies see China, North Korea and Russia drawing dangerously closer — with denuclearization off the table.
SIPRI's 2026 report finds all nine nuclear-armed states modernized and expanded their arsenals last year, with about 12,200 warheads worldwide and disarmament stalling. Governments increasingly call nuclear weapons essential to national defense; arms-control experts warn the world is sliding into a perilous new arms race.
Zelensky flew to London to shore up European backing, while Moscow signalled openness to a 'new relationship' with the US as the war grinds on. Each side races to win over a key audience.
Reports say the Pentagon raised the threat level for Israeli espionage against the US to 'critical.' Some in Israel dismiss it as a leak meant to sabotage the Iran war; others treat it as a serious rupture between allies.
Bolivia's legislature passed a law regulating 'states of exception' that can deploy the military, as police and protesters clash at road blockades. The government calls it lawful order; critics call it a licence to crush dissent.
Turkey has launched one of its largest-ever naval exercises — thousands of troops and live missile fire across the Black Sea, Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean. Ankara calls it routine readiness; Athens sees provocation in contested waters.
With Jair Bolsonaro jailed for a 2022 coup plot and barred from running, his son Flávio carries the right's banner against President Lula in a tight 2026 race. The left calls it democracy defended; the right calls it persecution.
President Lee Jae Myung's Democratic Party won 12 of 16 metropolitan mayor and governor races in a landslide, while the conservative People Power Party held Seoul and three other seats.
Australia named China its primary strategic threat and is boosting defence by ~$38bn, even as trade fully recovers. Canberra warns of Chinese coercion; Beijing points to restored, stable ties.
Trump has pushed to bring Greenland under US control, at one point not ruling out force. Denmark and Greenland say sovereignty is non-negotiable, even as a defence-access compromise takes shape.
Trump froze aid to South Africa and offered refuge to white Afrikaners, citing a land-expropriation law and 'genocide' claims. Pretoria says no land has been seized and no genocide is happening.
NATO allies agreed to raise defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035 — with Spain opting out. Backers call it essential against Russia; skeptics call it disproportionate and hard to deliver.
Beijing's coast guard ran 'law-enforcement patrols' in waters east of Taiwan, framing it as protecting sovereignty. Taiwan and its partners describe the near-daily incursions as coercive military pressure.
A Panama court voided a China-linked firm's control of two canal ports; the government handed them to Maersk and MSC. Washington hails a win over Chinese influence; Beijing calls it US-pressured and is retaliating.
The US decertified Colombia as a drug-war partner and sanctioned President Petro, citing surging cocaine. Petro says his government has seized more cocaine than any in history and calls it political.
Kenya's UN-backed police mission left Haiti having barely dented gang rule; a larger 'Gang Suppression Force' is taking over. Backers say it can finally fight the gangs; many Haitians doubt foreign forces will help.
After Philippine and US forces held joint drills near Scarborough Shoal, China's military ran combat-readiness patrols there. Manila warns of a possible Chinese build-up; Beijing calls the patrols lawful defence of its territory.
Russia's Africa Corps and Mali's junta retreated from Kidal after attacks by Tuareg rebels and jihadists. Bamako and Moscow vow to press on; critics call it a humiliating exposure of Russia's limits in the Sahel.
Ethiopia and Eritrea are massing troops near their border, three years after the last war. Addis Ababa wants sea access and accuses Eritrea of backing rebels; Asmara denies any war plans and accuses Ethiopia of expansionism.
Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik's drive to pull Republika Srpska out of Bosnia's central institutions has triggered the worst crisis since the 1990s war.
Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized the eastern Congolese city of Goma, displacing huge numbers of civilians. Kinshasa calls it a Rwandan invasion for minerals; Kigali says it is only defending itself from a Hutu militia based in Congo.
As the International Court of Justice hears Guyana's case to affirm its century-old border, Venezuela pressed its claim — swearing in a governor for the disputed Essequibo — and a Guyanese soldier was wounded in a river border shooting.
As Trump ramps up pressure on Mexico's cartels and the USMCA review looms, President Sheinbaum is pushing back hard. Washington says Mexico isn't doing enough; Mexico City says the US is trampling its sovereignty.
After the US captured Nicolás Maduro, his vice-president Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in and most of the ruling structure stayed in place. Washington frames it as ending a narco-dictatorship; chavistas call it imperial aggression against a sovereign nation.
Péter Magyar's centre-right Tisza party won a landslide, ending Viktor Orbán's 16 years in power and pledging to reintegrate Hungary into the EU mainstream. Supporters cheer a return to Europe; Orbán's camp casts it as surrender of sovereignty.
The Sudanese Armed Forces pushed to retake Kurmuk and nearby areas in Blue Nile state from the paramilitary RSF, which controls much of Darfur after seizing el-Fasher — a takeover a UN mission said bore 'hallmarks of genocide.'
The US captured Nicolás Maduro in a January raid, tightened a maritime blockade on Venezuelan oil, then lifted sanctions and handed production licences to private firms. Was it liberation — or an oil-driven intervention?
A year after Assad fell, Ahmed al-Sharaa's Islamist-rooted government is trying to unify Syria — but waves of sectarian violence against Alawites, Druze and clashes with Kurdish forces have left thousands dead.
President Lai's DPP sought a record ~$40bn special defence budget; the opposition KMT pared it to ~$25bn. The DPP says blocking it endangers Taiwan; the KMT cites wasteful spending and favours engaging Beijing.
After the first direct talks since 2019, Morocco's autonomy plan — backed by a 2025 UN resolution — is the basis for negotiations. Rabat calls it the only realistic solution; the Polisario Front insists on a referendum that includes independence.
Pristina is moving to fold Serbian-run 'parallel' schools and clinics in northern Kosovo into the state system. Kosovo calls it asserting sovereignty and the rule of law; Kosovo Serbs and Belgrade call it dismantling their institutions.
China has staged some of its largest-ever military drills encircling Taiwan, simulating blockades and strikes. Beijing says it is deterring 'separatists'; Taipei says it is rehearsing an invasion of a democracy.
Chinese coast guard ships now patrol near the Japan-controlled Senkaku Islands almost daily, and Japan is sharply boosting its coast guard budget. Tokyo calls it a violation of its territory; Beijing calls it lawful patrols of Chinese waters.
India has kept the 65-year-old Indus Waters Treaty 'in abeyance' since a deadly Kashmir attack, rejecting a Hague arbitration ruling as 'null and void.' Delhi ties it to Pakistani terrorism; Islamabad calls weaponising water a threat to millions.
Myanmar's military staged a multi-phase election that handed its allied party victory, four years after the 2021 coup. The junta calls it a democratic transition; the opposition and the UN call it a sham held while the country burns.
The US has blocked oil tankers bound for Cuba — the tightest squeeze since the Missile Crisis — and the island now suffers blackouts of up to 20 hours a day.
Months of deadly fighting along the Thailand–Cambodia border gave way to a fragile ceasefire — but both sides accuse each other of violating it. Phnom Penh says Thai troops still occupy its land; Bangkok blames Cambodian provocations.
Ethiopia has completed and inaugurated the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile — Africa's largest hydro plant. Addis Ababa calls it sovereign development for millions; Cairo calls unilateral filling a threat to its water lifeline.
A US-brokered peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan was initialed in 2025 but remains unsigned. Baku demands Armenia first delete alleged territorial claims from its constitution; Yerevan rejects the precondition.