News in Brief

Date: 05 May 2025 - 22:13

News ID: ۱۳۹۲۲۴

NAIROBI (Reuters) -- Rwanda is in the early stages of talks to receive immigrants deported from the United States, Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said on television late on Sunday. Rwanda has in recent years positioned itself as a destination country for migrants that Western countries would like to remove, despite concerns by rights groups that Kigali does not respect some of the most fundamental human rights. Kigali signed an agreement with Britain in 2022 to take in thousands of asylum seekers from the UK before the deal was scrapped last year by then newly-elected Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Trump launched a sweeping crackdown on immigration and attempted to freeze the U.S. refugee resettlement program after the start of his second term in January. His administration has pushed aggressively to deport immigrants who are in the country illegally and other non-citizens.

***
MOSCOW (Dispatches) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted an invitation from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the country, the Kremlin said on Monday. Putin and Modi emphasized during the call which took place on Monday that relations between Russia and India were not affected by external influence and continue to develop dynamically. The Russian President is expected to visit India for the annual summit between both countries later this year. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhi Jaiswal shared the updates on Putin and Modi’s call on X and said, “President Putin called PM Narendra Modi and strongly condemned the terror attack in Pahalgam, India. He conveyed deepest condolences on the loss of innocent lives and expressed full support to India in the fight against terrorism. He emphasized that the perpetrators of the heinous attack and their supporters must be brought to justice.”

***
MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Ukrainian forces attacked Russia’s western Kursk region on Monday, firing missiles, smashing through the border and then crossing minefields with special vehicles, according to Russian war bloggers. Russia’s top general said last month that Ukrainian troops had been ejected from the Kursk region, ending the biggest incursion into Russian territory since World War Two, and that Russia was carving out a buffer zone in the neighboring Ukrainian region of Sumy. The Ukrainian attack in Kursk was reported by multiple other Russian bloggers including “The archangel of special forces” and Russian state television war correspondent Alexander Sladkov. There was no immediate comment from either Russia or Ukraine, but Russian war bloggers published maps showing Ukrainian forces trying to push over the Russian border in two places towards Tyotkino.

***
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A World War II-era Philippine navy ship to be used as a target in a combat exercise by American and the Philippine forces accidentally sank Monday hours before the mock assault, prompting the drill to be cancelled, U.S. and Philippine military officials said. The BRP Miguel Malvar, which was decommissioned by the Philippine navy in 2021, took on water while being towed in rough waters facing the disputed South China Sea and sank about 30 nautical miles (55 kilometers) off the western Philippine province of Zambales. Nobody was onboard when the ship listed then sank, the Philippine military said. The ship-sinking exercise was planned in an offshore area facing the hotly disputed Scarborough Shoal, which has been closely guarded by the Chinese coast guard, navy and suspected militia ships. China has vehemently opposed such exercises involving U.S. forces in or near the South China Sea or Taiwan, which Beijing claims as a province and has threatened to annex by force if necessary.

***
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 100% tariff on movies produced outside the country, saying the American movie industry was dying a “very fast death” due to the incentives that other countries were offering to lure filmmakers. “This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda,” Trump said on Truth Social. Trump said he was authorizing the relevant government agencies, such as the Department of Commerce, to immediately begin the process of imposing a 100% tariff on all films produced abroad that are then sent into the United States.

***
NAIROBI (Reuters) -- Kenya’s President William Ruto fended off a shoe thrown at him during a speech about the cost of living which has been a source of public anger, videos shared on social media showed. Ruto has been compelled to abandon tax hikes and invite opposition members into cabinet, but discontent remains high in the East African nation. On Sunday at the rally in Migori county in western Kenya, Ruto blocked the flying footwear with his arm and did not appear to be injured, according to three videos. Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said police had arrested three people, The Star newspaper reported. Then U.S. President George W. Bush famously had a shoe thrown at him by an Iraqi journalist in 2008 in protest at the chaos following the U.S.-led invasion.