World News

By Saad Sayeed, Ariba Shahid and Steve Holland

ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump cancelled a trip by two U.S. envoys to Iran war mediator Pakistan on Saturday, dealing a new setback to peace prospects after Iran’s foreign minister flew out of Islamabad following talks in the capital.

Trump said in a social media post that he had called off the planned visit by his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, citing what he said was tremendous confusion within the Iranian leadership.

“Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work! Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their “leadership.” Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!” he wrote.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi earlier left the Pakistani capital without any sign of a breakthrough in talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other senior officials.

Araqchi later described his visit to Pakistan as “very fruitful,” adding in a social media post that he had “shared Iran’s position concerning (a) workable framework to permanently end the war on Iran. Have yet to see if the U.S. is truly serious about diplomacy”.

Iranian media reported that Araqchi had flown to Oman’s capital Muscat, saying he will meet with senior officials to “discuss and exchange views on bilateral relations and regional developments”.

Tehran has ruled out a new round of direct talks with the United States and an Iranian diplomatic source said Tehran would not accept Washington’s “maximalist demands”. 

IRAN AND US AT AN IMPASSE

Washington and Tehran are at an impasse as Iran has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, while the U.S. blocks Iran’s oil exports. 

The conflict, in which a ceasefire is in force, began with U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran on February 28. Iran has since carried out strikes against Israel, U.S. bases and Gulf states, and the war has pushed up energy prices to multi-year highs, stoking inflation and darkening global growth prospects.

Araqchi “explained our country’s principled positions regarding the latest developments related to the ceasefire and the complete end of the imposed war against Iran”, said a statement on the minister’s official Telegram account. 

Asked about Tehran’s reservations over U.S. positions in the talks, an Iranian diplomatic source in Islamabad told Reuters: “Principally, Iranian side will not accept maximalist demands.” 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had said the U.S. had seen some progress from the Iranian side in recent days and hoped more would come over the weekend, while Vice President JD Vance was ready to travel to Pakistan as well.

Vance led a first round of unsuccessful talks with Iran in Islamabad earlier this month. 

(Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Daniel Trotta, William Mallard, Matthias Williams and Timothy Heritage; Editing by Paul Simao, Edwina Gibbs, Alexander Smith and Deepa Babington)

source

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will not take his seat in parliament following a landslide election loss this month, and will instead focus on rebuilding his nationalist-populist political community, he announced Saturday in a video on social media.

Hungary’s April 12 election brought an end to Orbán’s 16 years in power when voters cast their ballots overwhelmingly for a center-right challenger who promised to crack down on endemic corruption and restore Hungary’s democratic institutions that had been eroded under Orbán.

That challenger, the Tisza party led by Hungary’s incoming Prime Minister Péter Magyar, won a two-thirds majority in parliament that will allow it to undo many of Orbán’s policies.

Since the election, the long-serving prime minister’s future role in Hungarian political life, and whether he will retain a role in government, has been uncertain.

But in a video posted to Facebook, Orbán said his party’s caucus in parliament would be “radically transformed” following the election loss, and that he would not take his seat.

“Our task now is not in parliament,” Orbán said, but in the “reorganization” of his political camp that he calls the “national side.”

“I have led our community for nearly four decades,” Orbán said. “This camp has always been the most united and cohesive political community in Hungary.”

Magyar has vowed to restore democratic institutions and the rule of law, which eroded under Orbán’s rule, and to hold accountable those who he says were responsible for overseeing and benefiting from widespread official corruption.

When the new parliament forms on May 9, it will be the first time since Hungary’s transition from state socialism in 1990 that Orbán has not held a seat among lawmakers.

In his statement, Orbán suggested he would remain the president of his Fidesz party after the party’s congress convenes in June to elect its leader.

Magyar’s party gained 141 seats out of 199 in parliament, the largest majority in Hungary’s post-Communist history. Orbán’s far-right, eurosceptic Fidesz party will control 52 seats, down from 135 before the election.

source

WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump canceled a planned trip to Pakistan by envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff for peace talks with Iran, Fox News reported on Saturday.

The network said Trump told Fox about the trip’s cancellation.

(Reporting by Jason Lange in Washington)

source

BANGKOK (AP) — China’s top diplomat on Saturday visited Myanmar’s capital and met with the leader of its military-backed government as part of a regional tour aimed at strengthening Beijing’s political, security and strategic ties in Southeast Asia.

State-run MRTV television reported that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Min Aung Hlaing discussed enhancing Myanmar’s international relations and cooperation within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Wang’s visit to Naypyitaw comes after Min Aung Hlaing was sworn in as president on April 10 following an election that critics say was neither free nor fair and was designed to maintain the military’s grip on power five years after it ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government.

The report said Min Aung Hlaing told Wang he was pleased that the Chinese president Xi Jinping sent his congratulatory message within hours of his election.

China, which has major geopolitical and economic interests in Myanmar, is Myanmar’s biggest trading partner and a longstanding ally. Beijing has invested billions of dollars in Myanmar’s mines, oil and gas pipelines and other infrastructure and is a major arms supplier along with Russia.

China is one of a small number of countries that have openly supported recent elections and sent congratulatory messages to Min Aung Hlaing after he became president.

The ASEAN, whose 11 members include Myanmar, was among the outside groups that did not recognize Myanmar’s elections after most opposition groups were excluded and dissent was tightly restricted. Voting also could not take place in some areas due to Myanmar’s ongoing civil war.

Myanmar’s leaders were barred from attending ASEAN’s previous meetings after failing to implement a peace plan agreed to by the bloc in April 2021, which called for an immediate end to violence, dialogue among all parties and humanitarian aid.

Myanmar’s previous military government led by Min Aung Hlaing allowed limited humanitarian aid on its own restrictive terms and did not comply with other terms of the plan.

In his April 10 inauguration speech, Min Aung Hlaing said restoring normal relations with ASEAN was among his top priorities.

Saturday’s report said the two sides also exchanged views on border stability, trading, cooperation in eliminating cybercrime and Myanmar’s internal peace efforts.

China also maintains ties with the ethnic armed groups operating near its border, including the powerful “Three Brotherhood Alliance” that has been fighting for decades for greater autonomy from Myanmar’s central government.

The alliance captured large swaths of territory near Chinese border and western Myanmar between late 2023 and 2024, inspiring resistance forces opposed to military rule to expand their operations across the country.

However, a series of China-brokered ceasefires last year slowed their advance, allowing the army to retake key territories and regain the upper hand since mid-2025.

source

BUCHAREST, April 25 (Reuters) – Romania recovered fragments of two drones after an overnight Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine, its defence ministry said in statements on Saturday, while the foreign ministry said it had summoned the Russian ambassador in protest.

Parts of drones were found in the southeastern city of Galati, where an electricity pole and a household annex were damaged, and in neighbouring Tulcea county, Romania’s defence ministry said, adding that there were no casualties.

Romania’s emergency response agency said it temporarily evacuated people near the drone found in Galati until the fragments, which might contain an explosive charge, could be disposed of.

Romania, a member of both NATO and the European Union, shares a 650-km (400-mile) land border with Ukraine and has seen Russian drones repeatedly breach its airspace as Moscow attacks Ukraine ports on the other side of the Danube river.

While drone fragments have routinely fallen on Romania, Saturday marked the first time property had been damaged.

“The defence ministry firmly condemns the irresponsible actions of the Russian Federation and emphasizes that these represent a new challenge to regional security and stability in the Black Sea area,” the ministry’s statement said.

“Such incidents demonstrate the Russian Federation’s lack of respect for the norms of international law and endanger not only the safety of Romanian citizens, but also the collective security of NATO.”

Two Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets – part of a British air-policing mission in Romania – were scrambled to monitor the attack from the air, which is standard procedure. Residents of neighbouring Tulcea county were also warned to take cover.

Tensions have mounted along Europe’s eastern flank in recent months after suspected Russian drones breached the airspace of several NATO states.

Romanian law allows it to shoot down drones during peacetime if lives or property are at risk, but it has not yet done so.

Defence Minister Radu Miruta on Friday said a U.S.-made, AI-powered counter-drone system would be integrated into national air defence systems in a matter of days after final tests.

The Merops system, developed by Project Eagle – a U.S.-based company backed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt – would be able to counter drone threats along the Danube river, Miruta said.

Poland is already using the system on NATO’s eastern flank.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Susan Fenton and Aidan Lewis)

source

By Maria Martinez

BERLIN, April 25 (Reuters) – Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) rose to a record 28% in the latest weekly INSA voting intention poll published on Saturday, widening its lead over the conservative bloc to four percentage points.

The result marked the highest level ever recorded for the party by INSA and was up one point from the previous week.

The conservative CDU party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz was unchanged from the previous week at 24%, while the Greens slipped one point to 12%. The Social Democrats (SPD) held steady at 14%, and the Left Party remained at 11%.

With 11% of votes going to parties that would fail to enter parliament, a governing majority would mathematically require at least 45% of the vote share among parties clearing the threshold.

If other parties continue to rule out cooperation with the AfD, viable governing coalitions would be limited to three-party alliances, the poll suggested. A coalition of the Union, SPD and Greens would command 50%, while the Union, SPD and the Left would total 49%.

INSA surveyed 1,203 people between April 20 and April 24 and asked respondents how they would vote if a federal election were held on Sunday.

(Reporting by Maria Martinez; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

source

April 25 (Reuters) – Israel said on Saturday it would attack Hezbollah targets forcefully, further testing a fragile ceasefire with Lebanon that U.S. President Donald Trump recently said had been extended by three weeks.

Four people were killed on Saturday in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s state news agency reported, while the Israeli military said Hezbollah had fired rockets at Israel, posing the latest challenges to the tenuous ceasefire.

The ceasefire agreed between Israel and Lebanon has led to a significant reduction in hostilities, but Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah have continued to clash in southern Lebanon, where Israel has kept soldiers in the self-declared buffer zone.

A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the military had been instructed to attack Hezbollah targets in Lebanon forcefully, providing no further details.

The Israeli military said on Saturday that it had struck loaded rocket launchers belonging to Hezbollah in three locations in southern Lebanon overnight and targeted several Hezbollah fighters in separate strikes. It said later in the day that it had also struck facilities used by Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces in southern Lebanon.

It was unclear whether the deaths reported by the state news agency were linked to those Israeli strikes.

The Israeli military restated its warning for Lebanese residents not to approach the Litani River area in southern Lebanon while it battles Hezbollah.

It said it had intercepted a “suspicious aerial target” within the area its forces are presently occupying, and that two rockets were fired by Hezbollah into northern Israel, one of which was intercepted. There were no reports of casualties.

A Hezbollah lawmaker said on Friday that a U.S.-mediated ceasefire in the war with Israel was ​meaningless, a day after it was extended for three weeks. The truce had been due to expire on Sunday.

(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Maayan Lubell; Editing by Susan Fenton, Aidan Lewis and Alistair Bell)

source

BUCHAREST, April 25 (Reuters) – Romania recovered drone fragments in the southeastern city of Galati after an overnight Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine, with an electricity pole and a household annex damaged, its defence ministry said in a statement.

There were no casualties, the ministry said.

Romania, a member of both NATO and the European Union, shares a 650-km (400-mile) land border with Ukraine and has seen Russian drones repeatedly breach its airspace as Moscow attacks Ukraine ports on the other side of the Danube river.

While drone fragments have routinely fallen on Romania, Saturday marked the first time property had been damaged.

“The defence ministry firmly condemns the irresponsible actions of the Russian Federation and emphasizes that these represent a new challenge to regional security and stability in the Black Sea area,” the ministry’s statement said.

“Such incidents demonstrate the Russian Federation’s lack of respect for the norms of international law and endanger not only the safety of Romanian citizens, but also the collective security of NATO.”

Two Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets – part of a British air-policing mission in Romania – were scrambled to monitor the attack from the air, which is standard procedure. Residents of neighbouring Tulcea county were also warned to take cover.

Tensions have mounted along Europe’s eastern flank in recent months after suspected Russian drones breached the airspace of several NATO states.

Romanian law allows it to shoot down drones during peacetime if lives or property are at risk, but it has not yet done so.

Defence Minister Radu Miruta on Friday said a U.S.-made, AI-powered counter-drone system would be integrated into national air defence systems in a matter of days after final tests.

The Merops system, developed by Project Eagle – a U.S.-based company backed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt – would be able to counter drone threats along the Danube river, Miruta said.

Poland is already using the system on NATO’s eastern flank.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Tom Hogue)

source

KUALA LUMPUR, April 25 (Reuters) – Malaysia has named a former judge to head the country’s anti-corruption agency after the current chief, whose long tenure has been marred by allegations of misconduct, leaves next month.

Abdul Halim Aman will take the helm of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) effective May 13, the chief secretary to the government, Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar, said on Saturday.

“The government is confident that with his vast experience and high integrity, he would be able to bolster efforts to strengthen governance, improve public confidence and intensify the anti-corruption agenda in the interest of the country,” Shamsul Azri said.

The agency’s ​current chief, Azam Baki, has been accused of misconduct with regard to his stock holdings on at least two occasions, the first time in 2022. Even so, his contract, which began in 2020, has been renewed several times.

He came under fresh calls to resign this year, after media reports in February accused him and several other MACC senior officials of misconduct and breaching rules for public servants. 

Azam and the MACC have described the allegations as baseless.

The allegations have deepened rifts within Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s ⁠administration, with some key allies questioning the premier’s commitment to tackling graft.

The ​government has investigated some allegations against Azam but has so far ​declined to make the findings public, pending related probes by police and other authorities.

Abdul Halim’s appointment was made by the country’s king, Sultan Ibrahim, who said this week he would choose the agency’s new head to prevent the role from being politicised.

The statement on Saturday said the monarch’s decision followed a proposal by Anwar.

According to Malaysia’s constitution, the king can appoint heads of key government agencies on the advice of the prime minister. The monarchy plays a largely ceremonial role and is ⁠traditionally seen as above politics. But it has become more influential in recent years due to prolonged political instability during which the king has wielded rarely used discretionary powers.

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff and Xinghui Kok; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

source

TOKYO, April 25 (Reuters) – Two forest fires in northern Japan’s Iwate Prefecture burned into a fourth day on Saturday as ground and aerial firefighting efforts expanded to more than 1,000 personnel.

The blazes are pushing closer to the residential areas of the town of Otsuchi, where about a third of the town’s residents were ordered to evacuate.

• One fire broke out on Wednesday afternoon in a mountainous area of Iwate Prefecture, followed by another two hours later about 10 km (6.2 miles) away and near Otsuchi’s residential area.

• Flames are threatening homes in multiple districts, with 1,225 firefighters, including teams dispatched from outside the prefecture, battling the blazes from ground and air.

• Helicopters from several prefectures and Japan’s Self-Defense Forces are conducting aerial water drops.

• The wildfires have scorched more than 730 hectares (1,800 acres) and forced evacuation orders covering 1,541 households and 3,233 people as of Saturday morning.

• Eight buildings, including one residence, have burned. No casualties have been reported.

• No rain is forecast over the coming week, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

• Together the fires have burned up the third-largest area of any wildfire in Japan, behind an Ofunato fire that consumed about 3,370 hectares in 2025 and the Kushiro fire in 1992 that consumed 1,030 hectares, according to media reports.

(Reporting by Mariko Katsumura; Editing by Tom Hogue)

source