China evacuates first group of citizens from Iran via Turkmenistan amid rising tensions
BEIJING, June 18 — China has organised the evacuation of the first batch of Chinese citizens from Iran, according to China News Service on Wednesday.
The Chinese nationals departed from Tehran via land route into Turkmenistan on Tuesday, the state-run news agency said. — Reuters
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The Star
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France aims to intercept UK-bound migrant boats offshore as Channel crossings surge
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The Sun
39 minutes ago
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Rare earths China's game changer
THE official statements from the United States and China that emerged from their trade talks in London recently were notable for the absence of direct mention to the rare earths issue which appears increasingly the subject of most concern to the Trump administration in what is turning out to be a protracted negotiation process. It was left to President Donald Trump to articulate this in his social media platform where he provided his assessment of the two-day marathon discussions designed, in the words of the US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, to put 'meat on the bones' of the agreement reached in Geneva to ease bilateral retaliatory tariffs that had reached triple-digit levels. Immediately following the end of the London meeting, Trump proclaimed on Truth Social in a message that was aimed perhaps more at the Chinese leadership than at his American audience: Our deal with China is done, subject to final approval with President Xi and me. 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Barnama
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Argentina's Former President Kirchner To Serve 6-year Sentence Under House Arrest
Former Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner gestures from the balcony of her home after Argentina's Supreme Court upheld her guilty verdict for defrauding the state, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, June 16, 2025. REUTERS/Pedro Lazaro Fernandez ISTANBUL, June 18 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- Argentina's former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner will serve a six-year sentence on corruption charges under house arrest, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, Anadolu Ajansi (AA) reported. The court determined that placing the 72-year-old Kirchner under house arrest was appropriate, citing her age and prominence as a political figure. It also referenced security concerns, noting Kirchner's survival of a 2022 assassination attempt, and said that her safety 'would become complex in a situation of prison confinement in coexistence with any type of prison population.' bootstrap slideshow According to the ruling, Kirchner must begin serving her sentence immediately. She will be monitored electronically and remain confined to her apartment in the capital, Buenos Aires, where she resides with her daughter and granddaughter. The court ordered that Kirchner 'must remain at the registered address, an obligation that she may not break except in exceptional situations.' It added that any future visitors to the apartment aside from household staff, medical personnel and other authorised individuals must first receive court approval. Kirchner was initially sentenced in 2022 to six years in prison and permanently banned from holding public office over corruption. However, she had remained free pending the Supreme Court's review of her appeal. Former President Carlos Menem died before serving a seven-year prison sentence in the case of illegal arms sales to Ecuador and Croatia, and he only served around six months of pretrial detention in 2001. -- BERNAMA-ANADOLU
