Articles from ‘Independent News Roundup’

Three people are wounded in Saudi Arabia after Yemen’s Houthis launch a barrage of attacks on the Kingdom’s airports as regional tensions escalate. Saudi-backed forces claim to have retaken a strategic Red Sea port overlooking the Bab al-Mandab strait, a claim disputed by a senior Houthi official. Meanwhile, Turkiye and Pakistan announce troop deployments to Saudi Arabia under their collective security pact, while South Korea threatens Ukraine…

Thousands of sexual offences involving children have been reported at or near schools in England and Wales, with police recording at least 8,500 offences against children aged 12 and under between 2021 and 2025. The figures expose not only the scale of alleged abuse, but a difficult safeguarding problem in which many identified alleged offenders are themselves children INR Report: Based on reporting by The Guardian and RT. · Police recorded an…

Estonia is moving combat forces closer to its Russian border while acquiring long-range missile systems capable of striking targets hundreds of kilometres inside Russia. The change forms part of a new "active defence" strategy intended to confront a Russian attack immediately rather than surrender territory while waiting for NATO reinforcements INR Report: Based on reporting by the Financial Times, RT and official Estonian defence sources. ·…

New York has declared a statewide disaster emergency as the United States confronts its largest measles resurgence in decades. The outbreak is also relevant to New Zealand, where health authorities acknowledge that immunisation coverage remains below the level considered necessary to prevent sustained transmission INR Report: Based on reporting by RT and verified against official US and New Zealand public-health data. · New York Governor Kathy…

Following Vladimir Zelensky’s threat to intensify attacks on Russian oil refineries, Moscow ramps up strikes across Ukraine, targeting bridges critical to Kiev’s war effort. Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz, despite rock-bottom approval ratings at home, visits Kiev and pledges more than a billion euros in additional support. Meanwhile, Yemen’s Saudi-backed authorities launch military operations aimed at retaking Houthi-held territory, as the…

Britain is confronting an extraordinary surge in bluetongue, with confirmed cases in the first three months of the current season already four times higher than the previous three seasons combined. The outbreak carries no known risk to humans or food safety, but its scale raises questions for livestock-producing countries such as New Zealand about changing patterns of vector-borne animal disease INR Report: Based on reporting by RT HERE ·…

Russia’s Defence Ministry says it is stepping up strikes on Ukrainian military sites in response to Vladimir Zelensky’s threats against Russian oil refineries. Yemen’s Saudi-backed authorities announce plans to retake Houthi-held territory, as the Sanaa-based group claims a strike on a major Riyadh oil refinery complex. Iran says it will resist further aggression but remains open to diplomacy, offering to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if…

WikiLeaks transformed the relationship between governments, whistleblowers and the public by publishing primary-source documents on wars, surveillance, diplomacy and intelligence operations. Twenty years later, its legacy is inseparable from Julian Assange's prosecution and a question democracies have still not resolved: when classified information exposes wrongdoing, who should be punished, those who reveal it or those responsible for what it…

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu almost two years ago, yet he remains free to travel to countries prepared to receive him. The deeper issue is no longer simply Netanyahu's case, but whether international law can retain credibility when enforcement ultimately depends upon political decisions by individual states. INR Report: Based on reporting by RT HERE · American…

After years of extraordinary Western support for Ukraine, a former Polish prime minister is asking a question increasingly difficult to dismiss: where did all the money and equipment go? Leszek Miller's claim that Ukrainian officials are embezzling foreign assistance goes beyond what available evidence establishes, but documented corruption cases and acknowledged weaknesses in aid oversight make demands for greater accountability legitimate. INR…