World Top News

TOKYO -- The brazen assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with a handmade gun shocked a nation unused to high-profile political violence. But there has been another surprise in the weeks since the murder as details have emerged about an alleged assassin who was well-off until his mother’s huge donations to the controversial Unification Church left him poor, neglected and filled with rage. Some Japanese have expressed understanding, even sympathy, for the 41-year-old suspect, especially those of a similar age who may feel pangs of recognition linked to their own suffering during three decades of economic malaise and social turmoil. There have been suggestions on social media that care packages should be sent to suspect Tetsuya Yamagami’s detention center to cheer him...

Former US President Donald Trump has asked a judge to freeze a justice department investigation of files seized from his home in an FBI search. In a lawsuit, his legal team asked that an independent lawyer be appointed to oversee documents that agents removed from Mar-a-Lago in Florida this month. Eleven sets of classified files were taken from Mr Trump's estate on 8 August, according to the FBI. Mr Trump is being investigated for potentially mishandling documents. On Monday, his lawyers asked that a third-party attorney - known as a special master - be appointed to determine whether the seized files are covered by executive privilege, which allows presidents to withhold certain communications from public release. Special masters a...

Russia has accused Ukrainian special services of killing the daughter of one of President Vladimir Putin's allies in a car bombing at the weekend. Darya Dugina, aged 29, died on Saturday when a vehicle she was driving exploded near Russia's capital Moscow. Her prominent ultra-nationalist father, Alexander Dugin, said to be close to Mr Putin, may have been the intended target of the attack. Ukrainian officials have denied any involvement in the explosion. But Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Monday it had solved the case and said that Ukraine was directly responsible. The FSB told Russian media that a Ukrainian woman had moved to Russia in July alongside her young daughter - but that she was in fact a Ukrainian specia...

UK intelligence agencies are accused of tipping off Indian authorities about a British national before his abduction and alleged torture by Punjab police. Jagtar Singh Johal, from Dumbarton, was in India in 2017 when his family say he was forced into an unmarked car. He says he was then tortured over days, including with electrocution. He has remained in detention since then. Successive British prime ministers have raised his case but India's government denies he was tortured or mistreated. In May, Mr Johal was formally charged with conspiracy to commit murder and being a member of a terrorist gang. He will be presented with a full list of the charges against him next month and faces a possible death penalty. Now the human rights g...

Elon Musk has subpoenaed Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey as part of his legal battle with the tech company. Mr Musk is seeking to end his $44bn deal for Twitter after alleging the firm failed to provide enough information on fake account numbers. But the social media site is suing the world's richest man to try to force him to buy it. The case will be heard in Delaware, US, in October unless both parties decide to settle outside of court beforehand. Twitter hopes that a judge will order Mr Musk, to complete the takeover at the agreed price of $54.20 per share. But as part of the trial preparations, lawyers for Mr Musk have called on his friend, the former boss of Twitter Mr Dorsey, in the hope that he will help support the Tesla bos...

The U.S. government on Monday strongly discouraged former NBA player Dennis Rodman from traveling to Russia to help secure the release of detained WNBA star Brittney Griner -- a trip that Rodman himself separately clarified isn't in the works, reversing an earlier comment. The back-and-forth stems from Rodman, a five-time NBA champion, initially announcing last weekend that he planned to travel to Russia according to comments he made to NBC News while dining at a restaurant in Washington, D.C. "I got permission to go to Russia to help that girl," Rodman told NBC News on Saturday. "I'm trying to go this week." Griner, who has been detained in Russia since Feb. 17, was found guilty on drug charges earlier this month and was sentenced to nine years in prison after vape cartridges con...