North Korea has called South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol “a guy with a trash-like brain” and “a diplomatic idiot” as it blasted him for using a U.N. speech to issue a warning over the North’s deepening military ties with Russia

A Muslim woman has been sentenced to two years in prison under Indonesia's blasphemy law over a video she shared on TikTok which showed her reciting an Islamic prayer before trying out pork while visiting the tourist island of Bali.

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A volcanic eruption could destroy the Icelandic town of Grindavik or lead to extensive ash clouds, experts have warned. The country has been shaken by more than 2,000 small earthquakes in the past few days prompting fears the tremours could disrupt the Fagradalsfjall volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula in the southwest of the country. Thousands have been told to evacuate Grindavik as a precautionary measure as a magma tunnel stretches below the surface. If an eruption occurs in or close to the town, the consequences will be devastating, volcanologist Ármann Höskuldsson warned. He told news site RUV: “This is very bad news. One of the most serious scenarios is an eruption in the town itself, similar to that in Vestmannaeyjar, 50 years ago. "This is [would be] much worse," says Ármann. Ragga Ágústdóttir, who lives close to Grinvadik, said residents were fearful of what could happen if an eruption struck. “The scenario on the table now is that it will happen in or just north of the town of Grindavik. There’s no good option here,” she told The Independent. If a volcanic eruption does not happen in Grinvadik, one could occur out at sea, experts have said. MP Gisli Olafsson said the country was praying the “worst case scenarios do not happen”. He shared on X, formerly Twitter: “The situation in Grinvadik continues to become even more grave than before. The town has already suffered considerable damage from the earthquakes and from the shifts in the ground as the magma thrusts itself upwards.” He said a 15km magma tunnel could turn into a fissure vent eruption as the chamber beneath the area was two times larger than previous eruptions in Reykjanes over the past few years. There is a chance the eruption could occur under the ocean, resulting in an explosive eruption and extensive ash clouds, he said. “Scientists have warned that they may not be able to give any further warning of when the magma reaches the surface, making it quite dangerous to go in there,” he added. It comes as residents endured a less shaky night as 880 earthquakes below magnitude three were recorded overnight compared to the previous 1,485 earthquakes which rocked the country in previous days. Some 3,000 residents have been evacuated, with many forced to leave their pets behind. A meeting on Saturday afternoon determined that only residents from the Þórkätlustað district were safe to swiftly return to collect necessities, report RUV. Magnús Tumi Guðmundsson, professor of geophysics, told RUV seismic activity continues, despite slowing down. He predicted three scenarios; the first is an eruption near Grindavik or north of the town; the second is that there is no eruption and the third, and least likely prediction, according to Mr Guðmundsson, is an undersea eruption. Iceland is highly susceptible to natural disasters as it lies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge – a divergent plate boundary where the North American Plate and the Eurasian Plate are moving away from each other, leading to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. “I don’t think it’s long before an eruption, hours or a few days. The chance of an eruption has increased significantly,” Thorvaldur Thordarson, professor of volcanology at the University of Iceland, told state broadcaster RUV yesterday. Reykjanes is a volcanic and seismic hot spot southwest of the capital Reykjavik. In March 2021, lava fountains erupted spectacularly from a fissure in the ground measuring between 500 750 metres long in the region’s Fagradalsfjall volcanic system. Read More Iceland: Thousands evacuated as fears of volcano eruption grow Iceland earthquakes: Your rights if you are on holiday there or are planning to go Mapped: Iceland earthquake locations revealed as volcano eruption alert issued Iceland volcano eruption could be ‘hours or days’, meteorologist warns Iceland evacuates town and raises aviation alert as concerns rise a volcano may erupt Warning volcanic eruption ‘could obliterate Grindavik’ as residents flee - latest

Over the last week, a secret delivery of American weapons and a cross-river raid have injected much-needed energy into Ukraine's largely stalled counteroffensive.

A 21-year-old Israeli-American soldier Roey Weiser sacrificed himself as a distraction to enable others to escape when Hamas stormed the scene

The US central bank opened a key policy meeting Tuesday, with officials widely expected to hold interest rates at a 22-year-high as they balance efforts to lower...

The judge presiding over Lori Vallow’s murder trial has ruled that the court will stream the verdict of the high-profile case once it’s reached. The decision was made public on the fourth week of Ms Vallow’s trial over charges of conspiracy to kill her children JJ Vallow, seven; and Tylee Ryan, 16; as well as his doomsday preacher husband Chad Daybell’s wife Tammy Daybell. Last year, Judge Steven Boyce banned cameras from the courtroom, citing concerns that they could prevent a fair trial. It came after Ms Vallow’s attorneys contended that one news organisation abused the privilege by repeatedly zooming in on Ms Vallow’s face during previous hearings. Prosecutors sided with the defence and said the cameras should be banned as news coverage could make it hard for the court to find an impartial jury. A coalition of more than 30 news organisations including The Associated Press and East Idaho News asked the judge to reject the motion but the court ultimately decided that news organisations would no longer be able to shoot still photography or videos inside the courtroom. Judge Boyce stated in his Tuesday ruling that the reasoning behind the ban loses validity upon the reaching of a verdict, allowing the court to stream the final chapter of the weeks-long trial through its YouTube channel, according to East Idaho News. On Monday, the court heard testimony from retired FBI Agent Doug Hart, whose role in the investigation was to comb through Ms Vallow’s iCloud accounts. With more than 4,500 text messages saved to the accounts, he was able to piece together a timeline of the developing relationship between Mr Daybell and Ms Vallow over 2019. This included the period in which Ms Vallow’s previous husband Charles Vallow was shot to death by her brother Alex Cox and she was able to pursue a romance with doomsday author Mr Daybell. In addition to raunchy text messages — some threaded together to form a lengthy story — the couple’s bizarre beliefs about possession and zombies and rating individuals on a light-to-dark scale were laid out. Shortly after the death of Charles Vallow on 11 July 2019, Ms Vallow and her son JJ, seven, took a trip with her niece Melani Boudreaux and her two children. It is not known if Tylee Ryan was on the trip. In texts, Mr Daybell referred to the Boudreaux children as “3s” based on where he placed them on his strange rating system. He sent Ms Vallow a text asking if she wanted him to “cause pain” to the two 3s she was travelling with. The two believed in an ability to use their minds to cast out demons from people and “work on them”. She replied to him telling him to hold off, but added that if they started to act up again “we can zap them”. Mr Daybell agreed and responded: “If they are going to act up, we’ll at least give them a reason to scream.” JJ and Tylee vanished without a trace back in September 2019, with their mother refusing to reveal their whereabouts to authorities for many months. One month after they were last seen alive, Tammy – an otherwise healthy 49-year-old – died suddenly and Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell soon jetted off to Hawaii to get married on the beach. In June 2020, the remains of JJ and Tylee were found buried on the grounds of Mr Daybell’s property in Rexburg, Idaho, and the doomsday cult couple were eventually charged with murder. Prosecutors allege that Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell conspired with Ms Vallow’s brother Alex Cox to murder Tammy, JJ and Tylee as part of their bizarre cult beliefs – but also for financial purposes so that they could collect Tammy’s life insurance money and the children’s social security and survivor benefits. Mr Daybell will stand trial separately with a potential date of June 2024 spoken about in court. Read More Lori Vallow trial - live: Court hears chilling ‘demons’ comments as judge allows livestream of verdict Lori Vallow trial verdict will be livestreamed, judge rules after banning video of testimony Lori Vallow’s disturbing texts revealed: ‘A reason to scream’

By Richa Naidu LONDON As a new European Union zero-tolerance deforestation law looms, several major investors told Reuters

The Tallahassee NAACP and civil rights attorney Ben Crump are asking authorities to drop felony voter fraud charges against a 69-year-old Black woman who was arrested last month as part of a Florida elections investigation.

New York authorities have arrested a suspect in connection with serial killings more than a decade ago that

By Sofia Menchu GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) -Guatemalans fed up with persistent graft scandals on Sunday catapulted an unheralded anti-corruption candidate