News in Brief (2022-05-26)

FE Team | Published: May 25, 2022 22:13:53

UN chief announces new Cold War threat
NEW YORK, May 25: The world faces the threat of a new Cold War "with nuclear undertones" and a surge in extreme nationalism, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday in a speech to graduates of Seton Hall University in New Jersey. The ceremony was broadcast on the university's website. "From the Middle East to the threat of a new Cold War with grave nuclear undertones, to terrorism and sectarian fighting within countries rooted in ancient grievances, to an explosion of extreme nationalism that ignores the central truth that international solutions are always in the national interest... Each challenge is another sign that our world is deeply fractured," he said. — TASS
Moscow offers fast-track citizenship to residents of occupied Ukraine
LONDON, May 25: President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Wednesday simplifying the process for residents of Ukraine's Russian-occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions to acquire Russian citizenship and passports. The decree marks a further step towards "Russification" of the two regions, where Moscow's war in Ukraine has enabled it to establish a continuous land bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula which it seized from Ukraine in 2014. — Reuters
Dozens of migrants missing off Tunisia's coast
TUNIS, May 25: A boat carrying migrants from Libya capsized off Tunisia's coast, prompting an ongoing rescue operation Wednesday after one body was recovered and dozens of people were reported missing. The International Organization for Migration said that 75 people were unaccounted for and 30 others were rescued after the boat sank off Sfax in southern Tunisia. The boat reportedly departed from Zuwara in north Libya. — AP
UK PM takes full responsibility for 'Partygate'
LONDON, May 25: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday he took "full responsibility" for lockdown-breaching parties in Downing Street, following the release of a damning internal report on the so-called "Partygate" scandal. "I take full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch," he told MPs in response. — AFP