All posts tagged: ministry

South Korean ministry to shun Starbucks vouchers in ‘Tank Day’ campaign backlash

South Korean ministry to shun Starbucks vouchers in ‘Tank Day’ campaign backlash

Published by Sam Flores

SEOUL: South Korea’s Interior Minister said his ministry would stop offering products from companies that “make light” of the country’s democratic history, after a public outcry over a Starbucks Korea marketing campaign that evoked a brutal 1980 military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. The coffee chain launched its “Tank Day” campaign on the same day as the anniversary of the May 18 Gwangju uprising, when the then-military government sent in troops and tanks to suppress mass rallies for democracy. “Conduct that makes light of that history or consumes it as commercial material is an issue that can never be taken lightly,” Yun Ho-jung wrote on X late on Thursday (May 21), expressing deep regret over what he called Starbucks Korea’s “anti-historical conduct” and saying the Ministry of the Interior and Safety would no longer offer products from companies that made light of the history and value of democracy or used it as commercial material. Shinsegae Group, the coffee chain’s South Korean licensee, fired Starbucks’ local chief executive this week over the campaign, saying it was inappropriate. …

Russia ‘dangerously’ intercepts British spy plane over Black Sea: Ministry | News

Russia ‘dangerously’ intercepts British spy plane over Black Sea: Ministry | News

Published by Sam Flores

The incident came last month when unarmed Rivet Joint plane was securing NATO’s eastern flank in international airspace, according to the British Defence Ministry. Published On 20 May 202620 May 2026 Two Russian jets have “repeatedly and dangerously” intercepted a British Royal Air Force surveillance aircraft in April over the Black Sea, according to the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence. The ⁠⁠Rivet Joint aircraft was unarmed and carrying out routine surveillance in international airspace over the Black Sea, securing NATO’s eastern flank, the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. There was no immediate reaction from Russia. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list “This incident is another example of dangerous and unacceptable behaviour by Russian pilots, towards an unarmed aircraft operating in international airspace,” Defence Minister John Healey said in the statement. “These actions create a serious risk of accidents and potential escalation,” he added. It was repeatedly intercepted ‌‌by a Russian Su-35 aircraft, which flew close enough to trigger emergency systems on the British plane, it said. A Russian Su-27 conducted six …

Exclusive: Zack Polanski falsely claimed to have worked at the Ministry of Justice

Exclusive: Zack Polanski falsely claimed to have worked at the Ministry of Justice

Published by Sam Flores

Zack Polanski falsely claimed to have worked at the Ministry of Justice while campaigning for elected office, The Telegraph can reveal. The Green Party leader said on his official campaign website in 2020 that he was “currently working at the Ministry of Justice on their training & diversity programmes”. The Telegraph, however, understands that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has no record of Mr Polanski ever working for the department. When asked about the claim, a spokesman for Mr Polanski said he had worked for the “justice assessment committee”, which he described as “a programme to improve the diversity of justice appointments based in the MoJ”. This committee does not exist. The only known public reference to a “justice assessment committee” appears to be a comment made by Mr Polanski himself during a City Hall meeting in 2024. After Green Party gains in the local elections, such as Zoe Garbett, being elected mayor of Hackney, Mr Polanski’s past statements have come under extra scrutiny – Chris J Ratcliffe/Reuters When challenged over the discrepancies, the Green …

South Korean ship in Strait of Hormuz hit by unidentified object, ministry says

South Korean ship in Strait of Hormuz hit by unidentified object, ministry says

Published by Sam Flores

SEOUL: The stern of a bulk carrier operated by South Korean shipper HMM was struck by an unidentified object on May 4 while stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, the foreign ministry said on Sunday (May 10) following an on‑site inspection of the vessel on Friday. A week ago, Seoul reported a blast and fire aboard the same vessel – the HMM Namu – in the strait, while anchored near the United Arab Emirates. No one was harmed in the incident. US President Donald Trump said at the time that the incident was caused by an Iranian attack. Seoul was investigating the incident, and the vessel was towed to a port in Dubai after the blaze on Monday. It was not certain what the object was, the ministry said, and authorities said debris would be collected at the site for analysis. Trump urged South Korea to join a currently suspended US-led effort dubbed “Project Freedom” to secure shipping through the strait following the incident. Iran’s embassy in South Korea denied responsibility for the attack. It …

Israeli strike kills seven in south Lebanon, Lebanese health ministry says

Israeli strike kills seven in south Lebanon, Lebanese health ministry says

Published by Sam Flores

BEIRUT: An Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese town of Saksakiyeh killed at least seven people, including a child, and wounded 15 on Saturday (May 9), Lebanon’s health ministry said.  The Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah militants in the town, accusing them of planning attacks against Israeli soldiers. “The IDF is aware of reports regarding harm to uninvolved civilians in the structure in which the terrorists were struck. The details of the incident are under review,” the military said in a statement. Israel and armed group Hezbollah have continued to exchange fire in southern Lebanon, where Israel has carved out a self-declared ​security zone, despite a US-brokered ceasefire announced on Apr 16. Israel also said it killed the commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force on Wednesday in its first strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs since the ceasefire was declared. While Israel and Hezbollah wage war, the United States has hosted two rounds of talks between the ​Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to Washington, the highest-level contacts between Lebanese and Israeli government representatives in decades. A …

Joni Lamb, Daystar TV ministry co-founder, dies at 65

Joni Lamb, Daystar TV ministry co-founder, dies at 65

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Joni Lamb, the co-founder of Daystar Television Network, a prominent Christian television ministry, died Thursday (May 7). She was 65. “Joni’s love for the Lord and for the people we serve shaped this ministry from the beginning,” the Daystar board of directors said in a statement. “We grieve her loss. We are grateful for the legacy of faith she leaves behind.” Last month, Doug Weiss, Lamb’s husband, announced that Lamb had suffered a back injury and would be off the air for a while. “Prior to her recent back injury, Lamb had been dealing with serious health matters that she chose to face head-on and in private,” said the statement from Daystar about Lamb’s passing. “The back injury compounded these challenges and led to a more serious medical situation than anyone had anticipated. Despite the dedicated efforts of her medical team and the prayers of so many around the world, her condition worsened in the last days.” Lamb founded Daystar in 1993 with her first husband, Marcus Lamb. The two became beloved figures …

Sri Lanka discloses another missing payment, days after hackers stole .5M from its finance ministry

Sri Lanka discloses another missing payment, days after hackers stole $2.5M from its finance ministry

Published by skeptic

Sri Lanka said on Tuesday that a payment of about $625,000 (about 199.7 million Sri Lankan rupees) to the U.S. Postal Service has been missing for several weeks, after U.S. officials reported that the payment had failed to arrive, reports local media. Authorities detected the incident after hackers allegedly tried to divert another payment intended for India.  Australian officials are reportedly aware of irregularities in payments owed to the country, suggesting that the Sri Lankan thefts could be broader than first thought. The disclosure comes days after Sri Lankan officials said they were probing the theft of $2.5 million by a hacker who had targeted the country’s finance ministry. Treasury Secretary Harshana Suriyapperuma told reporters at a press conference last week that the hackers diverted the payment from the country’s postal authority “to other bank accounts, instead of the intended recipient.” These incidents seem to be business email compromise attacks, in which hackers break into email inboxes or other accounting systems to manipulate bank accounts and routing numbers during the process of paying an invoice. …

Lebanon health ministry says Israeli strikes kill 4 in south despite ceasefire

Lebanon health ministry says Israeli strikes kill 4 in south despite ceasefire

Published by Sam Flores

Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes on the country’s south on Monday killed four people including a woman and wounded 51 others, three of them children, despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. According to an AFP tally of health ministry figures, Israeli strikes have killed at least 40 people in Lebanon since the fragile truce there began on April 17. Source link

Elderly Frenchwoman held by ICE has returned to France, foreign ministry says

Elderly Frenchwoman held by ICE has returned to France, foreign ministry says

Published by Sam Flores

A Frenchwoman who moved to the United States to marry a Vietnam war veteran she first met six decades ago returned to France Friday after she was detained by US immigration authorities, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said. The 85-year-old Marie-Thérèse Ross “returned to France this morning, and we are pleased about that”, the foreign minister told reporters on a visit to the southern city of Montpellier. She had moved to Anniston, Alabama in 2025 to marry the former Air Force colonel, and was seeking a green card, which allows people to live and work permanently in the United States. Read moreFrom rekindled love story to ICE ‘nightmare’: France calls on US to release 85-year-old The couple first met some 60 years earlier when she was working as a bilingual secretary and he was a soldier stationed at a NATO base reportedly in Saint-Nazaire, western France, but according to US media both married other people. Decades later, after they were both widowed, they reconnected. According to the New York Times, Ross gave up her life in …

Could sci-fi save us all? How the Ministry of Defence is working with sci-fi storytellers to brace Britain for crisis

Could sci-fi save us all? How the Ministry of Defence is working with sci-fi storytellers to brace Britain for crisis

Published by Daniella Wilson

From AI making life and death decisions, to quantum technology that can predict the future, and wars fought by autonomous machines, a group of sci-fi authors have been dreaming up what could happen over the next century for a very important reason. Since the very dawn of science fiction, the genre has looked to the future, applying scientific principles to imagine futuristic scenarios, technological advances, social and environmental changes, and life on other planets. But it’s not just entertainment. Now, sci-fi is actually being used to brace Britain for a whole host of crises that could come our way in the next 100 years. That’s thanks to The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), an Executive Agency of the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD), which provides expertise and insight used for “maintaining UK warfighting readiness” in the face of increasing technological advancements. Dstl uses processes like horizon-scanning (which identifies early warning signals, emerging trends, and potential future threats or opportunities) to prepare the country for the future. In Futures Programme Manager Sarah Herbert’s words, “Dstl …