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In a world where travel continues to connect people and cultures, friendliness remains one of the most treasured qualities a country can offer. The year 2025 brings a fresh look at destinations where warmth, hospitality, and human connection define the visitor experience.  From the sun-soaked shores of Barbados to the serene Himalayan landscapes of Bhutan, these nations have been celebrated by travellers for their genuine kindness, welcoming spirit, and cultural openness.  According to Condé Nast Traveller, here are the world’s friendliest countries in 2025 where strangers are treated like friends, and every smile feels like home: KENYA: Kenya receives the title of world’s friendliest country for 2025, and it’s easy to see why. The “Big Five” animals usually take centre stage here but behind each lovely Kenya Safari, there’s a whole host of even lovelier guides who make you feel completely at ease, even when metres away from a prowling lion. Nairobi’s eclectic nightlife ...

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he had shelved plans for a summit in Budapest with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on the Ukraine war because he did not want a “wasted” meeting. Trump’s reversal came just days after he announced that he would meet Putin in the Hungarian capital within two weeks, following what he called a productive phone call to end Russia’s war. The US leader pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to give up the eastern Donbas region in exchange for peace during “tense” talks last Friday in Washington, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP. But on Tuesday, a White House official said that there were now “no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future” despite the Budapest announcement. “I don’t want to have a wasted meeting,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked why the Putin encounter had been put on ice. “I don’t want to have a waste of time, so I’ll see what happens.”

The body of revered Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga arrived in Nairobi on Thursday from India where he died of a suspected heart attack. A large crowd gathered at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to greet the coffin, AFP reporters said. Odinga died of a suspected heart attack while visiting a health clinic in southern India on Wednesday. President William Ruto has announced seven days of national mourning for Odinga, who ran unsuccessfully for the presidency five times but played a major role in Kenyan politics over several decades and was a figurehead for large swathes of the population.

Japan has denied reports that it plans to introduce a special visa category for skilled Nigerians seeking to relocate to Kisarazu, the Japanese city recently designated as Nigeria’s “hometown” under a cultural exchange programme. Abiodun Oladunjoye, Director of Information at the State House , had in a statement dated August 22 claimed that the Japanese government would create “a special visa category for highly skilled, innovative, and talented young Nigerians who want to move to Kisarazu to live and work.” The statement also said, “Artisans and other blue-collar workers from Nigeria who are ready to upskill will also benefit from the special dispensation visa to work in Japan.” However, in a statement issued on Monday, Japan’s foreign ministry debunked the claim, insisting there were no such plans. The ministry explained that the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Africa Hometown programme is aimed at promoting cultural and economic exchanges between four Japanese cities a...

US President Donald Trump  is moving to make it easier for Americans to use their retirement savings to invest in non-traditional assets like cryptocurrencies, private equity, property, and gold. On Thursday, he directed regulators to review rules that might discourage employers from offering such investment options in workplace retirement plans, known in the US as 401(k)s. The move is intended to broaden access to investments once limited to the wealthy and institutional investors, while also unlocking new sources of capital for firms operating in those alternative asset sectors. However, critics have raised concerns that the move could expose savers to higher risks. In the US, most employers no longer offer traditional pensions with guaranteed payouts. Instead, employees typically contribute part of their salary to investment accounts, often matched in part by their employers. These accounts are governed by strict regulations requiring plan providers to consider factors like risk...

  The US economy contracted more than previously estimated in the first three months this year, according to government data released Thursday, with consumer spending and exports weaker than expected. US GDP decreased at an annual rate of 0.5 percent in the first quarter, according to the  Department of Commerce . This was down from an earlier estimate of a 0.2 percent decline, and lower than the 2.4 percent increase in the fourth quarter last year. The data came after an import surge that was triggered by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs since returning to the White House this year. Businesses had stockpiled goods to try and get ahead of Trump’s levies targeting most trading partners — especially products from China. Imports are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, and the overall decrease in the first three months this year reflected this uptick, alongside a drop in government spending. The movements were partially offset by advances in consumption and invest...

US President Donald Trump said Thursday he will decide whether to join Israel’s strikes on Iran within the next two weeks as there is still a “substantial” chance of negotiations to end the conflict. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt read out a message from Trump, saying there had been “a lot of speculation” about whether the United States would be “directly involved” in the conflict. “Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” Trump said in the statement. The announcement could lower the temperature and give space for diplomacy, after a fevered few days in which Trump said Iran’s leader was an “easy target” and vowed that Tehran could never have a nuclear weapon. But Leavitt also told reporters that Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in the space of a “couple of weeks.” “Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nucle...

A 5.6 magnitude earthquake that struck off Peru’s central coast Sunday, rattling Lima and the port city of Callao, has left one person dead and five injured, authorities said. The earthquake happened at 11:35 a.m. local time in the Pacific Ocean, according to the United States Geological Survey. Its epicenter was located 23 kilometers (14 miles) southwest of Callao, west of the capital Lima. A 36-year-old man died in northern Lima while “standing outside his vehicle waiting for a passenger” when a wall from the fourth floor of a building under construction detached and fell on his head, Police Col. Ramiro Clauco told RPP radio. The five people injured are being treated in hospitals, the Emergency Operations Center said. The agency also reported damage to roads and educational centers. President   Dina Boluarte   is heading to Callao to monitor developments, the Peruvian presidency said on X. Footage shared by local media also showed cars hit by falling debris, damaged houses ...

In a major policy shift, the UK government has thrown its backing behind   Morocco ’s plan for resolving the Western Sahara dispute, mirroring support by the US, France,Spain and other nations. British Foreign Secretary David Lamy declared the United Kingdom’s support for Morocco’s autonomy proposal as the “most credible” path to resolving the long-standing Western Sahara conflict, marking a significant shift in Britain’s position. Speaking during a joint press conference in Rabat on Sunday with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, Lammy said the UK now views Morocco’s 2007 autonomy offer as the most viable and pragmatic solution to the decades-old territorial dispute. “The United Kingdom considers Morocco’s autonomy proposal submitted in 2007 as the most credible, viable, and pragmatic basis for a lasting resolution of the dispute,” he stated. This policy change comes after years of Britain backing a self-determination process for the region, aligning with international effo...

Tech billionaire Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, on Friday reacted to the United States Navy’s decision to cancelled wasteful IT contracts, 45 grants and awards funding in the country. DAILY POST reports that Secretary of the United States Navy, John C. Phelan, had  on Thursday night announced that almost $300million was saved after he canceled wasteful IT contracts, 45 grants and awards funding. According to Phelan, the IT contracts are ineffective and over-budget. Reacting to the development on Friday, DOGE, in a tweet on X, hailed Phelan and the US Navy for doing a “great work.” “Great work by @SecNav @USNavy canceling wasteful grants, such as the  “population consequences of the disturbance of humpback whales in the context of climate change,” DOGE wrote. This is coming after DOGE recently hailed  the Department of Justice’ s decision to cut millions of dollars in wasteful grants. Meanwhile, DOGE has been mandated by United States P...

A senior Palestinian official familiar with Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations has told the BBC that Qatari and Egyptian mediators have proposed a new formula to end the war in Gaza. According to the official, it envisages a truce lasting between five and seven years, the release of all Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, a formal end to the war, and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. A senior Hamas delegation was due to arrive in Cairo for consultations. The last ceasefire collapsed a month ago when Israel resumed bombing Gaza, with both sides blaming each other for the failure to keep it going. Israel has not commented on the mediators’ plan. Meanwhile, at least 26 Palestinians were killed and 60 others injured by Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Tuesday. Residents and eyewitnesses described the air strikes as “extremely intense.” According to witnesse...

Israeli airstrikes   destroyed part of a hospital   in Gaza City   early Sunday, according to local health officials, as Israeli forces continue to pound the enclave’s shattered hospitals even as the humanitarian crisis grows. There were no casualties in the strike on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, according to Gaza health officials, as patients and hospital staff members evacuated following  Israeli military orders . Dr. Fadel Naim, the hospital’s administrative director, told NBC News that it was the last central medical center in Gaza City and was now out of service, adding that the Israeli military strike had attacked a building housing reception and the emergency department, “completely destroying it.” An image of the blast showed a blinding yellow flash lighting up the night sky as a missile struck, engulfing the hospital in flames. NBC News verified multiple scenes from Al-Alhi Baptist Hospital showing people in beds being wheeled away from the area, as well as the...

The Pentagon on Wednesday said the United States will remove transgender troops from the military unless they obtain a waiver on a case-by-case basis. The memo by the Pentagon became public as part of a court filing in a case challenging President Donald Trump’s late January executive order that was aimed at barring military service by transgender personnel. “Service members who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria will be processed for separation from military service,” the memo said. According to the memo, the troops may be considered for a waiver on a case-by-case basis, provided there is a compelling government interest in retaining the service member that directly supports war-fighting capabilities. It added that to obtain such a waiver, troops must show that they have never attempted to transition, as well as demonstrate 36 consecutive months of stability in the service member’s sex without clinically significant distress...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a telephone call with Donald Trump on Wednesday, the presidency in Kyiv said. The presidency told reporters that the call lasted approximately one hour. Trump had earlier said he would call Zelensky after speaking with Putin. Trump had said he had a “lengthy and highly productive” call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in which they agreed to “immediately” start negotiations to end the Ukraine war. Trump said on Truth Social that both leaders had extended invitations of “visiting each other’s nations,” while the US leader said he would be calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “right now” to inform him about the call. In an extraordinary thaw in relations between Washington and Moscow, the Kremlin separately said the call lasted one and a half hours and that Putin and Trump had agreed that the “time has come to work together.” Putin also told Trump that a “long-term settlement” of the Ukraine conflict sparked by Russi...

China has imposed tariffs on some American imports, including crude oil, agricultural machinery and liquefied natural gas. CNN reports that the development is in retaliation for the President Donald Trump’s administration’s imposition of 10% tariffs on Chinese imports into the United States. According to the report, the measures were announced by China’s Ministry of Finance on Tuesday. This include a 15% duty on certain types of coal and liquefied natural gas and a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery, large-displacement cars and pickup trucks. Chinese government said that the measures take effective on February 10. DAILY POST reports that tariffs announced by the United States under Trump came into effect on Saturday. Beijing had slammed those tariffs in a statement Sunday and vowed to “resolutely defend its rights” by filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization and taking “corresponding countermeasures.” CNN, DAILYPOST

F ormer United States senator from New Jersey Bob Menendez has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for what prosecutors described as one of the most brazen corruption schemes in U.S. history.  The 71-year-old politician, who served nearly 18 years in the Senate, was convicted last year of taking nearly $1 million in bribes, including cash, gold bars, and a luxury car, Washington Post reports. Menendez appeared before U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein on Wednesday for sentencing, holding back tears as he defended his public service.  “I believe that in a half-century of public service I’ve done far more good than bad,” he said. Prosecutors said Menendez took bribes from three New Jersey businessmen seeking favours, including help in securing deals with Egyptian and Qatari officials.  Evidence showed that Menendez facilitated military aid to Egypt and provided sensitive U.S. information. He is the first U.S. official convicted of acting as a foreign agent. Businessm...

O ver 30,000 residents have been told to evacuate their homes as a massive wildfire, fuelled by extreme winds, swept through Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, United States, forcing thousands to flee.    Among the evacuees are celebrities like Ben Affleck, James Woods, and the Kardashians, Mail Online reports.   The inferno, now encompassing 2,900 acres, consumes over three football fields of land every minute.  "This is pretty much the worst possible scenario for a firefight," said firefighter David Ortiz, warning residents to obey evacuation orders.   Mandatory evacuations extend to Malibu and Calabasas, with areas like Las Lomas Avenue severely affected.    Witnesses report "dozens" of homes destroyed, with million-dollar properties reduced to rubble. Distressing images show structures crumbling under relentless flames. Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state-wide emergency, while President Joe Biden pledged federal assistance. "My Administration will ...