World

  • WorldAFP

    UK greenhouse gas emissions fell 5.4% in 2023: data

    UK greenhouse gas emissions fell by 5.4 percent in 2023, largely due to a reduction in the amount of gas used in power stations, according to official data published on Thursday.Gas use for electricity generation fell 21.1 percent in 2023, "primarily due to higher electricity imports from France, as well as UK electricity demand continuing to decline", said the report.

    2 min read
  • WorldAssociated Press

    In Mali, Russian Wagner mercenaries are helping the army kill civilians, rights groups say

    The Russian mercenary group known as Wagner is helping government forces in central and northern Mali carry out raids and drone strikes that have killed scores of civilians, including many children, rights groups said in reports published this week that span the period from December to March. Mali, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for over a decade battled an insurgency fought by jihadi groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following milit

    2 min read
  • Healthdpa international

    How people with trouble sleeping can adjust to clocks going forward

    The sun sets later, the evenings feel longer and you can sit out on the balcony a little later and listen to the birds singing. There are, of course, positives to daylight saving time. But in the coming days and weeks, millions around the world will also grudgingly lose an hour's sleep as the clocks go forward an hour. Several dozen countries in Europe make the switch on the night from March 30 to March 31. Australia, New Zealand and parts of the Middle East and South America follow in April. Fo

    3 min read
  • WorldBusiness Insider

    Ukraine says a missile barrage against Russia's Black Sea Fleet was even more successful than it thought

    Ukraine said its weekend strikes on Russia's Black Sea Fleet damaged two more ships, a total of four, as it continues to harass the Russian navy.

    2 min read
  • WorldSemafor

    Macron and Lula launch defense submarine in Brazil

    The French President Emmanuel Macron and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are resetting ties.

    2 min read
  • Businessdpa international

    German consumers pay more for energy than before Ukraine war

    Natural gas and electricity costs in Germany rose significantly more in the second half of 2023 than in the comparable period before the energy crisis caused by the Russia's war against Ukraine. Private households paid an average of 11.41 euro cents (12.29 US cents) per kilowatt hour for gas, the country's Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday. This was actually 6.9% less than in the first six months of 2023. However, compared to the second half of 2021 - the same period before the wa

    1 min read
  • WorldAssociated Press

    Poland and Ukraine leaders discuss regulating Ukrainian food imports to ease farmer discontent

    Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal was in Poland on Thursday for talks with his counterpart Donald Tusk to address Polish and western European farmers’ demands that regulations be applied to the cheap Ukrainian food imports that they say are undercutting their livelihoods. Farmers in many countries have been staging vehement protests against the imports and tensions have grown between Kyiv and its staunch ally Warsaw over the tax-free inflow of Ukraine's farm produce. Tusk has suggested th

    1 min read
  • WorldAssociated Press

    German mail service stops using domestic flights to transport letters after nearly 63 years

    Germany's main national postal carrier on Thursday stopped using domestic flights to transport letters after nearly 63 years, a move that reflects the declining significance of letter mail and allows it to improve its climate footprint. Deutsche Post said the last planes carrying letters between northern and southern Germany, operated by Lufthansa unit Eurowings and Tui Fly, flew overnight on the Stuttgart-Berlin, Hannover-Munich and Hannover-Stuttgart routes. The company said letters between

    1 min read
  • WorldAFP

    Old Indonesia protest clip falsely linked to 2024 election

    Activists gathered in front of Indonesia's parliament in March 2024 to protest alleged violations in the presidential election, however, a clip of police firing water cannons shared in posts about the demonstrations has circulated online since 2019. The footage -- filmed by a local media outlet -- shows a violent protest in Indonesia's capital Jakarta against proposed amendments for a new criminal code.

    4 min read
  • Worlddpa international

    Former German chancellor Schröder says West must negotiate with Putin

    Germany's former chancellor Gerhard Schröder says he can still imagine that his friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin could contribute to ending the war in Ukraine. "We have worked together sensibly for many years. Perhaps that can still help to find a negotiated solution, I don't see any other way," Schröder said in an interview with dpa. Schröder has been friends with Putin since his time as chancellor from 1998 to 2005 and continues to work for the majority Russian companies of the

    2 min read
  • WorldBBC

    South Africa election 2024: When is the poll and what is at stake for the ANC?

    The ANC has governed since the end of apartheid, but its vote could fall below 50% for the first time.

    5 min read
  • WorldAFP

    Old video shows fight outside Turkish embassy in Tokyo, not Kurds 'causing mayhem in Saitama'

    An old video of Turks and ethnic Kurds brawling outside the Turkish embassy in Tokyo has resurfaced in posts that falsely claim it shows Kurdish migrants "causing mayhem" in Saitama while they demanded Japan loosen its immigration policies. The video has in fact circulated since October 2015 in reports about scuffles outside Turkey's embassy, where hundreds of Turkish citizens had gathered for early voting in the country's elections.

    3 min read
  • Worlddpa international

    France's Macron calls for new, 'more responsible' Mercosur trade deal

    French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday emphatically rejected the planned free trade agreement between the European Union and the South American economic alliance Mercosur in its current form during a visit to Brazil. "As it stands, it is a very bad agreement. This agreement was negotiated 20 years ago. This is not what we want," Macron said, speaking in São Paulo. "Let's negotiate a new, more responsible agreement that is oriented towards our goals and reality and that takes development,

    2 min read
  • WorldAFP

    Video does not show 'expulsion of Chinese citizens from Indonesian city'

    An old video has been reshared in 2024 alongside a false claim it shows Chinese citizens being expelled from a city on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The video has circulated in social media posts since 2023 about a demonstration against a mining company on Sulawesi island, in eastern Indonesia.

    3 min read
  • WorldAFP

    Video of Cambodian military convoy falsely linked to Myanmar conflict

    As fighting between the Burmese junta and ethnic rebel forces intensifies, a video of tanks being transported in Cambodia has been shared hundreds of times in social media with a false claim that it was taken in Myanmar's Rakhine state in March 2024. The video was posted online at least two months earlier and was filmed at a market in the southwestern part of Cambodia.

    3 min read
  • WorldAFP

    Malaysia govt warns of imposter website promising Ramadan aid

    Malaysia's finance ministry has warned TikTok users not to fall for scam posts promoting a Ramadan cash handout that encouraged them to share personal details on an imposter website. While local governments in some parts of Malaysia have offered certain residents a one-off subsidy to mark the Muslim holy month, government spokespersons told AFP the website is not affiliated with official authorities.

    2 min read
  • WorldAFP

    South Korean politician hit by edited 'Chinese face mask' photo ahead of parliamentary election

    South Korea's main opposition leader Lee Jae-myung did not wear a red face mask emblazoned with a Chinese flag while running for president in 2022, contrary to false claims by Facebook posts sharing a doctored photo of him days before parliamentary elections on April 10, 2024. The posts compared Lee to his election rival South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, pictured wearing a plain white mask. However, the original photo shows Lee wearing a mask with a slogan supporting South Korea's finance in

    3 min read
  • WorldReuters

    Australia to create $653 million fund to expand solar panel manufacturing

    Australia will set up an A$1 billion ($653 million) fund to help expand solar panel manufacturing at home, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday, as it looks to ramp up its transition to renewable energy from coal power. Albanese's centre-left Labor government has been boosting spending to underwrite new wind, solar and battery projects with more than A$40 billion of investment committed since coming to power in 2022. The government is targeting 82% renewable power by 2030 in the en

    2 min read
  • WorldAssociated Press Finance

    France's Macron tells Brazilian execs that prospective Mercosur-EU deal is 'terrible' and outdated

    French President Emmanuel Macron told Brazilian executives on Wednesday that a proposed deal between the European Union and the South American trade bloc Mercosur is bad for both parties. Speaking at a forum in Sao Paulo, Macron said the Mercosur-EU deal is outdated and needs reworking to take climate change into account.

    2 min read
  • PoliticsCNN

    White House confirms Netanyahu has agreed to reschedule delegation to discuss Rafah operation

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has agreed to reschedule a planned meeting with US and Israeli officials to discuss a possible operation in Rafah, the White House confirmed Wednesday, just days after Netanyahu canceled the delegation citing the US decision not to block a United Nations resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

    1 min read
  • WorldBBC

    Israel and Hezbollah trade strikes over Lebanon border

    The Iran-backed movement fires rockets into Israel killing one, after a deadly strike on a Lebanese village.

    2 min read
  • WorldSemafor

    Thailand’s move to legalize same-sex marriage sets precedent in Southeast Asia

    Thailand could become the first Southeast Asian country to legalize same sex marriage, as momentum for reform grows across the region.

    3 min read
  • WorldAssociated Press

    Poland dismisses the Eurocorps reaction unit commander who faces a counterintelligence investigation

    Poland has dismissed the Polish commander of the European rapid reaction military unit, the Eurocorps, amid a recently launched military counterintelligence investigation involving him, authorities said Wednesday. A Polish Defense Ministry statement said that new information regarding Lt. Gen. Jarosław R. Gromadziński had been revealed and an investigation into his security clearance had been launched.

    1 min read
  • WorldThe Hill

    UN chief calls for slavery reparations

    United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called for slavery reparations over the transatlantic slave trade, which deprived enslaved people of “education, healthcare, opportunity and prosperity.” “We call for reparatory justice frameworks, to help overcome generations of exclusion and discrimination,” Guterres said Monday, which marked the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and…

    2 min read
  • WorldBBC

    Ireland to intervene in ICJ case against Israel

    The court has been asked to consider whether Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians.

    3 min read
  • WorldAssociated Press

    Myanmar's military makes its annual parade of strength despite unprecedented battlefield losses

    The head of Myanmar’s ruling military council marked Armed Forces Day on Wednesday with a speech claiming that the nation’s youth were being tricked into supporting the resistance against army rule, and that ethnic armed groups allied with the resistance engage in drug trafficking, natural resources smuggling and illegal gambling. Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing spoke in the capital, Naypyitaw, where thousands of military personnel paraded in an annual show of strength, even as the army has suffere

    3 min read
  • WorldBusiness Insider

    Russia's new river patrol force will likely have the same explosive problem battering its Black Sea Fleet, Western intel says

    Britain's defense ministry said the new Dnipro River Flotilla will likely be vulnerable to Ukraine's destructive fleet of naval drones.

    4 min read
  • WorldAssociated Press

    In Vienna, 2 portraits of Alexei Navalny are painted near a monument to Soviet soldiers

    Two large portraits of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny have been spray-painted on a property owned by the family of a former Czech foreign minister behind a monument to Soviet soldiers in Vienna. The portraits were completed Wednesday on the wall behind the monument, which was already painted in Ukraine's blue and yellow national colors after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

    2 min read
  • WorldBBC

    Tunisia sentences four to death for murder of politician Chokri Belaïd

    After a decade-long wait, six people are found guilty of the murder of politician Chokri Belaïd.

    1 min read
  • Worlddpa international

    Three dead after Israeli army operation and clashes in the West Bank

    Three people have been killed in Israeli army operations overnight in Jenin in the West Bank, the Israeli army reported. Israel's military said it conducted an anti-terrorist operation in the town on Tuesday night, during which Palestinians had thrown explosive devices. The soldiers responded with gunfire, killing one person. The 19-year-old who was killed was shot in the chest and thigh, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah said. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also said it had attacked

    2 min read
  • WorldCNN

    North Korean TV censors British gardening show host’s jeans

    North Korea’s state broadcaster, KCTV, has blurred out a pair of jeans worn by veteran British TV host Alan Titchmarsh as part of the country’s censorship of foreign fashion and culture.

    3 min read
  • Worlddpa international

    Institute says German economy is "struggling" and lowers forecasts

    A leading German economic research institute has significantly lowered its economic forecast for the country in the coming year. The Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) spoke on Wednesday of "headwinds" for the economy from within Germany and abroad. "The economy in Germany is struggling," said Stefan Kooths, from the IFW. The institute expects growth of only 0.1% this year. In the autumn they had assumed that gross domestic product would increase by 1.3% in 2024. The institute has left i

    2 min read
  • WorldAFP

    Video shows kidnapped labourers in Ethiopia, not government soldiers held by rebel fighters

    Claims of rebels capturing thousands of Ethiopian soldiers in the country’s restive Amhara region have become a popular disinformation topic on social media. One post recently featured a video of men in civilian clothes being marched down a mountainside by armed individuals. However, the captives in the footage were not Ethiopian troops: officials said the clip showed labourers from southern Ethiopia who had been snatched by militia in Amhara while heading to work on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissa

    4 min read
  • WorldAssociated Press

    Russia strikes Ukraine's Kharkiv with aerial bombs for the first time since 2022

    Russia struck the northeastern city of Kharkiv with aerial bombs Wednesday for the first time since 2022, killing at least one civilian and wounding 16 others, local officials said. Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukraine in recent days, launching several missile barrages on the capital Kyiv and hitting energy infrastructure across the country in apparent retaliation for recent Ukrainian aerial attacks on the Russian border region of Belgorod. Such sporadic attacks, however, have been comm

    2 min read
  • USAssociated Press

    AP PHOTOS: Ukraine celebrates Purim with costumes and dancing, as war drags on

    Dozens of people gathered in a synagogue in Kyiv this weekend to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim, more than two years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Following Purim tradition, adults and children wore flashy and colorful costumes that stood out amid the grim reality of war waiting outside the synagogue.

    1 min read
  • WorldBBC

    Educor in South Africa: Thousands of students in limbo after 'dysfunctional' colleges banned

    Some 13,000 students are stranded at the four colleges, accused of fabricating exam results.

    2 min read
  • USAssociated Press

    A bus headed for Switzerland crashes off a German highway, killing 4 people

    Four people were killed Wednesday when a bus headed from Berlin to Switzerland drove off a highway in eastern Germany and ended up on its side, police said. The accident happened on the A9 highway near Leipzig at about 9:45 a.m, less than two hours after the bus left Berlin. It was en route to Zurich and operated by Flixbus, the dominant long-distance bus operator in Germany.

    1 min read
  • WorldAssociated Press

    Pakistani authorities share with China initial findings of probe into bombing that killed 5 Chinese

    Pakistani authorities have shared with China the preliminary findings of an investigation into a deadly attack that killed five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver in the country's volatile northwest, officials said Wednesday. Authorities were doing DNA testing on the remains of a suicide bomber who rammed his explosives-laden car into a vehicle that was carrying the Chinese engineers and construction workers. The attack took place in Shangla, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province

    3 min read
  • WorldAssociated Press

    Israeli strikes in Lebanon kill 16, militant rockets kill 1 Israeli as cross-border violence soars

    A series of Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed 16 people and a barrage of rockets fired by the militant group Hezbollah killed one Israeli man, making Wednesday the deadliest day in more than five months of fighting along the border. Wednesday's Israeli strikes targeted a Lebanese Sunni political and militant organization, the Islamic Group, which has joined the Shiite militant group Hezbollah in its fight against Israel.

    3 min read
  • WorldAFP

    Clip of woman singing Hindu hymn falsely linked to Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif swearing-in

    After Shehbaz Sharif was sworn in prime minister of Muslim-majority Pakistan, posts surfaced in its Hindu-majority neighbour India which falsely claimed a performer sang a Hindu hymn during the event. But the video in the posts previously appeared in news reports about a festival celebration in Pakistan's largest city Karachi in March 2017. The singer shown in the clip told AFP she did not attend Sharif's oath-taking ceremony in March 2024.

    2 min read
  • WorldBBC

    Hamas hostages: Stories of the people taken from Israel

    It is thought more than 100 Israelis are still being held hostage in Gaza after the 7 October attacks.

    23 min read
  • WorldAFP

    Old photoshoot shared in false posts about 'Gaza crisis actors'

    A video showing a photoshoot has been falsely labelled on social media as "Pallywood" -- a derogatory term adopted by conspiracy theorists to accuse Palestinians of faking casualties. The footage predates the Israel-Gaza war by several years.

    3 min read
  • USWGN Chicago

    Winter-like chill Wednesday morning; high pressure takes control

    Winter-like chill to open the day Wednesday Tuesday’s cold front sent temps plummeting High temperature reached the mid 50s late morning then fell throughout Tuesday afternoon Tuesday’s relatively mild temperatures occurred in the late morning before readings tumbled throughout the afternoon Tuesday highs—late season arctic air brought well below normal temperatures to much of the […]

    1 min read
  • LifestyleCNN

    Asia’s 50 best restaurants for 2024 revealed

    After losing the top spot to Bangkok in 2023, Tokyo has reclaimed its crown as the city with the top eatery in the region at the annual Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards.

    5 min read
  • WorldAssociated Press

    Indonesia's top court hears appeals from losing presidential candidates who want a revote

    Indonesia’s top court heard appeals lodged by two losing presidential candidates who are demanding a revote, alleging widespread irregularities and fraud at the polls in appearances before the judges Wednesday. Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto won the election with an overwhelming margin: 58.6%, or more than 96 million votes, according to the General Election Commission — more than twice the runner-up's share in the three-way race.

    3 min read
  • WorldAssociated Press

    China wins WTO dispute with Australia over steel products

    China has won a nearly three-year-long dispute with Australia at the World Trade Organization over tariffs on steel products that began during a low point of bilateral relations between the countries, and Australia's trade minister said Wednesday his government accepted the ruling. Beijing took its complaint to the WTO in June 2021 over Australia’s extra duties on railway wheels, wind towers and stainless steel sinks imported from China. Trade in these products was worth 62 million Australian

    2 min read
  • USKTVU

    East Oakland students head to East Asia for cultural experience

    East Oakland students from Castlemont High’s Pacific Bridge Club boarded a flight from SFO on Tuesday afternoon heading to East Asia for the adventure of a lifetime. For some students, this is their first time on a plane.

    3 min read
  • WorldAssociated Press

    As those who fled Israel's border villages weigh whether to return, what hangs in the balance?

    Months after Hamas killed 1,200 people in an early-morning assault, Israeli communities ravaged in the attack remain mostly empty. Now the residents who fled these “kibbutzim” along the border with Gaza are wrestling with whether, how and when to return -- choices that have implications not just for their families, but also for the country. Kibbutzim, which for decades have exemplified Israeli resilience, have long been a paradox.

    2 min read
  • BusinessAFP

    Hyundai to invest more than $50 bn in South Korea in major EV push

    Hyundai on Wednesday revealed plans to invest more than $50 billion in South Korea by 2026, with a huge chunk dedicated to boosting the development and production of electric vehicles.Under the plan, Hyundai will create 80,000 jobs in South Korea and build three new EV factories, with the aim of increasing annual EV production in the country to 1.51 million units by 2030.

    2 min read
  • WorldThe Week

    The drive behind Germany's pro-Israel political consensus

    Belief that Israel's security is a 'raison d'etre for the German republic' is under growing pressure

    4 min read