Former pope Benedict critical of German Catholics – Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI arrives at the airport for his return flight to the Vatican. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI lashed out at Germany’s Catholic Church in published comments on Monday, perhaps signalling a new fight between the church’s conservative and liberal wings. – Sven Hoppe/dpa-Pool/dpa Pope Emeritus […]
President suspends parliament in Tunisia – Supporters of Tunisian President Kais Saied chant slogans during a protest in front of the Parliament building, denouncing Rached Ghannouchi, Parliament Speaker and President of the Islamist Ennahda Movement, after President Saied sacked the prime minister and suspended the parliament the night before. – Khaled Nasraoui/dpa Tensions spread on […]
WASHINGTON — As thousands of anti-regime protesters gathered outside the White House just before midnight Monday to mark the 26th of July with a candlelight vigil, Alex Perez and Chris Cruz stood off to the side and smiled at the scene. “I’m 27 and I never thought I would live to see something like this,” […]
Britain’s Tom Daley paid tribute to his late father after he and Matty Lee narrowly edged out hot favourites China to win gold in the synchronised 10m platform diving at the Tokyo Olympics on Monday. Daley, 27, who revealed that he might have missed the Games after knee surgery, wiped away tears on the podium […]
BAMAKO (Reuters) – A man accused of attempting to stab Mali’s interim President Assimi Goita last week has died in hospital while in the custody of security services, the government said in a statement on Sunday. Goita, a special forces colonel who orchestrated two coups in the last year, escaped unharmed after the assailant tried […]
By Asif Shahzad ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Forty-six Afghan soldiers sought refuge in Pakistan after losing control of military positions across the border following advances by Taliban insurgents, Pakistan’s army said on Monday. Hundreds of Afghan army soldiers and civil officials have fled to neighbouring Tajikistan, Iran and Pakistan in recent weeks after Taliban offensives in […]
US President Joe Biden welcomes Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi on Monday in his first meeting with the weakened leader, whose loyalties are precariously split between the US ally and pro-Iran factions at home. At the heart of the meeting will be the presence of US troops in Iraq and more broadly, whether Baghdad has […]
Japan’s Momiji Nishiya became one of the youngest individual Olympic champions in history when she won the inaugural women’s skateboarding gold at the age of 13 years and 330 days on Monday. Nishiya finished ahead of Brazil’s Rayssa Leal — who at 13 years and 203 days could have become the youngest ever individual Olympic […]
American super-swimmer Katie Ledecky did not win the 400m free swim in the Tokyo Olympics despite her incredible talent and abilities. She was beaten by another incredible swimmer from Australia, Ariarne Titmus. But it was her coach that is getting all of the attention Sunday as videos were replayed in the United States. “The greatest […]
China isn’t happy with the “incomplete map” NBC Universal showed during the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony Friday. The demonstration, which featured neither self-ruled Taiwan nor the South China Sea, “hurt the dignity and emotions of the Chinese people,” the Chinese consulate in New York said Saturday on the country’s social media platform Weibo, Reuters reports. […]
Protests against Coronavirus policy in Brazil – A policeman pushes a man holding a camera during a protest against the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro government’s policies during the pandemic, as the number of cases of the Delta variant continues to rise. – Andre Borges/ Thousands of people took to the streets throughout Brazil on Saturday […]
By James Pomfret HONG KONG (Reuters) – Three Hong Kong judges will rule on Tuesday whether the protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our Times” is a call for secession when they deliver a verdict on charges against a man arrested at a demonstration last year. The landmark ruling could have long-term implications for […]
Nobody was watching Ahmed Hafnaoui in lane eight of the Olympic pool. All eyes were on the Tunisian teenager at the finish. Hafnaoui was the stunning winner of the 400-meter freestyle at the Tokyo Games on Sunday, beating a field of faster and older swimmers. The 18-year-old finished in 3 minutes, 43.26 seconds, punctuating his […]
LONDON (Reuters) – British health minister Sajid Javid was accused of insulting coronavirus victims on Sunday after urging people to take a COVID-19 vaccine and “learn to live with, rather than cower from, this virus”. Javid, who replaced Matt Hancock as health minister last month after his predecessor stepped down for breaking COVID rules by […]
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games – Judo – Japan’s Hifumi Abe (white) and Georgia’s Vazha Margvelashvili compete in the the Men’s -66kg Judo Gold medal match at the Nippon Budokan during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. – Danny Lawson/PA Wire/dpa Japanese siblings Uta and Hifumi Abe made history on Sunday when they claimed double judo gold […]
Toa, the baby orca who captured hearts after he was found stranded in New Zealand waters, has lost his fight for survival, conservationists confirmed Saturday. The killer whale, less than 2.5 metres (eight feet) long and believed to be four to six months old, became front-page news when he washed ashore near the capital Wellington […]
A strong earthquake shook the Philippines on Saturday, the US Geological Survey reported, but it was deep, and local authorities said they did not expect damage. The 6.7-magnitude quake struck off the main island of Luzon at 4:48 am (2048 GMT) at a depth of 112 kilometres (70 miles), USGS said. It was followed a […]
The United States and Russia will hold high-level talks next week in the second bid in as many months to encourage stability in the tense relationship, officials said Friday. The so-called Strategic Stability Dialogue, set up during a June 16 summit between US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Geneva, will […]
Weakened by pro-Iran factions at home, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi will meet with US President Joe Biden on Monday to discuss a possible full US troop withdrawal from his country. The White House talks between the two allies come just a week after a deadly attack claimed by the Islamic State group, despite Baghdad […]
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games – Opening Ceremony – Japanese Tennis player Naomi Osaka lights the Olympic flame in the cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium. The ceremony is attended by only 950 VIPs due to the coronavirus pandemic. – Sebastian Gollnow/dpa Japanese tennis superstar Naomi Osaka […]
The most troubled Olympics in modern history finally get under way in Tokyo on Friday, struggling to emerge from the clutches of Covid-19 after a one-year postponement and following a build-up marred by scandal and controversy. The opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics began in a nearly empty stadium with pink fireworks bursting into the […]
Amy Winehouse may still be best known for her line: “They tried to make me go to rehab. But I said no, no, no.” But 10 years after the British singer’s death at 27, her family and friends say it is time to stop defining her by her well-documented struggles with addiction and destructive relationships. […]
What worries one of the world’s leading climate scientists the most? Heatwaves — and particularly the tendency of current models to underestimate the intensity of these bursts of deadly, searing temperature. This is one of the “major mysteries” science still has to unravel, climatologist Robert Vautard told AFP, even as researchers are able to pinpoint […]
Mourners were set to offer their final farewell to Haiti’s slain president Jovenel Moise under tight security on Friday, just over two weeks after his assassination rattled a country mired in poverty, corruption, and political instability. Moise, who was 53 when he was shot dead in his home in the early hours of July 7, […]
By Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration plans to announce U.S. sanctions on Thursday against several Cuban officials over their role in a crackdown on anti-government protests earlier this month, people familiar with the matter said. The sanctions are expected to be imposed on security force officials accused of human rights abuses against […]
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian politicians across the ideological spectrum expressed shock on Wednesday at an unconfirmed report in newspaper Estado de S.Paulo that the defense minister communicated to the speaker of the lower house that next year’s scheduled presidential election would not take place without printed ballots. The report, which cited anonymous sources and which […]
LONDON (Reuters) -A British court said on Thursday that Mike Lynch, the British tech billionaire who sold his company Autonomy to Hewlett Packard, can be extradited to the United States to face charges including securities fraud related to the $11 billion deal. Lynch’s lawyer said if Britain’s Home Secretary now decides to allow the extradition, […]
(Corrects ratio in final paragraph to copper/gold) By Saikat Chatterjee and Ritvik Carvalho LONDON (Reuters) -A drubbing in world equity markets and a huge flight to safety into U.S. Treasuries this week suggests investors now doubt that a much-anticipated return to post-COVID normality is feasible any time soon. Data from the United States and China, […]
For television viewers, following the Olympics can be a baffling experience. You hear and read that the Tokyo Games start on Friday with the Opening Ceremony. But why then did certain events like softball and soccer start earlier in the week? And then you’re told that NBC will televise the Opening Ceremony live — which […]
The world is a different place than in 2014, when the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its last comprehensive assessment Paris (AFP) – On the heels of jaw-dropping heat and flooding across three continents, nearly 200 nations gather Monday to validate a critical UN climate science report 100 days ahead of a […]