A second meeting on Friday between White House and Republican congressional negotiators on raising the federal government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling broke up with no progress cited by either side and no additional meeting set. That came at the end of a day of acrimonious talks that were broken off …
Read More »Millions of French people do not have enough food to eat – Study
Sixteen percent of French people say they did not have enough food to eat at the end of last year, according to a new study. A survey by the Research Center for the Study and Observation of Living Conditions (Crédoc) found the ratio has increased significantly in recent months, from …
Read More »Ayatollah Khamenei warns of ‘foreign hands’ trying to muddle Iran’s ties with neighbors
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has warned of the enemies’ efforts to stoke tensions between Iran and its neighbors. Ayatollah Khamenei touched on Iran’s long borders with many and sometimes important and influential countries, saying the policy of the government to communicate with its neighbors is …
Read More »Airstrikes hit Khartoum’s outskirts as Sudan crisis enters sixth week
Airstrikes thumped outer areas of the Sudanese capital Khartoum overnight and on Saturday morning, as the conflict between political rivals which has displaced more than a million and killed hundreds entered its sixth week. According to eyewitnesses in southern Omdurman and northern Bahri, airstrikes were reported in the region, while …
Read More »Turks abroad begin voting in presidential election runoff
Turkish citizens based abroad began voting on Saturday in Turkey’s presidential runoff election between the incumbent Tayyip Erdogan and his challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who aims to bring an end to the president’s two-decade rule. The runoff election will be held in Turkey on May 28 after Erdogan fell just short …
Read More »Russia: Giving F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine a ‘colossal risk’
Western countries ‘are still adhering to the escalation scenario’ that risks widening the Ukraine war in Europe, says deputy foreign minister. Western countries will be running “colossal risks” if they supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, a Russian official says. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko was responding to a …
Read More »Ukrainian President Zelenskyy arrives in Japan for 2023 G-7 Summit
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived Saturday in Japan for diplomatic talks with leaders of the world’s most powerful democracies participating in the Group of Seven (G7) after the U.S. pledged to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 jet fighters. “Japan. G7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine. Security …
Read More »Five key takeaways from OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman’s Senate hearing
ChatGPT creator and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman urges lawmakers to regulate artificial intelligence during a hearing. Sam Altman, the chief executive of ChatGPT’s OpenAI, testified before members of a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday about the need to regulate the increasingly powerful artificial intelligence technology being created inside his company and …
Read More »Russia says hypersonic missile scientists face ‘very serious’ treason accusations
Three Russian academics who have worked on hypersonic missile technology face “very serious accusations”, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, in a treason investigation that has spread alarm through Russia’s scientific community. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was aware of an open letter from Siberian scientists in defence of the …
Read More »Ukraine denies Russia destroyed Patriot missile defence system
Ukraine denied on Wednesday that a Russian hypersonic missile had destroyed a U.S.-made Patriot missile defence system during an air strike on Kyiv. Russia’s defence ministry made the assertion on Tuesday after an overnight air attack on the Ukrainian capital. Two U.S. officials later said a Patriot system had probably …
Read More »Eight dead and thousands evacuated as floods batter northern Italy
At least eight people died and thousands were evacuated from their homes as torrential rain battered Italy’s northern Emilia-Romagna region, triggering widespread floods, officials said on Wednesday. Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci said some areas had received half their average annual rainfall in just 36 hours, causing rivers to burst …
Read More »China shuts 100,000 fake news social media accounts
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has launched a special operation aimed at removing online social media accounts that spread “fake news” and impersonate government-run media. The CAC said on Wednesday that since April 6 it had removed 107,000 accounts that disseminated false news and rumors on the internet. Hundreds …
Read More »French court upholds three-year sentence for ex-president Sarkozy in wiretapping case
France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy lost his case on Wednesday against a 2021 conviction for corruption and influence peddling at the Paris Court of Appeals. The court upheld a sentence of three years with two years suspended; he will wear an electronic bracelet for the remaining year instead of going …
Read More »US charges Apple ex-employee for trying to steal technology, fleeing to China
The US Justice Department said on Tuesday it has charged a former Apple Inc engineer with attempting to steal the firm’s technology related to autonomous systems, including self-driving cars, and then fleeing to China. The case was among five announced on Tuesday aimed at countering efforts to illicitly acquire American …
Read More »Russian lawmakers vote to withdraw from Cold War arms treaty in Europe
Russian legislators have voted to formally pull out of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), which aims at limiting key categories of conventional military equipment in the continent. The treaty was signed in 1990 by the US-led NATO and Warsaw Pact countries, comprising the Soviet Union and …
Read More »UK unemployment rises higher amid skyrocketing inflation
UK’s unemployment rate has increased over the first three months of the year as skyrocketing inflation puts further pressure on the labor market, according to official data released on Tuesday. According to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate across the UK climbed from 3.8 percent …
Read More »Russia Claims to Destroy US-made Patriot Air Defense in Kyiv
Russia says it has destroyed a US-built Patriot air defense system in an overnight barrage of missile and drone strikes on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. The Russian military said on Tuesday it destroyed the US air defense system using a hypersonic Kinzhal missile. The missile is capable of carrying conventional or …
Read More »US on track for June 1 debt default, Treasury Secretary Yellen warns
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned once more that the United States is on track for default in June if the opposing Republican lawmakers do not approve the proposed budget bill hinged on debt increase and decrease in public spending. It is likely that the US could default on …
Read More »Arab League: Syria’s presence in meetings ahead of Jeddah summit ‘a new phase’ in Arab world
The Arab League has welcomed Syria’s readmission to the 22-member organization, saying the presence of Damascus in ongoing meetings in the Saudi port city of Jeddah ushers in a new era in the Arab world. Hossam Zaki, the assistant secretary general of the Arab League, made the statement ahead of …
Read More »China sentences American citizen to life on espionage charges
China has sentenced a 78-year-old U.S. citizen to life in prison for espionage, a court said Monday, but revealed few details about the previously unreported case. Such heavy terms are relatively rare for foreign citizens in China, and the jailing of American passport holder John Shing-wan Leung is likely to …
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