Category: English Top

Ivan Deforge, the French ‘bison tamer’ in Moscow

“Go!” shouted Ivan Deforge, and without hesitation his 300-kilo hairy sidekicks Karym and Ural leapt through a ring of fire under the dome of the Great Moscow Circus. The 56-year-old Frenchman has taken on the unusual challenge of training European bison to perform things they would not naturally do in the wild. Circuses using wild […]

US fines Bank of America $1.2 bn for anti-money laundering violations

The US Treasury Department said Tuesday that it is imposing penalties of more than $1.2 billion on Bank of America, citing “violations of anti-money laundering and sanctions laws.”The second biggest US bank failed to properly report more than $5 billion in “suspicious transactions,” the department said. Some of these involved risks related to national security […]

Global deforestation slowed in 2025 but surged in Congo basin: study

Deforestation slowed worldwide last year, but the improvement is unlikely to last as the situation deteriorates in Central Africa and an exceptionally strong El Nino weather pattern intensifies, a new study said on Wednesday. Seven million hectares of forest — roughly the size of the Republic of Ireland — were permanently destroyed in 2025, a […]

Saudi employee arrested for allegedly bugging OpenAI office

A Saudi employee of OpenAI was arrested after allegedly planting a recording device in one of the company’s San Francisco offices, the AI firm and federal prosecutors said Tuesday.”We discovered a sophisticated recording device that was hidden inside one of our offices” and “referred the matter to the FBI,” OpenAI told AFP in a statement. […]

Saudi says Houthi attacks sparked Aramco fire, wounded 4 in Riyadh

Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday that an attack on an Aramco building in the kingdom’s east sparked a “limited fire” and that debris from intercepted Houthi missiles wounded four people in the capital Riyadh. It came hours after the Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen’s Houthis said it had intercepted several missiles on Tuesday evening, including over […]

Trump ousts Greece ambassador over ethics scandal

US President Donald Trump forced his ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle out of the administration on Tuesday, amid allegations that she sought money from one of his supporters and accepted lavish hospitality from wealthy Greek businessmen.”We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign,” Trump’s new press secretary Katie Zacharia told reporters at her first White House […]

Microsoft’s Brad Smith calls for ‘real and effective’ AI safety standards

Microsoft president Brad Smith warned Tuesday that industry and governments must “act with urgency” to create “real and effective safety standards” to contain the risks linked to artificial intelligence.”We’re going to need for AI what we have for everything else in life… we need real and effective safety standards, and we need the public to […]

No lights, no friends: Cuban youth grapple with loneliness

With frequent power cuts transforming Havana into a ghost town, young Cubans are struggling to get their kicks, many resorting to games of dominoes with strangers to pass the time. Most of 24-year-old Melanie Tejeda’s friends have left the US-blockaded island nation, and only five of the 43 students who started an acting program with […]

Bipartisan US senators urge Trump to scrap Russian diesel deal

Republican and Democratic US senators joined forces Tuesday to urge President Donald Trump to scrap his diesel deal with Russia, calling it a “betrayal” that would bankroll Moscow’s war in Ukraine while doing little to ease soaring fuel prices. The 12 lawmakers — including six members of Trump’s Republican Party — called on the president […]