The Pentagon said Thursday it has endorsed the tripartite AUKUS security pact with the United Kingdom and Australia, which would involve Canberra’s acquisition of at least three Virginia-class nuclear submarines within 15 years. The administration of Donald Trump said earlier this year it was reviewing a 2021 deal for the nuclear-powered attack subs signed under […]
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India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosts Russia’s President Vladimir Putin at a summit on Friday, with defence and trade ties centre stage as New Delhi faces heavy US pressure to stop buying Moscow’s oil. Both leaders will also discuss the geopolitical situation in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and global trade disruptions […]
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Softbank CEO and AI investor Masayoshi Son said Friday that advanced artificial intelligence could surpass humans to the extent that “we become fish” and could even win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Meeting South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in Seoul, Son, whose SoftBank is a major backer of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, described a future […]
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A Hong Kong university ordered its student union to shut down after a message was posted on campus expressing condolences and urging justice for the victims of a major fire, according to a letter publicly shared on Friday. The blaze that ripped through Wang Fuk Court in the city’s northern Tai Po district last week […]
Read MoreHeavy rains lashed Sri Lanka on Friday, hampering a major clean-up operation after severe flooding and landslides last week killed nearly 500 people, officials said. Authorities reported up to 132 millimetres of rainfall in southern Sri Lanka over a 15-hour period ending Thursday night. But while the deluge was intense, they said the large-scale flooding […]
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Cherished Christmas tradition for some, profoundly insulting for others, the Dutch character “Black Pete”, a servant who helps Santa Claus distribute presents, has divided opinion in The Netherlands for decades. Until recently, Santa’s arrival on the eve of Saint Nicolas Day (December 5) — a major Yuletide celebration for the Dutch — was marked by […]
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Tewolde has fought multiple times for Eritrea, one of the most closed societies on Earth, and is now praying another war is not about to break out with neighbouring Ethiopia.”If the war starts, many people will go to the front and, as before, many children will lose their fathers, mothers will lose their husbands, parents will […]
Read MoreCarrying her sore-pocked daughter across her decaying field, Helene Mvubu says she is one of thousands to have fallen victim to the toxic waste defiling the Democratic Republic of Congo’s mining capital. Global powers, notably China and the United States, are in a race to extract strategic minerals in the DRC, which supplies more than […]
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The scent of marzipan wafts through the air as confectioners from a century-old company in southern France prepare calissons, one of Provence’s famed sweets made of candied melon and crushed almonds. French producers have over the past decade sought to revive almond production, and the traditional gourmet treat first introduced in Provence under King Rene […]
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