• News
    HuffPost

    Ron DeSantis Is Trying To Prove That He’s A Human

    The Florida governor sought to show a softer side on the presidential campaign trail this week in New Hampshire (beep boop).

  • News
    AFP News

    Senior US official to travel to China for rare visit: govt

    A senior US diplomat will embark on a rare trip to Beijing Sunday, the government said, as Washington seeks to allay tensions between the rival powers.In Beijing, Kritenbrink will be joined by National Security Council Senior Director for China and Taiwan Affairs Sarah Beran to "discuss key issues in the bilateral relationship," according to the statement.

  • News
    AFP News

    Hong Kong performance artists detained on Tiananmen anniversary eve

    Police detained at least two performance artists in Hong Kong, according to AFP reporters on Saturday, the eve of the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing.Hong Kong police have not responded to requests from AFP for information about the Saturday detentions.

  • News
    AFP News

    Three Europeans released by Iran arrive home

    One Dane and two Austrian-Iranian citizens released from detention by Tehran arrived in their home countries on Saturday, after  the latest in a series of prisoner swaps.The trio's release, as well as that of a Belgian aid worker a week earlier, were part of a prisoner swap in which Tehran got back an Iranian diplomat convicted and incarcerated in Belgium on terrorism charges.

  • News
    AFP News

    'Too much pain': the carnage of India's train crash

    When India's worst train accident in more than 20 years happened just outside his home, Hiranmay Rath said it felt "like the sky was falling on us or the earth was cracking open".He was not hurt in the accident, but had to cross the tracks to get back home.

  • News
    AFP News

    Erdogan sworn in for third term as Turkish president

    Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on Saturday sworn in for a third term as president, promising to serve "impartially" after winning a historic runoff election to extend his two-decade rule.Turkey's longest-serving leader now faces significant immediate challenges in his third term, including the slowing economy and tensions with the West. 

  • News
    Reuters

    Deadly Indian rail crash shifts focus from new trains to safety

    India's vast rail network is undergoing a $30 billion transformation with gleaming new trains and modern stations but Friday’s deadly train accident shows more attention should be paid to safety, industry analysts said. At least 261 people were killed in the country's worst rail accident in over two decades after a passenger train went off the tracks and hit another in the eastern state of Odisha. State monopoly Indian Railways runs the fourth largest train network in the world.

  • Lifestyle
    HuffPost

    28 Weird Father's Day Gifts For That Cheesy Pop Of Yours

    Dad will love a macaroni-and-cheese robe, a nose-hair removal kit, and of course slippers that look like grilled steak.

  • News
    AFP News

    US says talks with China 'essential' to curb risk of conflict

    US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Saturday it was "essential" to renew dialogue with China to avoid "misunderstandings" that could lead to a conflict between the two superpowers."The more that we talk, the more that we can avoid the misunderstandings and miscalculations that could lead to crisis or conflict."

  • News
    AFP News

    US, Japan, S.Korea aim to share N.Korea missile warning data

    The United States, Japan and South Korea aim to share North Korean missile warning data before the end of 2023, the three countries said on Saturday after a record number of missile tests by Pyongyang this year.The three sides "recognised trilateral efforts to activate a data sharing mechanism to exchange real-time missile warning data before the end of the year in order to improve each country's ability to detect and assess missiles launched" by North Korea, their joint statement said.

  • News
    AFP News

    UK drug crime boss in jail after fleeing to Thailand

    A British drugs kingpin has been extradited home from Thailand to serve a lengthy jail term after spending years on the run, UK police said on Saturday.He was escorted back to London by specialist UK extradition officers on Thursday and immediately jailed after a brief court appearance, according to the NCA. "Richard Wakeling thought he could avoid facing justice by leaving the UK," NCA regional head of investigations Jacque Beer said.

  • News
    AFP News

    One dead, three missing in Japan after heavy rain

    Heavy rain across parts of Japan has killed one person, left three missing and injured dozens more, authorities said Saturday, with thousands of residents issued evacuation warnings.Scientists say climate change is intensifying the risk of heavy rain in Japan and elsewhere, because a warmer atmosphere holds more water.

  • News
    Reuters

    Canada facing rising threat from cyberattacks - defence minister

    Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand said on Saturday that the country's critical infrastructure was increasingly being targeted by cyberattacks, posing a significant threat to the economy of the world's fourth-largest crude oil producer. The U.S. State Department warned last month that China was capable of launching cyberattacks against oil and gas pipelines and rail systems, after researchers discovered a Chinese hacking group had been spying on such networks. In an interview on the sidelines of an Asian security summit in Singapore, Anand said there had been an increase in cyberattacks across North America, although she did not attribute the strikes to any state-sponsored actors.

  • News
    AFP News

    Far-right party at new high as climate issues split Germany

    Long an anti-immigration party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) has scaled new heights in national polls as discontent with the government in Berlin and its climate agenda grows. The recent polling rebound owed much to the fact that Scholz's three-way coalition was "always at odds on very central points such as climate", said Hajo Funke, a political scientist at the Free University of Berlin.

  • News
    AFP News

    Smashed carriages and corpses: India's train disaster

    Carriages perched on top of each other and lines of bodies collected by rescue workers: as dawn broke on Saturday, it revealed the horror of one of India's deadliest railway crashes.Overnight, images broadcast on local television stations showed long lines of bodies laid out with white sheets covering some, as rescue workers carried them away on stretchers.

  • Lifestyle
    HuffPost

    I Was A Queer Pastor For 15 Years. Then The Death Threats Began.

    “‘Stay and fight,’ some queer congregants begged me. But I’d fought valiantly for 15 years, and those stained-glass walls were caging me in.”

  • News
    AFP News

    More than 280 dead, hundreds hurt in India horror rail crash

    At least 288 people were killed and more than 850 injured in a horrific three-train collision in India, officials said Saturday, the country's deadliest rail accident in more than 20 years.India is no stranger to railway accidents and has seen several disasters, the worst of them in 1981, when a train derailed while crossing a bridge in Bihar and plunged into the river below, killing between 800 and 1,000 people.

  • News
    AFP News

    Incoming UN climate agency chief forecasts wind of change

    Celeste Saulo, the incoming head of the UN's weather and climate agency, said she would fight with a passion to combat climate change and its negative impacts on people's lives.The WMO pieces together the work of national weather agencies in monitoring greenhouse gases, sea levels, temperatures, glacier melting and other climate change indicators.

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    AFP News

    Top allies of Colombian president resign over nanny wiretap scandal

    Two close allies of Colombian President Gustavo Petro stepped down Friday after becoming embroiled in a scandal over the alleged illegal wiretapping of a nanny employed by one of the officials.Colombia has seen several wiretapping scandals in its troubled past, with Petro himself having received compensation for being illegally targeted by a government surveillance unit dissolved in 2011.

  • Politics
    AFP News

    Biden hails averting 'catastrophic' default in Oval Office speech

    US President Joe Biden told Americans on Friday in a rare Oval Office address that the debt ceiling bill passed by Congress after weeks of wrangling saved the country from "economic collapse."Oval Office addresses have always been reserved by presidents for moments of unique national danger or importance.

  • Business
    Reuters

    Majority of EU countries against network fee levy on Big Tech, sources say

    BRUSSELS (Reuters) -A majority of EU countries have rejected a push by Europe's big telecoms operators to force major tech companies such as Google to help fund the rollout of 5G and broadband in the region, people familiar with the matter said. At a meeting with EU industry chief Thierry Breton in Luxembourg on Thursday, telecoms ministers from 18 countries either rejected the proposed network fee levy on tech firms, or demanded a study into the need and impact of such a measure, the sources said. Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica and Telecom Italia want Big Tech to shoulder part of the network costs on the grounds that their data and content makes up a large part of network traffic.

  • Politics
    HuffPost

    GOP Candidates Must Have 40,000 Donors And Poll At 1% To Make First Debate Stage

    The RNC released its rules for the primary debate on Aug. 23 in Milwaukee, which also include a pledge to support the eventual presidential nominee.

  • News
    HuffPost

    In A Deep-Red Florida County, This Gay Teacher Quit To Save Her Career

    “You cannot teach kids to be gay or straight,” Alyssa Marano said. “I just want my kids to be able to solve for X.”

  • News
    HuffPost

    6-Year-Old Girl 'Severed Her Feet' In Freak Accident That Nearly Tore Her From Moving Car

    “The injuries are horrible and painful for all involved. Aubrey’s parents ... need our love and they need our help,” said the Virginia State Police Association.

  • Business
    AFP News

    Stocks rise after bumper US jobs report, debt breakthrough

    Stock markets rallied Friday, closing out the week on a high in the United States following a bumper jobs report and a deal in Congress to avert a potentially catastrophic debt default.The passage of a debt limit deal through both houses of Congress appears to have eased market fears of a debt default as well, with Wall Street's "fear gauge" sinking to its lowest level since before the Covid-19 pandemic.