NewsAFP NewsRussia's Lavrov to visit Mali in sign of deepening ties
Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov arrives in Mali late Monday for talks with its junta leaders seeking Moscow's help in battling an Islamist insurgency that remains entrenched despite years of fighting.The visit of less than 24 hours will be Lavrov's third trip to Africa since July, part of a bid to expand Russia's presence on the continent amid broad international isolation since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine last year.
NewsAFP NewsUS charges 'neo-Nazi' leader in plot to attack power stations
US authorities announced the arrests Monday of the co-founder of the notorious Atomwaffen neo-Nazi group and a woman he met online in the latest extremist plot to attack public electricity facilities.In February 2022, three men with neo-Nazi ties pleaded guilty in Columbus, Ohio to plotting to use rifles and explosives to damage power infrastructure in various locations.
NewsAFP NewsFormer military ruler Musharraf's body arrives in Pakistan
The body of Pakistan's exiled former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who became a key US ally during the "war on terror", was repatriated on Monday, aviation sources told AFP. Musharraf, who fled Pakistan in 2016 for medical treatment after a travel ban was lifted, died on Sunday aged 79 in Dubai, after a long illness.A military source told AFP that his funeral would take place on Tuesday.
NewsAFP NewsFive Argentine rugby players sentenced to life for shocking murder
A court in Argentina on Monday sentenced five amateur rugby players from the same team to life imprisonment for beating a teenager to death in a crime with alleged racist undertones.Defense lawyers argued that premeditation had not been proved in the crime, and asked the court to impose a lighter sentence for a lesser crime.
BusinessReutersGetty Images lawsuit says Stability AI misused photos to train AI
Stock photo provider has sued artificial intelligence company Stability AI Inc, accusing it in a lawsuit made public on Monday of misusing more than 12 million Getty photos to train its Stable Diffusion AI image-generation system. The lawsuit, filed in Delaware federal court, follows a separate Getty case against Stability in the United Kingdom and a related class-action complaint filed by artists in California against Stability and other companies in the fast-growing field of generative AI. London-based Stability AI released Stable Diffusion, an AI-based system for generating images from text inputs, and image generator DreamStudio last August.
ScienceAFP NewsSmall asteroid 'serendipitously' detected using James Webb telescope
European astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have detected a previously unknown asteroid about the size of Rome's Colosseum in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.The European astronomers "serendipitously detected" the asteroid, NASA said in a statement, adding that more observations would be needed to better characterize its nature and properties.
BusinessAFP NewsStock markets fall on US rate-hike fears
Stock markets slid and the dollar firmed Monday after a forecast-busting US jobs report fanned expectations of more Federal Reserve interest rate hikes to cool sky-high inflation."Throwing cold water over the party were stronger than expected jobs figures in the US, something closely monitored by the Federal Reserve when making interest rate decisions."
NewsHuffPostInside The Race To Tap A Controversial Source Of Carbon-Free Energy: Nuclear Waste
There's enough energy in spent uranium fuel to power the U.S. for over a century, but recycling waste was a challenge even in America's atomic glory days.
NewsAFP NewsFrench parliament debates pension reform as new strike looms
A stormy debate kicked off in France's parliament on Monday over a highly contested pension reform championed by President Emmanuel Macron, a day ahead of new strikes and mass demonstrations against the plan.Left-wing opponents of the administration filed thousands of amendments ahead of the parliamentary debate beginning.
BusinessReutersAI stocks rally in latest Wall Street craze sparked by ChatGPT
Software firm C3.ai rose 11%, analytics firm BigBear.ai jumped nearly 21% and conversation artificial intelligence company SoundHound surged 40%. Tickers for the three small-cap companies were among those that were being bandied about on the investor-focused social media platform, stocktwits.com.
NewsAFP NewsUN chief fears world headed for 'wider war' over Ukraine-Russia
UN chief Antonio Guterres warned nations Monday that he fears the likelihood of further escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict means the world is heading towards a "wider war.""I fear the world is not sleepwalking into a wider war.
NewsAFP NewsWorld powers rush to offer Turkey, Syria aid over quake
Countries around the world mobilised rapidly to send aid and rescue workers on Monday after a massive earthquake killed more than 2,300 people in Turkey and Syria.- Gulf states - Qatar said it would send 120 rescue workers to Turkey, alongside "a field hospital, relief aid, tents and winter supplies".
BusinessAFP NewsRenault and Nissan hail 'rebalanced' alliance to bury tensions
French automaker Renault and Japanese partner Nissan said on Monday they were opening a "new chapter" in their tension-marred alliance as they signed a deal to reboot their 24-year relationship.- 'New agile partnership' - Monday's statement said the overhaul would "open a new chapter" for the alliance.
NewsAFP NewsMother, seven children die in fire in France
A mother and her seven children aged two to 14 died on Monday after a faulty dryer apparently set ablaze their house in eastern France, authorities said.The tragedy was the worst such incident in France since 2013, when five children between two and nine died asphyxiated in an accidental fire, also in northern France.
NewsReutersSaudi Arabia says tech giants to invest more than $9 billion in kingdom
Saudi Arabia has attracted more than $9 billion in investments in future technologies, including by U.S. giants Microsoft and Oracle Corp, which are building cloud regions in the kingdom, a government minister said on Monday. Saudi Minister of Communication and Information Technology Abdullah Alswaha said Microsoft will invest $2.1 billion in a global super-scaler cloud, while Oracle has committed $1.5 billion to build a new cloud region in Riyadh. "The investments... will enhance the kingdom of Saudi Arabia's position as the largest digital market in the Middle East and North Africa," Alswaha said at LEAP, an international technology forum taking place in Riyadh.
NewsReutersIndia's markets regulator asks green debt issuers to appoint third-party reviewer
Issuers of green debt securities will have to appoint a third-party reviewer or certifier for the post-issue management of proceeds starting April, India's markets regulator said on Monday. The third-party reviewer will also verify internal tracking and impact-reporting of these debt securities, the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said in a notification. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced plans to issue sovereign green bonds - so called because proceeds would go towards funding various sustainable projects - in the 2022-23 budget as India attempts to tap its domestic debt market to finance green infrastructure projects.
NewsAFP NewsIsraeli forces kill five Palestinians in Jericho raid
Israel said its forces killed on Monday five alleged Palestinian gunmen in a raid in the occupied West Bank, after a days-long search for suspects in a shooting near Jericho.Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War.
BusinessAFP NewsAdani shares dive again as Indian opposition stages demos
Investors dumped more Adani stock on Monday as India's opposition staged protests calling for a full inquiry into allegations of major accounting fraud at the country's biggest conglomerate.The main opposition Congress party, which has called for a "serious investigation" into Adani's companies by the central bank and regulator, on Monday staged protests, including in New Delhi and Mumbai.
NewsAFP NewsAt least 592 dead in Syria after Turkey earthquake
At least 592 people were killed in Syria as buildings collapsed after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck neighbouring Turkey before dawn on Monday, state media and rescuers said.Rescuers rushed to dig for survivors under the rubble of collapsed buildings in the pouring winter rain.
NewsReutersBhutan to add more solar capacity to reduce reliance on imports - minister
Bhutan will add around 300 to 400 megawatts (MW) of solar energy generation capacity in the next two to three years to reduce its dependency on electricity imports from India, the Himalayan kingdom's minister for economic affairs said on Monday. "Currently, Bhutan produces around 2,345 MW during surplus time, when there is water... But that comes down to 500 MW in winter and that's why we need to import from India," Loknath Sharma, Bhutan's economic affairs minister told Reuters on the sidelines of the India Energy Week conference in Bengaluru.
NewsReutersIndia will not merge GST tax rates in 2023/24 - government official
India will not overhaul its Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime in the next fiscal year, a senior official said on Monday, delaying a move it has been considering for more than a year to simplify its tax structure and reduce the burden on consumers. The country currently has five tax rates for GST, which was introduced in 2017, bringing numerous state taxes under one umbrella. In 2021, the government considered overhauling the tax by merging two of the tax rates, and lowering the levy on a host of items.
NewsHuffPostWhy Rival Sides In The Housing Crisis Plaguing Major U.S. Cities Are Considering Peace
YIMBYs and leftists have conflicting visions for addressing affordable housing. But a growing number of them are finding common ground.
PoliticsHuffPostMehdi Hasan Taunts GOP: ‘Embarrassing’ How Much They Fear Tucker Carlson
The MSNBC host dismissed the cable TV personality as a “former bowtie-wearing frozen-food heir who hosts a nightly white power hour on Fox.”
NewsAFP NewsUK faces biggest round of health service strikes
Nurses and ambulances staff stepped up their demands for better pay Monday to combat the UK's cost of living crisis with their biggest round of health service strikes.Health minister Maria Caulfield, who is also a nurse, said she sympathised with striking health service staff but argued that big pay hikes could not be afforded.
NewsAFP NewsGhana braces as Sahel war spills into Gulf of Guinea
Standing near the dried river bed that marks Ghana’s northern border, Alima can see her hamlet, lying in Burkina Faso less than two kilometres (1.2 miles) away. But in more rural areas along the more open border, Burkinabe displaced families easily cross the dry river bed on foot back into Burkina to tend their farms during the day.
