Ukrainian rescuers at the site of a missile attack in Sumy, northeastern Ukraine, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. April 13, 2025. [AFP] Russia said Monday its missiles hit a meeting of Ukrainian army commanders in Sumy, accusing Ukraine of using civilians as a “human shield” after Kyiv reported the Sunday attack killed at least 34 people. The strike was one of the deadliest for months and drew condemnation from leaders around the world, while US President Donald Trump called it a “horrible thing” and suggested Russia had “made a mistake”. Russia’s defence ministry said its army launched two ballistic…
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An electronic board showing the numbers of morning trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. April 14, 2025. [AFP] Japan’s envoy for upcoming tariff talks with the United States said on Monday that Japanese company profits were falling “day by day” as he called for a swift solution. Economic Revitalisation Minister Ryosei Akazawa will visit Washington for the negotiations this week, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told lawmakers on Monday. The government has so far failed in attempts to secure exemptions from the US tariffs, including 25 percent on the global auto sector that took effect in early April. US President Donald…
Gabon Transitional President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema gestures while at the podium at the Stade de l’Amitie in Libreville on March 29, 2025 during the opening rally of his electoral campaign. [AFP] Gabon’s junta chief Brice Oligui Nguema has won the presidential election with 90.35 percent of the vote, according to provisional results released Sunday by the interior ministry. Oligui, who ended more than five decades of corruption-plagued rule by the Bongo family in August 2023, assuming the role of transitional president, had promised to return the country to democratic rule. Earlier Sunday, Gabon 24 television had reported that he…
Gabon Transitional President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema gestures while at the podium at the Stade de l’Amitie in Libreville on March 29, 2025 during the opening rally of his electoral campaign. [AFP] Gabon’s junta chief Brice Oligui Nguema looked set to romp his way to victory in the first presidential election since he took power in a 2023 coup, state media reported on Sunday. Nguema, who ended more than five decades of corruption-plagued rule by the Bongo family in August 2023, was “well ahead” in several of the central African country’s provinces, Gabon 24 television said on Sunday morning. Any…
People walk past a Bank of China New York branch on April 11, 2025 in New York City.[AFP] China said Friday it would raise its tariffs on US goods to 125 percent in a further escalation of a trade war that threatens to bring exports to a halt between the world’s two biggest economies. Beijing’s retaliation sparked fresh market volatility, with stocks seesawing, gold prices surging and US government bonds under pressure. In a message on social media on Friday morning, US President Donald Trump continued to insist that “we are doing really well on our tariff policy.” “Very exciting…
Farm workers labor in the fields south of Bakersfield, in Kern County, California’s breadbasket, on April 9, 2025. As President Donald Trump’s global tariffs took effect, US farmers hoping for profit instead found themselves facing lower crop prices. [AFP] The EU paused plans for retaliatory tariffs on US goods Thursday after President Donald Trump abruptly suspended higher US duties on the bloc and other countries, leaving China in the crosshairs of his trade war. Trump’s about-face on Wednesday triggered a massive market rebound but Wall Street’s rally fizzled on Thursday and the dollar slumped, as investors remain on edge over…
Aerial view shows rescue teams working at the Jet Set nightclub a day after the collapse of its roof in Santo Domingo on April 9, 2025. (Photo by Alfred DAVIES / AFP) The death toll after a roof collapsed at a crowded nightclub in the Dominican Republic has climbed to 218, the head of rescue operations said Thursday, in the Caribbean nation’s worst disaster in decades. Rescuers had worked frantically since the collapse in the early hours of Tuesday to dig out survivors from the rubble of the popular Jet Set club in Santo Domingo. Among the dead were famed…
Prada, Versace logos outside the fashion house and luxury goods Prada in Paris on December 19, 2017. [AFP] Italian fashion house Prada announced Thursday it had reached a deal with US group Capri Holdings to buy its flashy rival Versace for 1.25 billion euros ($1.38 billion). The acquisition will create a luxury group with revenues of over six billion euros that could better compete with industry giants such as the French conglomerates LVMH and Gucci owner Kering, amid a slowdown in the sector worldwide. “We are delighted to welcome Versace to the Prada Group and to build a new chapter…
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters while in the Oval Office of the White House on April 09, 2025. [AFP] US-Russian citizen Ksenia Karelina was on a plane back to the United States on Thursday after being released in a prisoner exchange between Moscow and Washington, her lawyer and America’s top diplomat said. She spent more than a year in Russian prison after being charged with “treason” for donating to a pro-Ukrainian charity. The prisoner swap was the second between Moscow and Washington since US President Donald Trump took office. Here are some of the most high-profile instances of…
Container trucks head north and south on the Interstate 5 highway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, passing through the central California valleys and San Joaquin, the state’s agricultural breadbasket, on April 9, 2025. [AFP] Several US senators have called for an investigation into whether President Donald Trump engaged in insider trading or market manipulation by encouraging people to buy stocks just before his dramatic reversal on global tariffs. “Who in the administration knew about Trump’s latest tariff flip-flop ahead of time? Did anyone buy or sell stocks and profit at the public’s expense?” California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff posted…
Newspaper clippings and an image of US President Donald Trump are displayed on a desk as traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on April 9, 2025, in New York City. [AFP] EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday welcomed US President Donald Trump’s decision to pause planned tariff increases as an “important step towards stabilising the global economy”. “Clear, predictable conditions are essential for trade and supply chains to function,” the European Commission president said in a statement. “The European Union remains committed to constructive negotiations with the United States,” she said, reiterating…
A cargo ship unloads a container at Kwai Chung Container Terminal in Hong Kong on April 10, 2025. [AFP] US President Donald Trump has ramped up his trade war against China, further raising import tariffs on Beijing to 125 percent despite pausing them for other countries. The move came hours after China announced reciprocal action against the United States in response to a previous levy hike. AFP looks at how the escalating trade war between the world’s two biggest economies is playing out and what impact it might have: What actions has Trump taken so far? Trump said Wednesday that…
Britain’s Queen Camilla and King Charles III meet with well-wishers as they have a walk in the streets close to the Italian Parliament in Rome on April 9, 2025. [AFP] The Vatican on Thursday published a photograph of Pope Francis meeting King Charles III and his wife Queen Camilla the day before during the British monarch’s state visit to Italy. Wednesday’s meeting was a surprise, as Buckingham Palace had cancelled the planned audience due to the 88-year-old pope’s poor health. Francis, the head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, is recovering from five weeks in the hospital with life-threatening pneumonia.…
Samsung electronics factory in Bac Ninh province, photo taken on April 8, 2025. [AFP] Sipping tea on her break outside a Samsung Electronics factory in northern Vietnam, worker Nguyen Thi Mai said she had heard about US President Donald Trump’s tariffs but hoped they would not affect business. Samsung, the world’s second-largest phone maker, produces around half of its handsets in Vietnam, and Trump’s threat to impose a 46-percent tariff on the country sent shockwaves through the South Korean giant’s supply chains. “We don’t understand much about macro issues,” 27-year-old Mai told AFP, adding that daily life inside the factory…
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order on April 09, 2025, in Washington, DC. [AFP] US President Donald Trump abruptly paused tariffs on most countries, sparking euphoria on global markets Thursday, but upped the ante on a brutal trade war with superpower rival China. After days of turmoil, stocks on Wall Street and across Asia saw huge surges in reaction to Trump’s announcement that he was halting a levy hike for almost all nations for 90 days. But Trump also said he was raising tariffs on China to 125 percent because of a “lack of respect.” Beijing hit back…
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on April 09, 2025, in Washington, DC. [AFP] US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order lifting water-pressure restrictions on showerheads, a move the White House said would “make America’s showers great again”. Trump has long complained about inadequate water pressure in American bathrooms, which he blames on federal water conservation regulations. “In my case I like to take a nice shower, to take care of my beautiful hair,” Trump told reporters as he signed the order in the Oval Office on Wednesday.…
Children cool themselves in a makeshift pool along the banks of the Yamuna river on a hot summer day in New Delhi on April 8, 2025. [AFP] Global temperatures hovered at historic highs in March, the EU agency that monitors climate change said on Tuesday, prolonging an unprecedented heat streak that has pushed the bounds of scientific explanation. In Europe, it was the hottest March ever recorded by a significant margin, said the Copernicus Climate Change Service. That drove rainfall extremes across a continent warming faster than any other as planet-heating fossil fuel emissions keep rising. Meanwhile, the world…
Britain’s Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, waves as he arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice, Britain’s High Court, in central London, on April 8, 2025. [AFP] Lawyers for the UK government on Wednesday defended a decision to cut back Prince Harry’s security after he stepped back from royal life, during the second day of his high-profile appeal. Harry was back in the courtroom in London as the interior ministry’s legal team responded to his challenge of its decision to downgrade his publicly funded police protection during trips to the UK. The 40-year-old prince has been fighting to have his…
France’s President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on April 9, 2025. [AFP] Russia said Wednesday that it was waiting for “explanations” from France after a Russian government employee was detained for hours at a Paris airport in what it called a “shameful spectacle”. The employee, whom Russia did not name, worked for the foreign ministry and had arrived in France on Sunday as part of an official delegation, Moscow said. It said French border police confiscated her phone and computer upon landing and kept her waiting in border control for hours,…
Dominican President Luis Abinader (L) gesturing in front of the Jet Set nightclub following the collapse of its roof in Santo Domingo on April 8, 2025. [AFP] The Dominican Republic’s President Luis Abinader said Sunday he was deploying more troops to the country’s border with Haiti, which is suffering a grave security crisis. Abinader added that he had approved the construction of a new section of a wall between the two countries, which share the second-largest island in the Caribbean after Cuba. Abinader, who was first elected in 2020 and secured a second term last year, has made battling immigration…
Rescue teams evacuate a body from the Jet Set nightclub following the collapse of its roof in Santo Domingo on April 8, 2025. [AFP] Rubby Perez dreamed of becoming a baseball player as a child in the Dominican Republic, but a traffic accident led him to become one of merengue music’s most recognizable voices. The singer, known for hits such as “Volvere” and “Enamorado de Ella”, died at the age of 69 on Tuesday after the roof of the Santo Domingo nightclub where he was performing collapsed, his manager said. The disaster left dozens of people dead and prompted the…
Rescue teams at the Jet Set nightclub following the collapse of its roof in Santo Domingo on April 8, 2025. [AFP] The roof of a Santo Domingo nightclub collapsed on Tuesday as merengue legend Rubby Perez sang on stage, killing the Dominican star along with nearly a hundred other people Here is what we know about the disaster. – How it unfolded – The roof of the Jet Set club collapsed after midnight on Tuesday (0400 GMT) Social media videos show the moment everything went dark while Perez sang. Authorities sent 370 rescue personnel to the nightclub where aerial images…
A trader works in front of a board displaying the chart of Germany’s share index in Frankfurt western Germany on April 7, 2025. [AFP] European stock markets were expected to open deep in the red on Wednesday as futures contracts fell after US President Donald Trump’s steep tariffs on dozens of countries took effect. Around 40 minutes before markets were due to open, futures contracts — essentially bets on what the price of a stock will be at a later date — were down more than three percent in Paris and Frankfurt, and 2.5 percent in London. A trader works…
U.S. President Donald Trump listens as coal miner Jeff Crowe speaks during an executive order signing ceremony in the White House on April 08, 2025 in Washington, DC. [AFP] India’s central bank cut interest rates in the world’s fifth-largest economy on Wednesday as Donald Trump’s tariffs kicked in and policymakers warned of “challenging global economic conditions”. The cut, the second this year, aims to boost a slowing economy grappling with the impact US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said the benchmark repo rate, the level at which it lends to commercial banks, would…
This photo illustration shows Chinese 100 yuan notes (red) and US 100 dollar notes, in Beijing on April 8, 2025. [AFP] US President Donald Trump’s punishing tariffs on dozens of economies came into force Wednesday, including over 100 percent in levies against Chinese goods, sending markets into a tailspin again as the devastating global trade war intensified. Following the sweeping 10 percent tariffs that took effect over the weekend, rates on imports to the United States from exporters like the European Union or Japan rose further at 12.01 am (0401 GMT) Wednesday. China — Washington’s top economic rival but also…
A Palestinian man walks in a burnt building after a reported attack by Israeli settlers, in the village of Sadya near the West Bank city of Salfit on April 8, 2025. [AFP] The Palestinian health ministry said Israeli troops killed a 30-year-old woman near the West Bank city of Salfit on Tuesday after what the army described as an attempted stabbing. The ministry reported the death of Amana Ibrahim Mohammed Yaqub, 30, “who was shot by (Israeli) forces near Salfit”, south of Nablus. The Israeli military said it had “neutralised a terrorist who hurled rocks and attempted to stab soldiers…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during joint press conference with Belgium Prime Minister in Kyiv on April 8, 2025. [AFP] Moscow and Beijing have deepened political, military and economic cooperation since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. “Our military captured two Chinese citizens who fought in the Russian army. This happened on the territory of Ukraine — in the Donetsk region,” Zelensky said in a post on social media. “We have the documents of these prisoners, bank cards, and personal data,” Zelensky said in a post that included a video of one of the alleged Chinese prisoners. There was no…
Italian Archbishop Rino Fisichella and Pope Francis during a surprise appearance at the end of a mass for the sick and healthcare workers as part of the Jubilee Year in The Vatican, on April 4, 2025. [AFP] Pope Francis’s voice and mobility continue to improve, the Vatican said Tuesday as the 88-year-old Catholic leader recovers from life-threatening pneumonia. The Argentine pontiff spent five weeks in Rome’s Gemelli hospital before returning home to the Vatican on March 23 for what doctors said would be at least two months of convalescence. Despite being told to take it easy, Francis made a surprise…
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte after inspection of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Yokosuka Base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture on April 8, 2025. [AFP] China’s expansion of its armed forces is “staggering”, NATO’s chief said on a visit to Japan beginning Tuesday aimed at “projecting” the alliance’s power in the Asia-Pacific region. “Let us not be naive about China,” Secretary General Mark Rutte told the Japan Times. “The build-up of their armed forces and investments in their defence industry, and in their defence capabilities, is staggering,” Rutte said in the interview published on Monday. The comment came as he visited…
Britain’s Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrives at the the Royal Courts of Justice, Britain’s High Court, in central London, on April 8, 2025. [AFP] Prince Harry was in a UK court on Tuesday for the latest stage of his legal challenge against a government decision to downgrade his personal security when he visits Britain. The self-exiled royal entered the Royal Courts of Justice in central London around 9:30 am (0830 GMT), AFP reporters saw, where judges at the complex’s Court of Appeal were to begin considering his case. Following Harry’s dramatic split with the royal family in 2020 and…
United Nations peacekeepers drive in vehicles of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) past destroyed buildings on April 6, 2025. [AFP] An Israeli strike Monday on southern Lebanon killed one person, according to the health ministry, with Israel’s military saying it had “eliminated” a Hezbollah commander in the latest raid despite a truce. Israel has continued to launch strikes on Lebanon since the November 27 ceasefire that largely halted more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, including two months of all-out war. The Lebanese health ministry said in a statement that an “Israeli enemy” strike…
A man walks past a screen showing Chinese stock market movements in Beijing on April 7, 2025. [AFP] US President Donald Trump lashed out at China on Monday as a stock market rout deepened after Beijing retaliated against his global tariffs offensive. European equities were deep in the red but Asia fared worse, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index crashing 13.2 percent, its biggest drop since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 falling an eye-watering 7.8 percent. A 10-percent “baseline” tariff on imports from around the world took effect on Saturday but a slew of countries will…
US President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order after delivering remarks on reciprocal tariffs during an event in the Rose Garden entitled “Make America Wealthy Again” at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 2, 2025. [AFP] Note: This article was first published in February 2025. President Donald Trump’s plan for “reciprocal tariffs” on US trading partners are set to spark a flurry of negotiations that could bring reductions in levies- but analysts warn that it also risks painful retaliation. “This is every country, and essentially, when they treat us fairly, we treat them fairly,” Trump told reporters.…
Photo illustration shows an image generated by artificial-intelligence (AI) in the style of Studio Ghibli animation. [AFP] Artificial intelligence risks taking Japanese anime artists’ jobs but nothing can replicate Hayao Miyazaki, the creative lifeblood of the studio behind classics such as “Spirited Away”, his son told AFP. Thanks to ChatGPT’s new image generator, the internet is awash with pictures imitating Studio Ghibli’s whimsical style, raising fresh debate over potential copyright infringements. Movies such as “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Howl’s Moving Castle” are famous for their lush nature and fantastical machinery, painstakingly drawn by hand. While the studio has not commented…
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks during a so-called Fireside-Chat with the CEO of German carmaker Volkswagen (unseen) where they unveiled their cooperation for the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud developed with Microsoft, on February 27, 2019 in Berlin. [AFP] Microsoft has been at the heart of computing for half a century, becoming a tech stalwart almost taken for granted as lifestyles embraced the internet. As the company, founded with a vision of putting computers in every home and office, celebrates its 50th anniversary on Friday, it is looking to boost its fortunes by being a leader in the fast-developing field of…
A crew from Voice of America make a live report as they stand in a causeway leading to US President-elect Donald Trump’s estate in Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach on December 13, 2024. [AFP] President Donald Trump’s administration on Saturday put journalists at Voice of America and other US-funded broadcasters on leave, abruptly freezing decades-old outlets long seen as critical to countering Russian and Chinese information offensives. Hundreds of staffers at VOA, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and other outlets received a weekend email saying they will be barred from their offices and should surrender press passes and office-issued…