UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay delivers a speech to announce the United States’ request to return to the institution, at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, on June 12, 2023. [File, AFP] China has expressed regret over the United States’ decision to withdraw from the UN cultural and education agency UNESCO. “This is not the action that a responsible major country should take,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said. “China has always firmly supported the work of UNESCO,” he added. The United States said on Tuesday it would quit UNESCO, best known for establishing world heritage sites, claiming it was biased against…
Author: By AFP
New vehicles are parked at Daikoku Pier in Yokohama, south of Tokyo [AFP] Donald Trump announced on Tuesday a “massive” trade deal with Japan, marking a key breakthrough for major US trade partners as they scramble to strike agreements before the end of the month. In an attempt to slash his country’s colossal trade deficit, the US president has vowed to hit dozens of countries with punitive “reciprocal” tariffs if they do not hammer out a pact with Washington by August 1. The breakthrough makes Japan one of five countries to have signed an agreement — along with Britain, Vietnam,…
US President Donald Trump speaks to the press at the end of a reception with Republican members of Congress at the White House in Washington, DC on July 22, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) President Donald Trump sought Tuesday to distract from the growing furor over his administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal by pushing extraordinary claims that Barack Obama tried to mount a coup. The accusations, delivered in the Oval Office, followed a surprise announcement that Trump’s Department of Justice would question an imprisoned, key former assistant to Epstein. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said…
Bryan Mbeumo says he is excited to be following in Cristiano Ronaldo’s footsteps at the “biggest club in the world” after signing for Manchester United. Published Date: 2025-07-22 20:43:27 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
This photograph taken on October 12, 2017 shows the logo of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) headquarters in Paris. (Photo by JACQUES DEMARTHON / AFP) The United States on Tuesday announced it has left UNESCO, saying the UN cultural and education agency, best known for establishing world heritage sites, is biased against Israel and promotes “divisive” causes. “Continued involvement in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the United States,” the State Department spokeswoman said. The US exit was expected under President Donald Trump, who also ordered withdrawal from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and…
Palestinian children wait for a meal at a charity kitchen in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip [AFP] France’s foreign minister urged Israel on Tuesday to allow international journalists into the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza to “bear witness” to the situation after 21 months of war. The United Nations and human rights groups say Gaza and its population of more than two million face famine-like conditions, with near-daily deaths of people queueing for food aid. “I ask that the free and independent press be allowed to access Gaza to show what is happening there…
Palestinians mourn relatives killed in Israeli strikes [AFP] The United Nations warned Tuesday that Israel’s expanded operations in central Gaza created an “extremely high” risk of serious international law violations. It also cautioned that permanently displacing Gaza’s population would be a war crime and possibly a crime against humanity. “These Israeli airstrikes and ground operations will invariably lead to further civilian deaths and destruction of civilian infrastructure,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement. “Given the concentration of civilians in the area, and the means and methods of warfare employed by Israel until now, the risks of unlawful…
US-Hungarian commentator and writer Rod Dreher, director of the Network Project at the Danube Institute and author of ‘Live Not By Lies’.[AFP] A federal judge on Monday challenged the Trump administration’s reasons for slashing billions of dollars in federal funding to Harvard University, triggering a furious response from the president. Judge Allison Burroughs pressed the administration’s lawyer to explain how cutting grants to diverse research budgets would help protect students from alleged campus anti-Semitism, US media reported. Trump pre-emptively fired off a post on his Truth Social platform blasting Burroughs, an appointee of Democratic president Barack Obama, claiming without evidence…
Federal officers wearing face coverings lookIng at documents in a hallway outside of a courtroom.[AFP] Immigrants held at US detention centres have experienced abusive and degrading treatment, a Human Rights Watch report said Monday, in a sharp rebuke of President Donald Trump’s migrant crackdown. The 92-page report alleges medical neglect, overcrowding and “inhuman” cell conditions at a time when the Trump administration is ramping up immigration enforcement with the promise of deporting millions. “People in immigration detention are being treated as less than human,” Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at HRW, said in a statement. In one alleged…
U.S. President Donald Trump.[AFP] The Trump administration released hundreds of thousands of pages of records on Monday about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. despite concerns from the civil rights leader’s family. “The American people have waited nearly sixty years to see the full scope of the federal government’s investigation into Dr King’s assassination,” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said in a statement. “We are ensuring that no stone is left unturned in our mission to deliver complete transparency on this pivotal and tragic event in our nation’s history.” Gabbard said more than 230,000 pages of documents were…
Al-Awda hospital in the central Gaza Strip. [AFP] World Health Organization decried Israeli attacks Monday on its staff residence and its main warehouse in the central Gaza city of Deir el-Balah. “WHO’s staff residence in Deir el-Balah, Gaza, was attacked three times today as well as its main warehouse,” the UN health agency’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X. “Israeli military entered the premises, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot toward Al-Mawasi (in southern Gaza) amid active conflict,” he said, adding that “male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot and screened at…
Third day of protest over the lack of criminal charges in the police killing of Breonna Taylor. [AFP] A US federal judge on Monday rejected an appeal for leniency by the Justice Department and sentenced an ex-police officer to 33 months in prison for violating the civil rights of a Black woman whose 2020 killing fuelled widespread protests. Brett Hankison, a former Louisville police department detective, was convicted by a jury in Kentucky in November of one count of abusing Breonna Taylor’s civil rights for shots fired during a botched police raid on her home. In an unusual intervention, Harmeet…
Demonstrators gather during an anti-government protest calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages. [AFP] Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces opened fire on crowds of Palestinians trying to collect humanitarian aid in the war-torn Palestinian territory on Sunday, killing 93 people and wounding dozens more. Eighty were killed as truckloads of aid arrived in the north, while nine others were reported shot near an aid point close to Rafah in the south, where dozens of people lost their lives just 24 hours earlier. Four were killed near another aid site in Khan Yunis, also in the…
British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell and US financier Jeffrey Epstein. [AFP] Donald Trump’s past ties with Jeffrey Epstein are under scrutiny after the US president slammed a Wall Street Journal report that he sent a lewd letter to the infamous sex offender as “fake news.” AFP looks at the pair’s relationship as the Trump administration also faces demands to release all government files on Epstein’s alleged crimes and his death. Trump, then a property mogul and self-styled playboy, appears to have known Epstein, a wealthy money manager, since the 1990s. They partied together in 1992 with NFL cheerleaders at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago…
Damaged residential building following a Russian attack in Kyiv on July 21, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[AFP] Russia fired a volley of drones and missiles at Ukraine early on Monday, hitting apartment blocks and a nursery in Kyiv, days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed holding a fresh round of peace talks. Moscow has not responded to Zelensky’s call for new negotiations this week or an ultimatum by US President Donald Trump to make progress on a peace deal or face massive sanctions. Two people were killed across the country, Zelensky said. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot arrived in…
President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, along with the words “President Trump: Release All the Epstein Files”. [AFP] Iran has confirmed fresh talks with European powers to be held on Friday in Istanbul, the country’s state media reported, saying it was the first since the United States attacked Iranian nuclear facilities a month ago. Iranian diplomats will meet counterparts from Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, after the trio warned that sanctions could be imposed on Tehran if it does return to the negotiating table over its nuclear programme. Western nations and Israel have long accused Iran of seeking…
Alaska airlines plane seen at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on January 11, 2023. [AFP] Alaska Airlines has requested a ground stop for all its mainline aircraft according to an advisory notice by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), with the company citing an “IT outage.” The airline told AFP that on Sunday it “experienced an IT outage that’s impacting our operations” and that it “requested a temporary, system-wide ground stop for Alaska and Horizon Air flights until the issue is resolved.” The FAA status page showed all destinations being impacted by the ground stop of Alaska’s mainline aircraft. It…
Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.[AFP] Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba clung on Monday even after his coalition suffered what he called an “extremely regrettable” election result, as painful new US tariffs loom. In Sunday’s election Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has governed almost continuously since 1955, and its partner Komeito fell a projected three seats short of retaining a majority in the upper house. Voters angry at inflation turned to other parties, notably the “Japanese first” Sanseito, which made strong gains with its “anti-globalist” drive echoing the agenda of populist parties elsewhere. “I even think (the LDP) should have…
KM Barcelona 5 ferry after a fire broke out while on its way to Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province.[AFP] An Indonesian ferry fire killed at least five people on Sunday, the country’s coast guard said, while more than 200 others were saved with many jumping overboard to flee the huge blaze. The KM Barcelona 5 ferry was engulfed in flames off the coast of Sulawesi island, Indonesia’s Maritime Security Agency said, just weeks after at least 19 people were killed when a ferry sank off the popular resort island of Bali. “Five people were reported dead, two of…
Relief personnel gathered around a capsized tourist boat during a search and rescue operation in the Ha Long Bay, Quang Ninh province on July 19, 2025. [AFP] A tourist boat ferrying families around Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay capsized in a storm on Saturday afternoon, leaving at least 34 people dead, according to state media reports, as rescuers scrambled to locate the missing. The vessel was carrying 48 passengers and five crew members when it capsized in the UNESCO World Heritage site because of sudden heavy rain, the VNExpress news site said. Follow the The Standard channel on WhatsApp Most…
Manchester United have reportedly agreed to sign Cameroon winger Bryan Mbeumo from Brentford in a deal worth an initial £65 million Published Date: 2025-07-18 17:00:37 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
A devotee gives alms to Buddhist monks outside of a temple in Bangkok on July 18, 2025. [AFP] Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in violation of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly $12 million, funnelled out of their monasteries funded by donations from laypeople hoping…
Wang Wentao, China’s Minister of Commerce, speaks during a press conference in Beijing on July 18, 2025. [AFP] China has a “plentiful” toolbox to avoid an economic slump in the second half of the year, its commerce minister said on Friday as he admitted it faced a “very severe and complex situation”. Growth hit 5.2 percent in the second quarter, official data showed Tuesday, but analysts have warned that more must be done to boost sluggish domestic consumption as exports face the knock-on effects of global trade turmoil. Retail sales rose far less than expected last month and were much…
Sweden’s players react at the end of the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 quarter-final football match between Sweden and England England roared into the semi-finals of Women’s Euro 2025 on Thursday after coming back from two goals down and then beating Sweden 3-2 in a chaotic penalty shoot-out to continue their title defence. Smilla Holmberg blasted over from the spot to settle the shootout drama in Zurich after the match finished 2-2 thanks to Lucy Bronze and Michelle Agyemang’s quick-fire strikes just as England looked to be limping out of the tournament. The reigning European champions were staring at elimination with…
social workers caring for babies at the Jusarang Community Church in southern Seoul.[AFP] South Korea is set to overhaul its adoption system on Saturday by ending the decades-old practice of outsourcing adoptions to private agencies, which has led to widespread allegations of abuse. South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy and a global cultural powerhouse, sent more than 140,000 children overseas between 1955 and 1999. But an official enquiry concluded this year that the international adoption process had been riddled with irregularities, including “fraudulent orphan registrations, identity tampering, and inadequate vetting of adoptive parents”. The rights of South Korean children had been…
US aviation giant Boeing on Thursday signed a contract valued at $7 billion to sell 12 787 Dreamliners, with options for six more, to Gulf Air, as the Bahrain-based carrier looks to expand its global network. The order comes just one month after an Air India Boeing 787 crashed shortly after takeoff, killing a total of 260 people on the plane and on the ground. “Once finalised, this order will bring the carrier’s firm order book to 14 of the versatile wide-body jets and will support 30,000 jobs across the US,” the companies said in a joint statement. Follow…
Chepngetich finished the Chicago Marathon in two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds. Published Date: 2025-07-17 18:58:37 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Pope Leo XIV hopes to visit Turkey in what could be his first overseas trip as pontiff. [AFP] Pope Leo XIV confirmed Thursday he hoped to visit Turkey in the coming months for a Christian religious commemoration, in what could be his first overseas trip as pontiff. “I hope to be able to meet you again in a few months to take part in the ecumenical commemoration of the anniversary of the Council of Nicaea,” Leo said at a meeting with members of an Orthodox and Catholic pilgrimage from the United States. This year marks the 1,700th anniversary of the…
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet Meeting at the White House on July 08, 2025 in Washington, DC. [AFP] Indian-owned Jaguar Land Rover, which halted exports of its cars to the United States in April over tariffs, said Thursday it planned to cut up to 500 UK management jobs. The cuts to be carried out via voluntary redundancy total 1.5 percent of the JLR workforce in the UK, a statement said. “As part of normal business practice, we regularly offer eligible employees the opportunity to leave JLR through limited voluntary redundancy programmes,” said a company spokesperson, without linking…
Despite his age, Yamal has made over 100 appearances for the club, scoring 25 goals, and winning two La Liga titles since his debut at 15 in 2023. Published Date: 2025-07-17 13:55:48 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a meeting with Crown Prince of Bahrain Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa in the Oval Office of the White House on July 16, 2025, in Washington, D.C. [Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/AFP] US President Donald Trump blasted “foolish” Republican supporters Wednesday as he went on the attack against anyone questioning his administration’s handling of the case of dead sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein. After days of struggling to brush off what he now claims is a Democratic hoax, Trump took his most combative tone yet to try and shut down the issue. “It’s all been…
Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen won stage 11 of the Tour de France in Toulouse on Wednesday while defending champion Tadej Pogacar emerged largely unscathed despite crashing 4km from the line. Published Date: 2025-07-16 21:01:39 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a meeting with the head of the judiciary and other officials in Tehran on July 16, 2025. [AFP] Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that Israel’s attacks during last month’s 12-day war were intended to weaken the Islamic republic’s system and spark unrest to topple it. “The calculation and plan of the aggressors was to weaken the system by targeting certain figures and sensitive centres in Iran,” said Khamenei during a meeting with judiciary officials. During the meeting, excerpts of which were published in videos on his website, he said the…
The CoreCivic, Inc. California City Immigration Processing Center stands in Kern County, California City, California on July 10, 2025. [AFP] The United States deported five migrants from Asian and Caribbean countries to the small African kingdom of Eswatini, officials said Tuesday. The deported migrants are nationals of Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen. “These criminal illegal aliens are so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wrote on X. They were convicted of violent crimes such as child rape and murder, according to DHS. Follow the The Standard channel on…
Syrian security forces deploy amid ongoing clashes in the southern Sweida city on July 16, 2025. [AFP] At least 248 people have been killed in southern Syria’s Sweida province following several days of clashes that triggered the deployment of government forces, a war monitor said on Wednesday. Sporadic fighting persisted despite the Syrian defence ministry announcing a ceasefire on Tuesday after government forces entered the Druze-majority city due to deadly clashes between local fighters and Bedouin tribes. The toll includes 92 members of the Druze minority, 28 of them civilians with 21 “killed in summary executions by government forces”, according…
Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra addresses the SPLASH – Soft Power Forum 2025 at Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in Bangkok on July 9, 2025. [AFP] Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra testified in court on Wednesday, seeking to defend himself against royal defamation charges in a watershed case for his faltering political dynasty. Thaksin faces up to 15 years in prison if he is convicted in the closed-door trial in Bangkok, where he stands accused of breaching strict lese majeste laws that shield Thailand’s royal family from abuse and criticism. For the past quarter-century, the 75-year-old telecoms magnate…
Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy and vice president of the European Commission addresses journalists before the EU-Southern Neighbourhood Ministerial Meeting in Brussels, on July 14, 2025. [AFP] Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands on Tuesday said they wanted to participate in US President Donald Trump’s plan for Europe to buy American weapons for Ukraine. Trump announced a tougher line on Moscow over its war in Ukraine on Monday as he gave the Kremlin 50 days to end the fighting or face massive new economic sanctions. With NATO chief Mark Rutte, Trump also unveiled…
The iconic Sycamore Gap tree in the UK. [PAUL BARKER/AFPTV / Northumberland National Park / Crown Prosecution Service / Northumbria Police] Two men guilty of the “deliberate and mindless” felling of one of the UK’s most iconic trees, sparking national outrage, will find out on Tuesday if they are to be jailed. A jury at Newcastle Crown Court in May found former friends Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers guilty of criminal damage for the 2023 felling of the tree at Sycamore Gap. It had stood for nearly 200 years next to Hadrian’s Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage site in northern…
Members of Syria’s security forces look on as smoke billows during clashes between Bedouin tribes and Druze fighers in an area between Mazraa and Walga near the predominantly Druze city of Sweida on July 14, 2025. [AFP] Syrian government forces entered the majority Druze city of Sweida on Tuesday, the interior ministry said, aiming to end clashes with Bedouin tribes that have killed nearly 100 people. The southern city had been under the control of armed factions from the Druze minority, whose religious leaders said they had approved the deployment of Damascus’s troops and called on fighters to hand over…
President Donald Trump (R) delivers remarks alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House on July 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. [Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/AFP] US President Donald Trump told Russia on Monday to end its war in Ukraine within 50 days or face massive new economic sanctions, as he laid out plans for infusions of weaponry for Kyiv via NATO. Trump said he was “very, very unhappy” with Vladimir Putin, underlining his insistence that his patience had finally snapped with the Russian leader’s refusal to end the deadly conflict. “We’re going…
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Wonsan, North Korea, on July 12, 2025. [AFP] Chinese President Xi Jinping told Russia’s top diplomat on Tuesday that their countries should “strengthen mutual support”, state media said, as foreign ministers gathered in Beijing for Shanghai Cooperation Organisation talks. Meeting Sergei Lavrov in Beijing, Xi said the two countries should “strengthen mutual support on multilateral forums”, according to state news agency Xinhua. Beijing and Moscow should work to “unite countries of the global South and promote the development of the international order in a more just and…
A member of civic groups wearing a mask of US President Donald Trump performs during a protest against Trump’s tariff policy near the US embassy in Seoul on July 15, 2025. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP) The artificial intelligence industry is scrambling to reduce its massive energy consumption through better cooling systems, more efficient computer chips, and smarter programming — all while AI usage explodes worldwide. AI depends entirely on data centers, which could consume three percent of the world’s electricity by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. That’s double what they use today. Experts at McKinsey, a…
A Boeing 737 Max aircraft during a display at the Farnborough International Airshow, in Farnborough, Britain, July 20, 2022.[FILE ] Boeing has reached a settlement with a man whose family died in a 737 MAX crash in 2019, a law firm told AFP on Friday, meaning the US aviation giant will avoid a federal trial slated for Monday. Paul Njoroge, who lost his wife and three children in the Ethiopian Airlines disaster in which 157 people died, was to seek damages from Boeing in a case in Chicago. “The case has settled for a confidential amount,” said a spokesperson for…
Emergency vaccination during outbreaks of diseases like cholera, Ebola and measles have over the past quarter-century reduced deaths from such illnesses by nearly 60 per cent, according to a new study. A similar number of infections are also believed to have been prevented, while billions of euros have been generated in estimated economic benefit. The Gavi vaccine alliance, which backed the study, said it collaborated with researchers at Burnet Institute in Australia to provide the world’s first look at the historical impact of emergency immunisation efforts on public health and global health security. “For the first time, we are able…
Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique on Friday urged his team to round off the best season in the club’s history by winning the Club World Cup. Published Date: 2025-07-12 08:35:00 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Screenshot of when Ovidio Guzman, son of jailed drug kingpin Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman, on October 17, 2019. [AFP] A son of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman pleaded guilty to drug charges in Chicago on Friday in a deal struck with prosecutors in return for a reduced sentence. Nicknamed “El Raton,” or “The Mouse,” Ovidio Guzman Lopez pleaded guilty to two counts of drug conspiracy and two counts of knowingly engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise. Guzman Lopez, who took over control of a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel with three of his brothers — collectively known as…
Semenya, 34, is classed as having “differences in sexual development” but has always been legally identified as female. Published Date: 2025-07-10 17:17:53 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Norgaard scored 13 times in 196 appearances for the Bees and was crucial to establishing Brentford as a Premier League club over the past four seasons. Published Date: 2025-07-10 17:07:18 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Huthi-affiliated fighters carrying out an attack on the Liberia-flagged bulk carrier Magic Seas at sea.[AFP] Yemen’s Huthis had paused their Red Sea attacks on commercial ships, carried out in solidarity with Gaza, for months, before claiming two fresh assaults in recent days, one of them deadly. The Iran-backed rebels have carried out more than 100 attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since the start of their campaign in November 2023, according to the Joint Maritime Information Centre, run by a Western naval coalition. Here are the most significant attacks by the Huthis, who say they have targeted ships…
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said a Swiss court did not give her a fair trial in a much-awaited appeals ruling over contested gender testing. Published Date: 2025-07-10 13:28:57 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
South African Caster Semenya reacts after winning in the women’s 2000m race during the France’s LNA.[AFP] When 19-year-old unknown South African Caster Semenya pulled off a stunning 800 metres final triumph at the 2009 world championships in Berlin, she could never have imagined the drama that would follow. On Thursday the latest chapter in a long running court saga came to an end when The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said a Swiss court did not give her a fair trial in a much-awaited appeals ruling over contested gender testing. Although she declared it a “positive outcome” she added…
Luka Modric confirmed in May that he would leave Madrid after the tournament in the United States, and he is set to join AC Milan next season. Published Date: 2025-07-10 13:26:30 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Former Liverpool and England midfielder Jordan Henderson is leaving Dutch giants Ajax one year before his contract was due to expire, the club has announced. Published Date: 2025-07-10 13:11:11 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet Meeting at the White House on July 08, 2025 in Washington, DC. [AFP] The halt to US foreign aid is a “ticking time bomb” that could reverse decades of hard-fought gains in the fight against AIDS, the United Nations warned Thursday. Around 31.6 million people were on antiretroviral drugs in 2024 and deaths from AIDS-related illnesses had more than halved since 2010 to 630,000 that year, the UNAIDS agency said in a new report. But now infections were likely to shoot up as funding cuts have shuttered prevention and treatment programmes, it…
Peru’s President Dina Boluarte addresses the opening session of the third United Nations Ocean Conference.[AFP] Peru’s Congress has approved a law granting amnesty to military, police and other forces prosecuted for rights violations committed during the nation’s bloody, decades-old campaign against leftist guerrillas. The law, which still needs approval from the president, benefits uniformed personnel who were accused, are still being investigated or are being tried for crimes stemming from their participation in the state’s fight against left-wing insurgents from 1980 to 2000. On Wednesday, a congressional commission approved the bill granting amnesty to members of the armed forces,…
Real Madrid’s Spanish forward #30 Gonzalo Garcia fights for the ball with Paris Saint-Germain’s Portuguese defender #25 Nuno Mendes.[AFP] Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique savoured his team’s performance in blowing away Real Madrid on Wednesday to reach the Club World Cup final and urged them to go on and cap a historic season by claiming yet another trophy. Two goals from Fabian Ruiz either side of an Ousmane Dembele strike, as well as a late effort from substitute Goncalo Ramos, gave PSG an emphatic 4-0 semi-final victory at MetLife Stadium against a Madrid team who have just started working under…
The logo of Nvidia.[AFP] Nvidia became the first company to touch $4 trillion in market value on Wednesday, a new milestone in Wall Street’s bet that artificial intelligence will transform the economy. Shortly after the stock market opened, Nvidia vaulted as high as $164.42, giving it a valuation above $4 trillion. The stock subsequently edged lower, ending just under the record threshold. “The market has an incredible certainty that AI is the future,” said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers. “Nvidia is certainly the company most positioned to benefit from that gold rush.” Nvidia, led by electrical engineer Jensen Huang, now…
. President Donald Trump listens as African Leaders deliver remarks during a multilateral lunch in the State Dining Room of the White House.[AFP] The US Justice Department filed a lawsuit against California on Wednesday for allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports. Female student athletes in California are being subjected to “unfair competition and reckless endangerment by male participation on female high-school sports teams,” the department said. The lawsuit accuses California of violating Title IX, the law that prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal funding. The Justice Department suit is the latest salvo in a showdown…
Britain’s Defence Secretary John Healey (C) and his French counterpart, Sebastien Lecornu (2R). [AFP] The UK and France will declare that the two nations’ nuclear deterrents, while independent, can be co-ordinated and that they will jointly respond to any “extreme threat to Europe,” both countries said Wednesday. The declaration, to be signed Thursday, will state that the respective deterrents of both countries remain under national control “but can be co-ordinated, and that there is no extreme threat to Europe that would not prompt a response by both nations,” the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the French presidency said in…
People walk along a road that collapsed after a series of earthquakes rattled the area in Santa Maria de Jesus, Guatemala, on July 9, 2025. [AFP] The death toll from several earthquakes that struck Guatemala rose to four Wednesday with the discovery of a teenager buried by a landslide, authorities said. A series of tremors of up to 5.7 magnitude rattled the country on Tuesday, centred near the towns of Amatitlan and Alotenango southwest of the capital, according to the US Geological Survey. The teenager’s body was found in a village in the worst-hit municipality of Santa Maria de…
US President Donald Trump during a multilateral lunch with African leaders in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 9, 2025. [AFP] The US Secretary of Agriculture has announced ports will be closed to the livestock trade at the southern border after Mexican cattle tested positive for the flesh-eating New World screwworm (NWS). “The United States has promised to be vigilant — and after detecting this new NWS case, we are pausing the planned port reopening’s to further quarantine and target this deadly pest in Mexico,” Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement on…
Seven-time Ligue 1 champions Lyon will remain in Ligue 1 next season after winning their appeal against relegation. Published Date: 2025-07-09 17:11:46 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) pill. [AFP] Low-income countries will gain access to a “game-changing” HIV prevention drug with a new deal signed between with US pharmaceutical giant Gilead and the Global Fund. The group set up to battle AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, described the deal to procure lenacapavir for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as “a significant milestone for global health equity”. “This marks the first time in history that an HIV prevention product will be introduced in LMICs at the same time as in high-income countries,” the Global Fund said in a statement on Wednesday. The group said it hoped…
Christian Horner is to leave his role as Red Bull team principal with immediate effect after 20 years, the Formula One team announced on Wednesday. Published Date: 2025-07-09 13:36:22 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
This photo taken on June 26, 2025 shows a participant of a “hands-on livestreaming bootcamp” for farmers conducting a sales presentation at an apple orchard in Penglai, Yantai city, China’s eastern Shandong province. [AFP] Gao Chaorong knows what it takes to turn out good crops of sweet potatoes, peanuts and wheat, but tasty produce is no longer enough to draw China’s app savvy crowd. To prevent her crops from rotting unsold in the fields, the 56-year-old is now back in school, attending a “hands-on livestreaming bootcamp” to learn to take her vegetables straight to consumers via their mobile phones.…
Gabon’s President Ali Bongo looks on during the One Forest Summit at the Presidential Palace in Libreville on March 2, 2023. [AFP] Three relatives of deposed first lady of Gabon Sylvia Bongo have been arrested in an anti-drug operation in the country. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the arrests on Tuesday came days after she and her husband, Gabon’s former leader Ali Bongo Ondimba, testified in a French court against the perpetrators of the 2023 coup that ousted him from power. Ali Bongo, whose family ruled the central African nation for 55 years, had been under house arrest in…
Taiwanese reservists participate in pre-combat training on the first day of the annual Han Kuang military exercise in Miaoli on July 9, 2025.AFPCaption Taiwan has kicked off its largest military drills with regular troops joined by a record mobilisation of reservists for 10 days of training aimed at defending against a Chinese invasion today. The annual “Han Kuang” exercises, which are being held at the same time as civilian defence drills, will run from July 9-18 and feature newly delivered US high-tech rocket systems. The self-ruled island democracy faces the constant threat of an invasion by China, which claims Taiwan…
Joao Pedro produced two superb finishes, either side of half-time, to take Chelsea through to Sunday’s final against Paris Saint-Germain or Real Madrid. Published Date: 2025-07-09 11:19:55 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Change in intangible asset investments from 2014 to 2024 by the ten European countries which invested the most in 2024, in billions of US dollars. AFPCaption The purchase of physical assets was eclipsed last year by a surge in investment in intangible items like software, data and AI, the UN said on Wednesday, describing a “fundamental shift in how economies grow and compete”. Investment in intellectual property-backed assets grew three times faster in 2024 than investments in physical objects like machinery and buildings, which have been hit by high interest rates and a subdued economic recovery, the United Nations’…
A train transports oil tankers in Ajmer on July 7, 2025. [AFP] Stocks were mixed on Wednesday as investors assessed Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat, while keeping an eye on trade talks. This was after the US president warned he would not again extend a deadline to reach deals. Investors took in their stride news that Trump had sent letters to 14 countries outlining his new levies on expectations that most will hammer out an agreement before his new cut-off date of August 1. But he caused rumbles on trading floors again Tuesday by announcing a 50 percent toll on…
The sun rises by the Eiffel Tower and the Sacre Coeur Basilica ontop of the Montmartre hill in Paris on July 1, 2025, as the city is on red alert for high temperatures, with the top of the Eiffel Tower shut, polluting traffic banned and speed restrictions in place as a searing heatwave gripped Europe. AFPCaption Human-caused climate change made recent European heatwaves up to 4C hotter in many cities, scientists said on Wednesday, pushing temperatures into deadly territory for thousands of vulnerable people. This likely led to far more heat-related deaths than would have occurred without the influence…
President Donald Trump, accompanied by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (L) and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (R), discusses his decorating of the Cabinet Room during a cabinet meeting at the White House on July 08, 2025 in Washington, AFPCaption War-torn South Sudan has said it is looking after a group of eight criminal migrants controversially deported from the United States. Only one of them is from South Sudan. The administration of US President Donald Trump is trying to move unwanted migrants to third countries as some nations refuse to accept returnees. The rest comprise two people from Myanmar,…
US President Donald Trump (centre), Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a cabinet meeting at the White House on July 8, 2025 in Washington, DC. [AFP] US President Donald Trump will welcome five African leaders to a White House lunch on Wednesday, with commerce and trade expected to feature prominently amongst a mixed bag of potential agenda items. The presidents of Senegal, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Gabon — five nations located along Africa’s Atlantic Coast — will convene at Trump’s behest. Officials from the countries have told AFP that they expect talks to centre…
Just hours before the accident, Jota had posted a video of his June 22 wedding to partner Rute Cardoso, with whom he had three children. Published Date: 2025-07-08 15:24:57 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
08 July 2025, Berlin: Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) follows the speech by Lars Klingbeil (SPD), Federal Minister of Finance, in the Bundestag during the budget consultations on the introduction of the draft federal budget for 2025. AFPCaption A German court ruled that the government must issue visas to an Afghan family previously accepted under a programme for those at risk on Tuesday, 08 July 2025, after the Taliban seized power in 2021. The new government under conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz has frozen the programme, but Berlin’s administrative court said the family had been given a “legally binding” commitment and…
People check the site on an Israeli strike next to a tent housing displaced Palestinians, in Gaza City, on July 8, 2025. Indirect Gaza ceasefire talks resumed on July 8 in Qatar. AFPCaption Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call back a delegation conducting indirect talks with Hamas in Qatar for a ceasefire in Gaza. “I call on the Prime Minister to immediately recall the delegation that went to negotiate with the Hamas murderers in Doha,” Ben Gvir said on Tuesday in a post on X on the third day of talks…
Protesters gather to block a main road with burning barricades and urban debris during clashes at Saba Saba Day demonstrations in Nairobi on July 7, 2025.[AFP] The United Nations on Tuesday expressed serious concern over the deaths of at least 10 people in Kenya, where police and protesters clashed during anti-government demonstrations the previous day. The violence erupted on Saba Saba Day (meaning Seven Seven) when demonstrators annually mark the events of July 7, 1990, when Kenyans rose up to demand a return to multi-party democracy after years of autocratic rule by then-president Daniel arap Moi. “We are deeply troubled…
President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, attend a dinner in the Blue Room of the White House on July 07, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump is hosting Netanyahu to discuss a potential ceasefire agreement to end the fighting in Gaza. AFPCaption EU ministers are set to give the final green light on Tuesday for Bulgaria to adopt the euro on January 1, 2026, when the country would become the single currency area’s 21st member. The European Commission last month said the EU’s poorest country had fulfilled the strict conditions to adopt the euro,…
British and Irish Lions’ Tommy Freeman warms up during the captain’s run in Canberra on July 8, 2025, ahead of the rugby match against the ACT Brumbies.AFPCaption Australia-born Mack Hansen says lining up for the British and Irish Lions on the wing against his old club ACT Brumbies on Wednesday will be a “pinch-me” moment. The 27-year-old, whose mother is Irish, grew up in Canberra and spent three seasons with the Super Rugby club before a move to Connacht in 2021. A Test call-up followed from Ireland head coach Andy Farrell, now in charge of the Lions, and Hansen has not…
Defendant Juraj Cintula, a 72-year-old poet, sits in the courtroom in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, on July 8, 2025, before the start of his trial where he is accused of shooting Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico (unseen) on May 15, 2024.AFPCaption A 72-year-old poet said he had shot Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico to defend “free culture” as he went on trial Tuesday over a year after the shock attack. Juraj Cintula shot nationalist, Kremlin-friendly Fico four times at close range after a government meeting in the central Slovak mining town of Handlova on May 15, 2024, leaving him seriously wounded.…
Members of a rescue team look for missing people on the Guadalupe River in Kerrville, Texas, on July 6, 2025, following severe flash flooding that occured during the July 4 holiday weekend. AFPCaption “There’s no such thing as a natural disaster,” geographers like to say a reminder that human choices turn hazards into tragedies. The Texas flash floods this weekend that left more than a hundred dead, including many children, offer a stark illustration. Here is a look at the intertwined forces that amplified this storm’s impact. Texas’s Hill Country sits in an area known as “Flash Flood Alley,” explains…
Smoke clouds rise near the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women Church after a drone attack in Kharkiv on July 7, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. AFPCaption President Donald Trump said the United States will send additional weapons to Ukraine after Russia claimed new gains in its grinding war against its neighbour. Trump’s announcement yesterday followed Washington speech last week that said it was halting some weapons shipments to Kyiv, leaving Ukrainian officials caught off guard and scrambling for clarity. A pause poses a potentially serious challenge for Kyiv, which is contending with some of Russia’s largest missile and drone attacks…
A search and rescue team looks for people along the Guadalupe River near Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, on July 7, 2025, following severe flash flooding that occurred during the July 4 holiday weekend. AFPCaption The death toll from catastrophic flooding in Texas has risen to more than 100 as of yesterday, as rescuers continued their grim search for people swept away by torrents of water. Among the dead were at least 27 girls and counselors who were staying at a youth summer camp on a river when disaster struck over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Forecasters have warned…
Trucks wait to load containers at the international cargo terminal at the port of Tokyo on July 8, 2025. Most stocks rose on July 8 as traders cautiously welcomed Donald Trump’s extension of his tariff deadline and indication he could push it back further, though uncertainty over US trade policy capped gains.AFPCaption US President Donald Trump reignited his trade war by threatening more than a dozen countries with higher tariffs on Monday. Trump also said he may be flexible on his new August deadline to reach deals. He sent letters to trading partners including key US allies Japan and South…
A collage of President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump speaking on phones. [AFP] EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump had a “good exchange” about trade as Brussels seeks a deal to avoid steep tariffs before a July 9 deadline, the European Commission said Monday. The pair spoke by phone on Sunday, commission spokesman Stefan De Keersmaecker told reporters. The commission, which conducts trade policy for the 27-nation bloc, has been in negotiations with the United States for many months. If no agreement is reached, the default US…
Hong Kong football fans queued for hours July 7 to snap pictures of Cristiano Ronaldo’s trophies and jerseys at an exhibition billed as the first of its kind. Published Date: 2025-07-07 11:39:05 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
A Palestinian girl walks in the rubble of a building that was targeted in an Israeli strike in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in Gaza City, in the central Gaza Strip on July 6, 2025. [AFP] Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are set to resume Sunday in Doha for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal, ahead of a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House. Netanyahu had earlier announced he was sending a team to Qatar, a key mediator in the conflict, though he said Hamas’s response to a draft US-backed ceasefire deal contained “unacceptable”…
While Beatrice Chebet shattered the women’s 5,000m world record with 13min 58.06sec, Kipyegon lowered her own 1,500m global record at the Diamond League athletics meeting in Eugene, Oregon. Published Date: 2025-07-06 08:30:00 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Former Arsenal footballer Thomas Partey was on Friday charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault after complaints by three women, UK police said. Published Date: 2025-07-04 17:54:22 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
A house burning during a wildfire in Pikermi, some 30 Kms east of Athens. Hot dry weather in Greece, which is not unusual for this time of year, has heightened the risk of a repeat of the summer wildfires that have hit the country in recent years. AFP.Caption A wildfire on the Greek island of Crete that forced the evacuation of 5,000 tourists and locals is “retreating”, firefighters told AFP Friday. Some 230 firefighters and six helicopters are still at the scene near the resort town of Ierapetra, where 3,000 visitors had to leave their hotels and guest houses on…
Chelsea’s Italian head coach Enzo Maresca looks on during a press conference at the Lincoln Financial Field Stadium in Philadelphia on July 3, 2025, ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 quarterfinal football match between Brazil’s Palmeiras and England’s Chelsea AFPCaption A glance at the quarter-final line-up for the Club World Cup suggests that whoever comes out on top in the heavyweight last-eight showdown between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich on Saturday will be the favourites to go on and win FIFA’s new competition. Real Madrid can never be ruled out, but the Spanish giants are a work…
Caption. President Donald Trump arrives for a rally to kick off the July Fourth holiday weekend at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on July 03, 2025 in Des Moines, Iowa. The president used the opportunity to tout his just-passed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” which outlines his administration’s spending priorities.AFP US President Donald Trump will sign his flagship tax and spending bill Friday in a pomp-laden Independence Day ceremony featuring fireworks and a flypast by the type of stealth bomber that bombed Iran. Trump pushed Republican lawmakers to get his unpopular “One Big Beautiful Bill” through a reluctant Congress in time…
Palestinian children check the rubble of a residential house in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on July 1, 2025, following overnight Israeli strikes as the war between the Palestinian Hamas militant and Israel continues. AFPCaption Gaza’s civil defence agency has said Israeli strikes killed at least 15 people, after nearly 21 months of war in the Palestinian territory. Israel has recently expanded its military operations in the Gaza Strip, where the war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the territory’s population of more than two million. Gaza civil defence official Mohammad al-Mughayyir told AFP that seven people, including…
Rescuers search for missing victims of a ferry accident in the waters off the Bali Strait in Jembrana, Bali, on July 4, 2025. At least six people were dead and dozens unaccounted after a ferry sank in rough seas on its way to the Indonesian resort island Bali, according to rescue authorities who said 29 survivors had been plucked from the water so far. AFPCaption Hundreds of Indonesian rescuers have widened their search for dozens of missing people after a ferry sank in rough seas on the way to the resort island of Bali on Friday, with six bodies recovered.…
Liverpool’s striker Diogo Jota celebrates scoring a goal during a past English Premier League football match. [AFP] Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jota and his brother died in a car crash in northwestern Spain on Thursday, police said, weeks after the star got married. The Civil Guard said a vehicle veered off a motorway in the municipality of Cernadilla in the northwestern province of Zamora, confirming the deaths of Jota and his brother Andre Felipe. This is just two weeks since he married his childhood sweetheart, Rute Cardoso, with whom they have three children. Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jota…
Liverpool star Diogo Jota has died following a car crash in northern Spain at the age of 28. Published Date: 2025-07-03 11:53:18 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Lyubov Brodovska reacts as she holds a portrait of her missing son Oleksandr while awaiting the arrival of released Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) after a prisoner exchange in the Chernigiv region on June 26, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. AFPCaption All Lyubov Brodovska wanted from the Ukrainian soldiers just freed in a prisoner exchange with Russia was for one to give a sign that her missing son was alive. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians are officially designated missing — neither confirmed killed or captured by the Russians — leaving families in a nightmarish limbo.…
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne university (EPFL) researcher Giovanni Bortolami touches a pine branch from a scaffolding towers at Pfynwald forest near Leuk, Switzerland’s southern Wallis region. AFPCaption In a Swiss pine forest, the treetops are being sprayed with mist in a bid to discover the effect that drier or wetter air has on their ability to survive. Eighteen scaffolding towers have been erected between the trees in the Pfynwald in Switzerland’s southern Walli’s region. High-pressure nozzles mounted on the towers spray vapour over the canopy of…
A rescue team moving a victim’s body brought to shore earlier by local fishermen after a ferry sank on its way to the resort island of Bali, in Banyuwangi, East Java. At least four people were dead and dozens unaccounted for on July 3 after a ferry sank AFPCaption At least four people were dead and dozens unaccounted for Thursday after a ferry sank in rough seas on its way to Indonesian resort island Bali, according to rescue authorities who said 31 survivors had been plucked from the water so far. Rescuers were racing to find 30 people still missing…
FILES) A picture shows gold bars and porcelain fragments looted from the French Prince de Conty shipwreck that were seized by US authorities, during their official restitution to France, in Brest, eastern France, on June 15, 2022. AFPCaption An 80-year-old US novelist and her husband are among several people facing a possible trial in France over the illegal sale of gold bars plundered from an 18th-century shipwreck, after French prosecutors requested the case go to court. Eleonor “Gay” Courter and her 82-year-old husband Philip have been accused of helping to sell the bullion online for a French diver who stole…