People take pictures of a flower installation commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory over Japan and the end of World War II in Beijing on August 31, 2025. China will hold a major military parade in Beijing on September 3 to mark the anniversary. [AFP] North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is set to visit China this week, a rare step beyond his country’s borders, for prospective meetings with President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The trip could be Kim’s bid to “formalise” his budding ties with Pyongyang’s two main allies — and potentially play a…
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Statkraft Head of Zero Carbon Grid Solutions Guy Nicholson stands by a flywheel at Statkraft’s new Greener Grid Park in Liverpool, north-west England, on August 7, 2025. [AFP] Britain’s energy operator is betting on an age-old technology to future-proof its grid, as the power plants that traditionally helped stabilise it are closed and replaced by renewable energy systems. Spinning metal devices known as flywheels have for centuries been used to provide inertia — resistance to sudden changes in motion — to various machines, from a potter’s wheel to the steam engine. Grid operators are now looking to the technology to…
China’s President Xi Jinping during a bilateral meeting with Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Tianjin, on August 31, 2025. [AFP] China’s factory output ticked up in August but still recorded a fifth straight month of contraction, official data showed Sunday, as Beijing and Washington press on with trade talks. The Purchasing Managers’ Index — a key measure of industrial output — was 49.4, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, up slightly from 49.3 in July. A Bloomberg analysts’ poll had forecasted the index would be 49.5. Follow The Standard channel…
China’s President Xi Jinping (fifth right) during a bilateral meeting with Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu (fourth left) ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit 2025 in the Guest House of Tianjin, China, on August 31, 2025. [AFP] President Xi Jinping gathered the leaders of Russia and India among dignitaries from around 20 Eurasian countries on Sunday for a showpiece summit aimed at putting China front and centre of regional relations. Security was tight in the northern port city of Tianjin, where the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit is being held until Monday, days before a massive military parade in the…
Morocco have an unprecedented third African Nations Championship (CHAN) title in their sights on Saturday when they play Madagascar in the final at Nairobi’s Kasarani stadium. Published Date: 2025-08-30 08:20:00 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
“I appreciate the visit of Gianni Infantino, FIFA President, to discuss the progress of the World Cup” Published Date: 2025-08-29 11:42:46 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Displaced Palestinians flee Gaza City towards the southern areas of the Gaza Strip, in Nuseirat, on August 28, 2025, as the war between Israel and the Hamas militants movement continues. [AFP] Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday called on the government to begin annexing parts of the Gaza Strip if Palestinian militant group Hamas stands by its refusal to lay down its weapons. The far-right minister, who has vocally opposed striking a deal with Hamas to end the nearly two-year war, presented his plan to “win in Gaza by the end of the year” at a press conference in…
US Border Patrol agents and Washington DC Metro Police perform a traffic stop on 9th Street Northwest on August 27, 2025 in Washington, DC. [AFP] The Security Council voted Thursday for UN peacekeepers to leave Lebanon in 2027, allowing only one final extension after pressure from Israel and its US ally to end the nearly 50-year-old force. Israel hailed the upcoming termination of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and urged the Beirut government to exert its authority after an Israeli military campaign devastated Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah. With the United States dangling a veto threat, the Security Council…
Liverpool and Manchester City will both come up against Real Madrid in this season’s Champions League while title-holders PSG were handed a tough list of opponents in Thursday’s draw. Published Date: 2025-08-28 20:54:45 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
White House Border Czar Tom Homan talks to reporters after a television interview outside the West Wing of the White House on August 28, 2025 in Washington, DC. [AFP] France, Britain and Germany on Thursday triggered a mechanism to reimpose United Nations sanctions on Iran for failing to comply with commitments over its nuclear programme it agreed to a decade ago. Iran warned that it would “respond appropriately” to the move, which risks drawing a curtain on the most sustained diplomatic push for a peaceful solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis. The United States welcomed the step, while emphasising it…
This undated photo released by the Florida Department of Corrections and obtained on August 28, 2025, shows death row inmate Curtis Windom. (Photo by HANDOUT / Florida Department of Corrections / AFP) A man convicted of the 1992 murders of three people is to be put to death by lethal injection in Florida on Thursday in the 11th execution in the southern US state this year. Curtis Windom, 59, was sentenced to death for killing his girlfriend Valerie Davis, her mother Mary Lubin, and Johnnie Lee, a man who allegedly owed him a gambling debt. The execution is to be…
A customer collects a parcel at an Australia Post store in Melbourne on August 26, 2025 as Australia joined countries suspending some postal deliveries to the US, citing a “complex and rapidly evolving situation” with US President Donald Trump’s looming tariffs. [AFP] An approaching US deadline to end tariff exemptions on small parcels has tripped up global deliveries to the world’s biggest economy, with businesses halting shipments to American consumers and mulling price hikes. Come Friday, US President Donald Trump’s administration is abolishing a rule that allows packages valued at $800 or below to enter the country duty-free. But the…
Eliud Kipchoge says the desire to inspire others drove him to enter the Sydney Marathon, admitting that there was huge pressure on him to win. Published Date: 2025-08-28 16:08:44 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
US President Donald Trump looks on as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (L) speaks during a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 26, 2025.[AFP] President Donald Trump’s administration moved Thursday to impose stricter limits on how long foreign students and journalists can stay in the United States, the latest bid to tighten legal immigration in the country. Under a proposed change, foreigners would not be allowed to stay for more than four years on student visas in the United States. Foreign journalists would be limited to stays of just 240…
Israeli soldiers conduct a raid in Ramallah city in the occupied West Bank on August 26, 2025. [AFP] Israeli police said Wednesday that security forces seized roughly 1.5 million shekels ($447,000) of “terror funds” during a raid in the occupied West Bank a day earlier. Israeli forces targeted a currency exchange in Ramallah on Tuesday, leaving dozens of Palestinians wounded, according to the Red Crescent. Israel carries out frequent raids across the West Bank, where tensions have remained high throughout the Gaza war, but incursions into central Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, are relatively rare. Follow The Standard…
India could be banned from world football for the second time in three years after FIFA and the Asian governing body demanded it implement a new constitution by October 30. Published Date: 2025-08-27 10:53:02 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
The pair will be making a return to the grid in 2026, after being dropped this year, for the American outfit, who become F1’s 11th team on the grid. Published Date: 2025-08-26 16:25:15 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
An Afghan Hazara boy drinks water from a tap in Qavariyak village in Shibar district of Bamiyan province on June 18, 2025. [AFP] More than two billion people worldwide still lack access to safely-managed drinking water, the United Nations said Tuesday, warning that progress towards universal coverage was moving nowhere near quickly enough. The UN’s health and children’s agencies said a full one in four people globally were without access to safely-managed drinking water last year, with over 100 million people remaining reliant on drinking surface water — for example from rivers, ponds and canals. The World Health Organization and…
From left: Families of the Israeli hostages taken captive in the Gaza Strip call for action to secure their release and a ceasefire in the war against Hamas in Tel Aviv, on August 26, 2025. [AFP] Protesters calling for an end to the war in Gaza and the return of hostages being held there took to the streets in Israel on Tuesday morning ahead of a security cabinet meeting scheduled for the evening. Demonstrators blocked roads in Tel Aviv, where they waved Israeli flags and held up pictures of the hostages, according to AFP journalists on the ground. Israeli media…
U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump walk to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 11, 2025. [AFP] Turkey’s First Lady wrote to her US counterpart Melania Trump on Saturday, asking her to show the same concern for Gaza’s children as she has shown for those of Ukraine. Emine Erdogan asked Donald Trump’s spouse to write to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to show mercy to Gaza’s children. In a letter presented to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Alaska Summit earlier this month, she appealed to him to…
Manchester City’s troubles from last season were exposed once more in a humbling 2-0 home defeat to Tottenham on Saturday. Published Date: 2025-08-23 16:49:50 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Destroyed buildings in the besieged Palestinian territory, on August 21, 2025. [AFP] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he had ordered immediate negotiations aimed at freeing all the remaining hostages in Gaza, as Israeli troops hammered the territory’s largest city ahead of a major planned offensive. The call for renewed talks came a day after the defence ministry approved a plan authorising the call-up of roughly 60,000 reservists to help capture Gaza City, home to Hamas’s final stronghold. “I have come to approve the IDF’s (military’s) plans to take control of Gaza City and defeat Hamas,” the prime…
Smoke emanating over buildings following a Russian air attack, in Mukachevo, Zakarpattia region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said on August 21, 2025. [AFP] Russia is using “sexual torture” against civilians as part of a “deliberate and systematic policy” of intimidation in areas of Ukraine seized in Moscow’s invasion, United Nations experts said Thursday. The experts, who are mandated by the Human Rights Council but do not speak on behalf of the UN, said they had sent Russia a dossier detailing 10 cases of Ukrainian…
Rescue workers and residents search for victims in the debris of collapsed houses after a cloudburst in Dolari village, Swabi district, in northern Pakistan’s mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on August 18, 2025. [AFP] In the middle of the night, by the glow of their mobile phones, rescuers and villagers dug through the concrete remains of flattened houses after massive rocks crashed down on a remote Pakistani village following a cloudburst. Using hammers, shovels, and in many cases their bare hands to clear the rubble and open blocked pathways, they searched through the debris in darkness, with no electricity in the…
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York on August 15, 2025. [AFP] Stock markets traded in a narrow range Tuesday and oil prices dipped after US President Donald Trump held what he called “very good” talks with Ukrainian and European leaders on ending the war. Hopes for a breakthrough rose after Trump said he spoke by phone with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin after hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and others at the White House. “At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements…
An Afghan woman with children takes a break as they haul water cans on wheelbarrows along a deserted street in the drought-ridden village of Bolak at Chahar Bolak district, Balkh province on July 10, 2025. [AFP] Over four decades of war, Afghanistan wielded limited control over five major river basins that flow across its borders into downstream neighbouring nations. But as Taliban authorities swept to power and tightened their grip on the country, they have pushed for Afghanistan’s water sovereignty, launching infrastructure projects to harness precious resources in the arid territory. Dams and canals have sparked tensions with neighbouring states,…
The monument on Dam Square is sprayed with slogan during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Amsterdam on August 16, 2025. [AFP] Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Saturday that Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has become a “problem”, adding she would try to put pressure on Israel over the Gaza war as her country currently holds the EU presidency. “Netanyahu is now a problem in himself,” Frederiksen said in an interview with the Jyllands-Posten daily, adding that the Israeli government was going “too far.” The centre right leader slammed the “absolutely appalling and catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza and new settlement project…
Kenyas Faith Kipyegon just missed out on the long-standing world record in the women’s 3,000m at the Silesia Diamond League meet on Saturday. Published Date: 2025-08-16 18:12:27 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Kenyas Faith Kipyegon just missed out on the long-standing world record in the women’s 3,000m at the Silesia Diamond League meet on Saturday. Published Date: 2025-08-16 18:12:27 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
US President Donald Trump (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin stand together after delivering a joint press conference after participating in a US-Russia summit on Ukraine at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15, 2025. [AFP] US President Donald Trump on Saturday shifted his campaign to halt the Ukraine war to securing a full peace agreement after a summit with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin failed to secure a ceasefire. Three hours of talks between the White House and Kremlin leaders at an Alaska air base produced no breakthrough but Trump and European leaders said they wanted a new…
US President Donald Trump (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold a joint press conference following a US-Russia summit on Ukraine at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15, 2025. [AFP] The US and Russian presidents, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, failed at a high-stakes summit to reach an accord on halting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, leaving European leaders scrambling Saturday to figure out the next steps to pressure Moscow. The White House and Kremlin leaders pointed to areas of agreement during their three hours of talks, but offered no breakthrough on a ceasefire in the conflict that has…
This combination of pictures created on June 4, 2025 shows, (L/R) US President Donald Trump in Morristown, New Jersey, May 23, 2025, and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 28, 2025. [AFP] Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin flew to Alaska on Friday for a high-risk summit that promises a stern test of the US president’s promise to end the bloody war in Ukraine. Both leaders voiced hopes of a productive meeting. But while Trump warned he could judge it a failure after just a few minutes if Putin does not budge, the Kremlin said the…
The Grok logo appears on a smartphone screen, and the xAI logo serves as the background on a laptop screen in this photo illustration in Athens, Greece, on July 18, 2025. [AFP] AI chatbot Grok on Tuesday offered conflicting explanations for its brief suspension from X after accusing Israel and the United States of committing “genocide” in Gaza, as it lashed out at owner Elon Musk for “censoring me.” Grok, developed by Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI and integrated into his platform X, was temporarily suspended on Monday in the latest controversy surrounding the chatbot. No official explanation was provided…
South Korea’s former first lady Kim Keon Hee (C), wife of impeached former president Yoon Suk Yeol, arrives at a court.[AFP] South Korea’s former first lady Kim Keon Hee was arrested late Tuesday over a range of charges including stock manipulation and corruption, prosecutors said. The arrest came hours after the Seoul Central District Court reviewed the prosecutors’ arrest warrant request against the 52-year-old, further compounding her legal jeopardy with physical custody. The court granted the warrant, citing the risk of tampering with evidence, according to Yonhap news agency. With the arrest, South Korea now has a former president and…
South Korea’s former first lady Kim Keon Hee (C), wife of impeached former president Yoon Suk Yeol, arrives at a court.[AFP] South Korea’s former first lady Kim Keon Hee was arrested late Tuesday over a range of charges including stock manipulation and corruption, prosecutors said. The arrest came hours after the Seoul Central District Court reviewed the prosecutors’ arrest warrant request against the 52-year-old, further compounding her legal jeopardy with physical custody. The court granted the warrant, citing the risk of tampering with evidence, according to Yonhap news agency. With the arrest, South Korea now has a former president and…
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin arrive for a meeting in Helsinki on July 16, 2018. [AFP] Donald Trump styles himself as a strongman. And that’s exactly what he sees in Vladimir Putin. Their complicated relationship will be put to the test at a summit in Alaska on Friday, where the two leaders who claim to admire each other will seek to outmaneuver one another over how to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While the two were close to a bromance during Trump’s first term (2017-2021), their relationship has grown strained during his second term. The US…
Members of Italy’s delegation wave their country’s national flag as they take part in the athletes’ parade during the opening ceremony of the 2025 World Games at the Tianfu International Convention Centre in Chengdu. [AFP] Italian orienteering athlete Mattia Debertolis died on Tuesday at the World Games in Chengdu, China after collapsing during competition, organisers said. Debertolis, 29, was found unconscious during an orienteering event on August 8 and died four days later, said a joint statement from World Games organisers and the International Orienteering Federation (IOF). The World Games is a multisport event held every four years for disciplines…
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump during a meeting in Helsinki, on July 16, 2018. [AFP] US President Donald Trump on Monday described his upcoming summit with Vladimir Putin as a “feel-out meeting” to gauge his ideas for ending the war in Ukraine, as European leaders rushed to ensure respect for Kyiv’s interests. Trump has invited his Russian counterpart to Alaska on Friday — the first face-to-face meeting between the two countries’ presidents since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 — while criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for rejecting territorial concessions. Fearing privately that Putin will team…
Protesters hold pictures denouncing the killing of an Al Jazeera news team in an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City, during a vigil in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank on August 11, 2025. [AFP] Israeli opposition chief Yair Lapid on Tuesday backed calls for a general strike in solidarity with hostages still held in Gaza. “Strike on Sunday,” Lapid posted on X, saying even supporters of the current government should take part and insisting it was not party political. Sunday is the first day of the working week in Israel. “Strike out of solidarity. Strike because the families have…
US President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference to discuss crime in Washington, DC, in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on August 11, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) US President Donald Trump on Monday ordered a delay in the reimposition of higher tariffs on Chinese goods, hours before a trade truce between Washington and Beijing was due to expire. The White House’s halt on steeper tariffs will be in place until November 10. “I have just signed an Executive Order that will extend the Tariff Suspension on China for another…
US President Donald Trump arrives for a news conference to discuss crime in Washington, DC, on August 11, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) The capital of the world’s leading superpower is a city unlike any other in the United States — not just in symbolism but in its legal and political structure. President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to impose his will on the city has brought its unique status back into the spotlight. Washington D.C. is a bustling urban center with schools and businesses serving 700,000 residents — but is also the seat of national power, home to…
Senator Miguel Uribe looks on after the Senate voted against the government labor reform referendum promoted by Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro in Bogota on May 14, 2025. (Photo by Raul ARBOLEDA / AFP) Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe has died two months after being shot in the head at a campaign event, his wife announced early Monday morning. “You will always be the love of my life. Thank you for a life full of love,” Maria Claudia Tarazona wrote on her Instagram account. “Rest in peace, love of my life. I will take care of our children,” she added.…
Rescue teams working in the rubble of a building in Balikesir province following a 6.1-magnitude quake that struck Sindirgi in western Turkey.[AFP] A 6.1-magnitude quake struck Sindirgi in western Turkey on Sunday, killing at least one person and injuring dozens more according to the Turkish disaster management agency (AFAD). The quake was felt across several cities in the west of the country, including Istanbul and the tourist hotspot of Izmir. “An 81-year-old person died soon after having been rescued from under the rubble,” Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told journalists at Sindirgi, the epicentre of the quake. Another 29 people…
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, US President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz [AFP] The UK government announced on Sunday that it will expand a scheme forcing some foreign nationals to have appeals against convictions heard from abroad, to prevent them delaying deportations. The number of countries enrolled in the initiative will nearly treble to 23, with people from those nations now to be deported before they can appeal their convictions, it said. In a separate announcement, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood…
Benjamin Sesko’s arrival completes an overhaul of the Red Devils’ attack that failed to fire last season. Published Date: 2025-08-09 15:13:00 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
President Donald Trump (C) joins hands with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (L) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (R) during a signing ceremony in the State Dining Room of the White House on August 8, 2025 in Washington, DC. [AFP] Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Saturday hailed a “historic” peace deal with Azerbaijan after signing an agreement aimed at ending a decades-long conflict. Christian-majority Armenia and Muslim-majority Azerbaijan went to war twice over their border and the status of ethnic enclaves within each other’s territories. “What happened today is a historic event. For months, I have been saying that…
Manchester United have agreed a deal worth up to 85 million euros ($99 million, £74 million) to sign striker Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig on August 7, 2025. Published Date: 2025-08-09 13:47:10 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
A £50 million ($67 million) investment has been made to upgrade the Carrington training ground which has been United’s base since 2000. Published Date: 2025-08-08 17:26:45 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
An Afghan worker loads plastic bottles into a sack at a recycling yard in Kabul on August 5, 2025. [AFP] Negotiations aimed at forging a global treaty on plastic pollution are being blocked by oil-producing countries and getting bogged down in a “dialogue of the deaf”, sources in and around the talks told AFP. Ten days of talks on finalising an international, legally-binding instrument on plastic pollution opened on Tuesday with sunny optimism from the moderators that a deal could be done to tackle the scourge of plastic rubbish and microplastics trashing the planet. But by Thursday, after countries had…
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on August 6, 2025 in Washington, DC. [AFP] Higher US tariffs came into effect for dozens of economies Thursday, drastically raising the stakes in President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging efforts to reshape global trade. As an executive order signed last week by Trump took effect, US duties rose from 10 percent to levels between 15 percent and 41 percent for a list of trading partners. Many products from economies including the European Union, Japan and South Korea now face a 15-percent tariff, even with deals struck with Washington…
U.S. President Donald Trump displays a set of 1984 Los Angeles Olympic medals given to him during an executive order signing ceremony on August 5, 2025 in Washington, DC. [AFP] Stock markets edged higher Wednesday as traders assessed the latest corporate earnings and awaited President Donald Trump’s next wave of tariffs. The US president’s claim that Washington was “very close to a deal” to extend a China tariffs truce provided some optimism. But duties on dozens of economies were due to take effect on Thursday, and Trump also warned that he would soon hit the pharmaceutical and semiconductor sectors. Oil…
An employee walks past a door bearing the logo of Novo Nordisk at the factory in Hilleroed on September 26, 2023.[AFP] Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk posted a sharp rise in second-quarter net profit Wednesday, but rising competition is weighing on sales of its diabetes and obesity treatments Ozempic and Wegovy in the United States. The group reported a net profit of 26.5 billion kroner ($4.1 billion), a 32 percent increase from the same period last year, while sales increased by 18 percent to 76 billion kroner. The drug maker lowered its annual earnings outlook last week, causing its share…
A Palestinian girl reacts to the destruction after an overnight strike on the Sheikh Radwan Health Centre run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the north of Gaza City on August 6, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP) Donald Trump’s sudden concern about starving Palestinians was a major shift for the US president, who had previously ignored the endless cries for help from aid groups. So what changed? In his words, it was images of emaciated children in Gaza that Trump saw on television — his main window into the world that…
US President Donald Trump waves before boarding Marine One at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on August 1, 2025, on his way to his residence in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he spend the weekend. [AFP] US President Donald Trump signaled Tuesday that fresh tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals and semiconductors could be unveiled within the coming week, in his ongoing push to reshape global trade. Trump made his latest comments in an interview on CNBC days before a separate set of tariff hikes come into effect on dozens of economies later this week. His sweeping plans have sparked a…
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administor Bryan Bedford observe a Skydio X10 drone hover in the atrium of the Department of Transportation Headquarters on August 05, 2025 in Washington, DC. [AFP] The United States is rushing to put nuclear power reactors on the Moon and Mars, and hopes to launch the first system by the end of the decade. A new NASA directive — first reported by Politico and seen by AFP on Tuesday — calls for the appointment of a nuclear power czar to select two commercial proposals within six months, framing the push as crucial to…
This undated image courtesy of OceanGate Expeditions, shows their Titan submersible beginning a descent. Safety failures by the OceanGate company led to the deadly 2023 implosion of its Titan submersible, the US Coast Guard said in a final report published on August 5, 2025. [AFP] Multiple failures to follow standard safety protocol led to the deadly implosion of a private submersible visiting the Titanic wreckage in 2023, according to a final report published Tuesday. The US Coast Guard investigation outlined a litany of issues with operator OceanGate’s conduct, as well as design flaws in its Titan submersible, that contributed to…
U.S. President Donald Trump shouts answers to questions from reporters as he tours the roof of the West Wing of the White House on August 05, 2025 in Washington, DC.[AFP] A stock market rebound lost traction on Tuesday after data showed inflation gathering steam in the US, complicating the picture for interest rate cuts. Meanwhile oil prices retreated further after US President Donald Trump renewed his threat to raise tariffs on India over its purchases of Russian crude. Wall Street’s main stock indices had opened higher Tuesday before turning lower. European markets ended mixed, with Paris dipping into the red. Global…
A young Afghan child worker sorts recyclable plastic cans at a recycling yard on the outskirts of Kabul on August 5, 2025. [AFP The 184 countries gathering to forge a landmark treaty on combating plastic pollution were told Tuesday they must find a way to tackle a global crisis wrecking ecosystems and trashing the oceans. States should seize the chance to shape history, the man chairing the talks said as 10 days of negotiations kicked off at the United Nations in Geneva. “We are facing a global crisis,” Ecuadoran diplomat Luis Vayas Valdivieso told the more than 1,800 negotiators as…
Meta on Tuesday said it shut nearly seven million WhatsApp accounts linked to scammers in the first half of this year and is ramping up safeguards against such schemes. “Our team identified the accounts and disabled them before the criminal organizations that created them could use them,” WhatsApp external affairs director Clair Deevy said. Often run by organized gangs, the scams range from bogus cryptocurrency investments to get-rich-quick pyramid schemes, WhatsApp executives said in a briefing. Follow The Standard channel on WhatsApp “There is always a catch and it should be a red flag for everyone: you have to pay…
Demonstrators during an anti-government protest calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages, outside the Israeli Defence Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, on August 2, 2025. [AFP] Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared Tuesday to unveil an updated Gaza war plan designed to destroy Hamas and secure the release of dozens of hostages, with Israeli media reporting he would order the total occupation of the Palestinian territory. Netanyahu was expected to meet security chiefs in Jerusalem on Tuesday to discuss new orders, local media reported, even as Israel’s diplomats convened a UN Security Council meeting in New York…
Top candidate of German right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party for the European election Maximilian Krah speaks during a campaign event for the upcoming European elections in Dresden, eastern Germany on May 1, 2024. [AFP] A German court will on Tuesday launch the trial of two suspected spies for China, one of whom worked as an assistant to the far-right lawmaker Maximilian Krah. The German national, partially identified as Jian G., allegedly worked for Chinese intelligence from 2002, including while he was an aide to the Alternative for Germany (AfD) MEP Krah between 2019 and 2024. Jian G. is accused…
The empty dance floor of the Birmingham PRYZM nightclub is pictured in Birmingham, central England on September 5, 2020, due to government restrictions related to coronavirus. [AFP] Is the party over? UK nightclubs are famed around the world, but Covid and inflation have hit the sector hard, forcing businesses to reinvent themselves to attract new generations to the dance floor. Pryzm Kingston is a well-known club in southwest London popular with students, where artists like Billie Eilish, Rod Stewart, and Stormzy have performed. But the converted cinema closed its doors for renovation last month, with its owners saying it was…
Druze residents of the Israel-annexed Golan Hights participate in a blood drive in Masaadah village, for the benefit of members of their community in Syria’s southertn Sweida, on July 29, 2025. [AFP] Renewed sectarian clashes in southern Syria’s Druze-majority Sweida province killed at least four people on Sunday, a war monitor said, in the first deadly incident since a ceasefire last month. The province witnessed deadly clashes between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouins in July that drew the intervention of government forces and tribal fighters who came to support the Bedouins. A ceasefire put an end to the week of…
A demonstrator lights a smoke flare during an anti-government protest calling for release of Israeli hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip by Palestinian militants, outside the Israeli Defence Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on August 2, 2025. [AFP] French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday that Hamas showed “inhumanity without bounds” by releasing videos of two emaciated Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian militant group in Gaza. Hamas and its Islamic Jihad ally have recently released three clips showing captives Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David, who were seized during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the…
US President Donald Trump with Rep Mike Conaway (R-TX) and farmers and ranchers from across the country in the Oval Office at the White House May 23, 2019 in Washington, DC. [AFP] Saudi Arabia, Russia and six key members of the OPEC+ alliance said Sunday they will increase production by 547,000 barrels a day in a move which analysts say aims to regain market share amid resilient crude prices. Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman, along with the Saudis and Russians — together nicknamed the Voluntary Eight (V8) — currently produce about 41-42 million barrels a day,…
KFF president Hussein Mohammed told AFP he was not responsible for ticketing. Published Date: 2025-08-03 12:27:44 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Shares in European pharmaceutical firms slumped on Friday following a threat by President Donald Trump to punish them if they don’t lower prices for medicines in the United States. Shares in Novo Nordisk, the Danish maker of the blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss treatments Ozempic and Wegovy, saw shares drop 4.5 per cent shortly after trading got under way in Copenhagen. Shares in Britain’s AstraZeneca fell 2.8 per cent in London, while Sanofi fell 1.1 per cent in Paris. Follow The Standard channel on WhatsApp Meanwhile, shares in Novartis shed 0.9 per cent and Roche 1.0 per cent after Trump announced…
President Donald Trump’s administration unveiled a range of new tariffs Thursday due to take effect in one week on most US trading partners. [AFP] President Donald Trump’s administration unveiled a range of new tariffs Thursday due to take effect in one week on most US trading partners. The import levies ranged as high as 41 percent on Syria and included a hike on Canadian imports from the current 25 percent to 35 percent. AFP takes a look at the most recent developments: Africa Follow The Standard channel on WhatsApp Trump said that the United States would raise tariffs on certain…
Former U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at the National Bar Association’s annual convention on July 31, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois.[AFP] A US plan to destroy women’s contraception products reportedly worth $9.7 million spurred growing outcry on Friday in France, where the products could be incinerated. The contraceptives which were intended for some of the world’s poorest countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa were purchased by the US foreign aid agency USAID under former president Joe Biden. His successor Donald Trump’s administration, which has slashed foreign aid and pursued anti-abortion policies, confirmed earlier this month that it plans to destroy the contraceptives,…
After severe delays in stadium renovations, east Africa is finally ready to co-host the much-awaited African Nations Championship (CHAN), kicking off on Saturday. Published Date: 2025-08-01 09:01:30 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
US theater director and visual artist Robert ‘Bob’ Wilson poses during a photo session in Paris on September 1, 2021. (Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP) Celebrated US director Robert Wilson, who revolutionized stage and opera, died Thursday at the age of 83, his management said. “Robert Wilson died peacefully today in Water Mill, New York, at the age of 83, after a brief but acute illness,” said a statement issued on his website. It said he worked right up until the end. Wilson’s productions of original works as well as traditional repertoire pieces were hugely popular wherever they were…
German Stock Market Index DAX is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, on July 28, 2025. [AFP] Shares of Microsoft spiked Thursday following blowout quarterly results, lifting the tech giant into the previously unprecedented $4 trillion club along with Nvidia, another artificial intelligence standout. The landmark valuation is the latest sign of growing bullishness about an AI investment boom that market watchers believe is still in the early stages — even as companies like Microsoft plan $100 billion or more in annual capital spending to add new capacity. Microsoft reported profit of $27.2 billion on revenue of $76.4…
Demonstrators during an anti-government protest in Tel Aviv on July 31, 2025, calling for a stop to the war in Gaza, and for the release of Israelis held hostage by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip since October 2023. [AFP] President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff held talks in Israel on Thursday ahead of a rare US visit to aid distribution sites in Gaza, where nearly 22 months of grinding war and dire food shortages have sparked an international outcry. Witkoff, who has been involved in months of stalled negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, met Prime Minister…
Demonstrators lift placards and chant slogans during an anti-government protest in Tel Aviv on July 31, 2025, calling for a stop to the war in Gaza. [AFP] The United States said Thursday it would deny visas to Palestinian Authority officials, as US allies move to recognize Palestinian statehood. The sanctions come after several states, including France and Canada, announced they would recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September, infuriating Israel and the United States. The US visa denials could complicate attendance at the meeting by Palestinian leaders. France and Saudi Arabia sponsored this week a UN…
Myanmar’s junta chief military Min Aung Hlaing arrives to deliver a speech during a ceremony to mark the country’s Armed Forces Day in Naypyidaw on March 27, 2024. [AFP] Myanmar’s junta ended its state of emergency on Thursday, ramping up plans for a December election that opposition groups pledged to boycott and monitors said will be used to consolidate the military’s power. The military declared a state of emergency in February 2021 as it deposed the civilian government of democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a many-sided civil war that has claimed thousands of lives. The order gave junta…
Diaz only had a few weeks with Wirtz at Liverpool but revealed his advice encouraged him to move to the Bundesliga. Published Date: 2025-07-31 20:00:00 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta has been cleared of spot-fixing charges by an independent regulatory commission, the club announced on Thursday. Published Date: 2025-07-31 17:45:24 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Pape Matar Sarr scored from the halfway line as Tottenham punished a shaky performance by Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya to win the first north London derby staged outside the UK 1-0. Published Date: 2025-07-31 17:17:41 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Education university student money loan savings. [Courtesy/GettyImages] Australia passed laws Thursday to slash all student loan debts by 20 percent, clearing a combined US$10 billion of debt held by more than three million students. Many Australians use government loans to help pay for university courses or other tertiary study. But with university fees soaring — a basic degree can cost US$25,000 (about Aus$40,000) or more each year — students are increasingly saddled with hefty debts that can take decades to clear. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged to cut student loan debt as a key cost-of-living measure in a general election…
A flood damaged car is seen following heavy rains over the past few days in Huairou district, on the outskirts of Beijing.[AFP] Beijing city officials admitted on Thursday they had not been prepared for heavy rains that soaked swathes of the capital, killing 44 people and leaving nine still missing. Swathes of northern China endured deadly rains and floods since last week that forced the evacuation of tens of thousands. The capital’s rural suburbs were hardest hit, officials said, raising the toll from the previously reported 30 announced on Tuesday. “As of midday on July 31, some 44 people have…
Different socks worn by the pop star on show at the Fashion Museum in Santiago, Chile in 2009. [MARTIN BERNETTI /AFP] A single glittery sock that late pop superstar Michael Jackson wore during a concert in France in the 1990s sold for more than $8,000 on Wednesday, a French auctioneer said. A technician found the used sock discarded near Jackson’s dressing room after the concert in the southern city of Nimes in July 1997, auctioneer Aurore Illy told AFP. The self-styled “King of Pop” wore white athletic socks adorned with rhinestones during his “HIStory World Tour” in 1997, according to…
This video grab from a handout footage released by the Joint Press Service of Courts of Bashkortostan Republic shows Olga Komleva, 46, previously volunteered for Navalny’s party, in Ufa City Court on July 29, 2025. [AFP] More than 200 Kremlin critics and former political prisoners have expressed outrage at the visit of a high-ranking Moscow delegation to Switzerland, accusing Europe of hosting “war criminals” despite the invasion of Ukraine. Opponents of Vladimir Putin fear that more than three years into Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine the West might be ready to start bringing Russia in from the cold and revive relations with…
People evacuated from areas near the coast, rest in a shelter in Fengxian district in Shanghai on July 30, 2025. [AFP] Shanghai had evacuated almost 283,000 people from vulnerable coastal and low-lying areas as Typhoon Co-May made landfall in the Chinese financial hub on Wednesday evening, bringing lashing rains and winds. The city’s meteorological observatory issued an orange rainstorm alert, the second-highest warning level, on Wednesday afternoon as sheets of water inundated the city. Almost a third of flights from Shanghai’s two international airports were cancelled, the city’s news service said, totalling around 640, with ferries and some train services…
A man walks past a rain damaged area in Huairou district, Beijing, on July 30, 2025. Heavy rain killed more than 30 people as swaths of northern China were lashed by torrential downpours that sparked landslides and flooding, on July 29, 2025. [AFP] Villager Hu Yuefang returned to her home on the rural outskirts of Beijing to pick up medicine for her elderly and disabled father, only to find it had been washed away by some of worst flooding to hit the Chinese capital in years. Swathes of northern China have endured deadly rains and floods this week that killed…
Palestinians crowd a coastal path west of Beit Lahia after managing to get aid parcels on July 29, 2025, following the entry of aid trucks to the Israel-besieged Gaza Strip from the northern Zikim border crossing. [AFP] Belgium will take part in a multi-country operation coordinated by Jordan to airdrop aid to Gaza, the government announced Wednesday, as UN agencies warn the Palestinian territory is slipping into famine. A Belgian plane carrying medical supplies and food worth some 600,000 euros ($690,000) will fly “soon” to Jordan, and will remain on stand-by to conduct air drops in coordination with Amman, the…
Arsenal will take on Tottenham on Thursday in the bitter rivals’ first clash outside of the UK. Published Date: 2025-07-30 16:50:45 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that imports from India will face 25 percent tariffs, while also announcing an unspecified “penalty” for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian weapons and energy. The measures will kick in on Friday, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their Tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the World, and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any Country,” Trump said. Follow The Standard channel on WhatsApp He also posted in…
British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell and US financier Jeffrey Epstein. [AFP] US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he fell out with Jeffrey Epstein because the convicted sex offender had poached staff from his club’s spa, including the woman at the center of an underage sex scandal involving Prince Andrew. The White House has said previously that Trump threw Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club two decades ago “for being a creep” and US media has reported that they became estranged over a Florida real estate deal. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One while flying home from Scotland, Trump gave…
US President Donald Trump addresses journalists aboard Air Force One while returning from a trip to Scotland, on July 29, 2025. [AFP] A formidable new radar satellite jointly developed by the United States and India launched Wednesday, designed to track subtle changes in Earth’s land and ice surfaces and help predict both natural and human-caused hazards. Dubbed NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar), the pickup truck-sized spacecraft blasted off around 5:40 pm (1210 GMT) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on India’s southeastern coast, riding an ISRO Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket. Livestream of the event showed excited schoolchildren brought to…
England’s Joe Root reacts as he walks back to the pavilion having lost his wicket for 104 on the second day of the third cricket test match between England and India at Lord’s cricket ground in London. [AFP] England captain Ben Stokes has been ruled out of the fifth and deciding Test against India with a shoulder injury in a devastating blow for the home side. The England and Wales Cricket Board said vice-captain Ollie Pope would lead the side in the match at The Oval starting Thursday, with England 2-1 up in the Five-Test series. All-rounder Stokes has struggled…
Luis Diaz has signed a contract with the Bundesliga champions until 2029. Published Date: 2025-07-30 12:29:25 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Road signs are pictured on a wildfire area in Arouca, northern Portugal.[AFP] Firefighters gained control over some of the dozens of wildfires scorching Portugal on Wednesday, as fears mounted that weather conditions could further fan the flames. Some 1,500 firefighters were deployed to four major fires in the north and centre of the country, while hundreds of others remained focused on controlling blazes that were “in the process of resolution that do not pose a risk of spreading”, according to the latest bulletin from the civil protection agency. A fire that started in the Peneda-Geres national park near Ponte da…
Palestinians bring back aid parcels they managed to procure as they walk on a coastal path west of Beit Lahia.[AFP] The Gaza Strip, largely deprived of electricity by Israel since the start of the war, appears seven times less bright at night than before October 7, 2023, according to AFP analysis of NASA satellite data. Compared to the five months preceding the conflict, satellite images between January and May this year show a territory plunged into darkness. From above, the night time brightness of Gaza City has reduced by a factor of 16 in the intervening period. One power plant…
U.S. President Donald Trump.[AFP] German sportswear giant Adidas said Wednesday it took a hit from US tariffs in the second quarter but did not indicate whether it would pass on rising costs to consumers. The world’s second-biggest sports outfitter said the levies introduced by US President Donald Trump had “a negative impact in the double-digit euro millions” between April and June, without giving a specific figure. US tariffs would also add around 200 million euros ($230 million) to Adidas’s costs in the second half of the year, it said. The company did not indicate whether it would pass on these…
Bev Priestman, new head coach for the Wellington Phoenix women’s football team, attends a press conference on her new appointment in Upper Hutt near Wellington. [AFP] Former Canada women’s football coach Bev Priestman said Wednesday she “didn’t feel safe” living in North America following her one-year ban for spying at the Paris Olympics. Wellington Phoenix announced Wednesday that Priestman would take over as head coach of its women’s team, returning to football in the country she was banned for spying on with a drone, New Zealand. She has signed a two-year contract. The 39-year-old was visibly emotional as she discussed…
Chinese and US officials held a fresh round of talks in Stockholm on July 28 [AFP] The United States is set to raise tariffs on dozens of trading partners Friday if they fail to reach accords with President Donald Trump to avert the higher rates, and this risks raising prices for consumers. Economists have warned that steeper US tariffs, paid for by importers of foreign products, could add to business costs and trickle down to households. The risk is a dampening of consumption, a key driver of the world’s biggest economy. Trump’s tariffs could impact everything from coffee beans and rice…
Destroyed building of the Bilenkivska correctional colony following an air attack in Bilenke, Zaporizhzhia region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[AFP] A Russian strike on a military training camp killed at least three Ukrainian soldiers on Tuesday, following an overnight offensive in the south that killed a pregnant woman and a dozen prisoners. The Kremlin has come under intense pressure to end its war on Ukraine, now in its fourth year, with US President Donald Trump issuing a 10-day ultimatum to act or face sanctions. On social media, the Ukrainian army said a Russian missile hit one of the ground force’s…
President Donald Trump walks across the South Lawn of the White House after returning on Marine One on July 29, 2025 in Washington, DC.[AFP] US President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer was confirmed by the Senate Tuesday to become a federal appellate judge in a 50-49 partisan vote. The Republican-led Senate confirmed Emil Bove as a judge on the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals, a lifetime appointment, despite fiery opposition from Democrats, who walked out of a Senate committee meeting in protest earlier this month. Two GOP Senators, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Maine’s Susan Collins voted against the nomination,…
This frame grab taken from video released by the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations on July 30, 2025 shows rescuers inspecting a damaged kindergarten building in Russia’s Kamchatka region after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck off far east coast. [AFP] One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck Russia’s sparsely populated Far East early Wednesday, causing tsunamis up to four metres (12 feet) across the Pacific and sparking evacuations from Hawaii to Japan. The magnitude 8.8 quake struck in the morning off Petropavlovsk on Russia’s remote Kamchatka peninsula and was one of the 10 biggest recorded, according to the USGS.…
Bryan Mbeumo says he is excited about linking up with Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes as he prepares for life at Old Trafford following his move from Brentford. Published Date: 2025-07-29 21:27:38 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard