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…
Author: By AFP
. 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…
US producer-musician Sean “Diddy” Combs poses during the MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2023. [Angela Weis, AFP] Sean “Diddy” Combs was convicted of a US federal prostitution felony on Wednesday but acquitted on far more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking. The jury found Combs guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution after a high-profile seven-week trial. The jury announced that they had agreed on a verdict on the most serious charge facing Combs — racketeering — after reaching agreement on Tuesday on the four other counts. The verdict was expected to be read…
People stand at a bus stop showing a temperature of 37 degrees Celsius during a heatwave in Madrid, on July 1, 2025. Spain had its hottest June on record last month, with an average temperature of 23.6 degrees Celsius (74.5 degrees Fahrenheit), the Aemet national weather service said today.AFPCaption Firefighters in Spain have said they found two bodies after a blaze in the northeast of the country, which is in the midst of a brutal heatwave. The heatwave across Europe this week broke high temperature records, caused the closure of schools and increased the risk of fire. Authorities in…
U.S. President Donald Trump deplanes Air Force One on July 01, 2025 in Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Trump spent the day visiting a newly built immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed AFPCaption Japanese city’s mayor urged Donald Trump to visit Hiroshima to see the effects of nuclear weapons on Wednesday after the US president likened the 1945 atomic bombings to recent air strikes on Iran. “It seems to me that he does not fully understand the reality of the atomic bombings, which, if used, take the lives of many innocent citizens, regardless of whether they were friend or…
Kanye West and Bianca Censori attend the 67th Annual GRAMMY Awards on February 02, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. [AFP] Australia has cancelled US rapper Kanye West’s visa over his song glorifying Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, the government said Wednesday. The 48-year-old musician, who has legally changed his name to Ye, released “Heil Hitler” on May 8, the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. West — whose wife Bianca Censori is Australian — has been coming to Australia for some time because he has family in the country, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said.…
Prossy Nkayanga (C), Executive Director of Hospice Africa Uganda (HAU), shows patients the Hero’s Medal awarded to Dr. Anne Merriman by the President of Uganda, in front of a poster featuring photos of Dr. Merriman at the hospice in Kampala, on June 24, 2025Caption AFP In a small home in Uganda’s capital, Jane Mwesige, a nurse with a hospice that has transformed African end-of-life care, breaks into a gospel song about surrendering to God, a favourite of her patient Jonathan Luzige. These home visits, combining affordable medical care and spiritual support, are part of Mwesige’s routine with Hospice Africa Uganda.…
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi gives a statement as he arrives for a crisis meeting at the Chancellery in Vienna on June 25, 2025.[AFP] Iran suspended on Wednesday its cooperation with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, days after a ceasefire in a war that saw Israeli and US strikes on nuclear sites in the Islamic Republic. The unprecedented war, which broke out on June 13 and lasted for 12 days, has intensified tensions between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). On June 25, a day after a ceasefire took hold, Iranian lawmakers…
La France Insoumise – Nouveau Front Populaire’s MP Hadrien Clouet speaks during the examination of a motion of no confidence against the French prime minister and his government, filed by the French Socialist Party (PS), at the French National Assembly, AFP French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Tuesday survived a no-confidence vote but his future hangs by a thread after barely half a year in the post. The motion of no-confidence against Bayrou’s government was put forward by the Socialist Party (PS) after the collapse of talks on pension reforms. The motion received just 189 votes out of the…
Australian airline Qantas said on July 2, 2025 it was investigating a “significant” cyberattack, after hackers infiltrated a system containing sensitive data on six million customers.AFP Australian airline Qantas said Wednesday it was investigating a “significant” cyberattack, after hackers infiltrated a system containing sensitive data on six million customers. Qantas said hackers had targeted one of its customer contact centres, breaching a computer system used by a third party. They had access to sensitive information such as customer names, email addresses, phone numbers and birthdays, the blue-chip Australian company said. “There are 6 million customers that have service records in…
oldiers from the “Black Sky” battalion of the Spartan brigade look at an agricultural drone, transformed into a front-line delivery cargo, during a demonstration for AFP AFP, White House said it will suspend some critical weapons deliveries to Ukraine that were previously pledged by the Biden administration to aid Kyiv in its defense against Russia’s invasion on Tuesday. Stopping the delivery of munitions and other military aid including air defense systems likely would be a blow to Ukraine as it contends with some of Russia’s largest missile and drone attacks of the three-year-old war. “This decision was made to put…
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama speaks in a video broadcast at the start of the 15th Tibetan Religious Conference, a meeting of religious leaders in McLeod Ganj, near Dharamsala, on July 2, 2025. [AFP] The exiled spiritual leader of Tibet confirmed Wednesday that he will have a successor when he dies, reassuring Buddhist followers around the globe that the 600-year-old institution of the Dalai Lama will continue. It is a landmark decision for Tibetans, many of whom had feared a future without a leader, as well as for global supporters who see the Dalai Lama as a symbol of…
French President Emmanuel Macron and President of the Swiss Confederation Karin Keller Sutter before the start of the official meeting, at the Elysee presidential palace, in Paris, on July 1, 2025. [AFP] The EU will present its delayed 2040 emissions-reduction target Wednesday, sticking to its climate goals but with new flexibility to answer the concerns of member states that must greenlight the plans. Brussels is making the 2040 announcement as much of Europe roasts in an early summer heatwave — which scientists say are becoming more intense, frequent and widespread due to human-induced climate change. The target is a key…
Despite the impressive results, optimism may be tempered by the drug’s cost. [AFP] Drugs to prevent HIV transmission, known as pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP, have existed for more than a decade. But because they typically require taking a daily pill, they have yet to make a significant dent in global infections. “This is a historic day in the decades-long fight against HIV,” Gilead chairman and chief executive Daniel O’Day said in a statement. Lenacapavir, marketed under the brand name Yeztugo, has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV transmission by more than 99.9 percent in adults and adolescents –…
Two children stand in the shade in the courtyard of an elementary school during a heatwave in Bordeaux, south-western France on July 1, 2025. Temperatures in France are expected to hit a peak, according to the Meteo France weather agency, with some areas expected to soar beyond 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) AFPCaption Almost three quarters of the globe’s cultural and natural heritage sites are threatened by too little or too much water, the UN’s cultural agency said on Tuesday. As a result of rising temperatures, extreme weather events including hurricanes, droughts, floods and heatwaves have become more frequent…
People protest against the administration of US President Donald Trump’s decision to virtually shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on February 5, 2025. [AFP] More than 14 million of the world’s most vulnerable people, a third of them small children, could die because of the Trump administration’s dismantling of US foreign aid, research projected on Tuesday. The study in the prestigious Lancet journal was published as world and business leaders gather for a UN conference in Spain this week hoping to bolster the reeling aid sector. The US Agency…
Consumers view the Xiaomi YU7Max electric vehicle in the exhibition hall of Xiaomi Group’s East China headquarters in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China, on June 26, 2025. [AFP] Chinese electric vehicle maker Xiaomi received almost 300,000 pre-orders within an hour for its first sport utility vehicles in what the company said was a “miraculous” moment for the industry. Lei Jun, founder and CEO of the electronics-turned-car company, said he was astonished by the reaction from customers. “My goodness, in just two minutes, we received 196,000 paid pre-orders and 128,000 lock-in orders,” Lei said in a video distributed after the vehicle’s launch…
US President Donald Trump speaks during the “One, Big, Beautiful Event” in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on June 26, 2025. [AFP] China confirmed on Friday details on the framework of a trade deal with the United States, saying Washington would lift “restrictive measures” while Beijing would “review and approve” items under export controls. The two sides agreed after talks in Geneva in May to temporarily lower steep tit-for-tat tariffs on each other’s products. China also committed to easing some non-tariff countermeasures but US officials later accused Beijing of violating the pact and slow-walking export…
Published Date: 2025-06-26 21:26:19 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
U.S. President Donald Trump returns from the 2025 NATO Summit on June 24, 2025 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. [AFP] The head of Gavi said Thursday the organisation which vaccinates children in the world’s poorest countries was “disappointed” after Washington announced it was pulling funding in an incendiary video questioning its safety standards. A Brussels summit held by the group to raise money on Wednesday night, was overshadowed by a video message sent by US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who raised sweeping vaccine safety doubts without evidence and announced an end to Washington’s support. “We were disappointed to…
Image grab taken from footage broadcast by Iran’s IRIB news state television on June 26, 2025, shows Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, addressing the nation.[AFP] Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday said US President Donald Trump “exaggerated” the impact of US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, in his first appearance since a ceasefire in the war with Israel took hold. In a statement and a televised speech carried by state media, he hailed his country’s “victory” over Israel and vowed never to surrender to the United States, while claiming that Washington had been dealt a “slap” after striking…
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meets with Iranian Foreign Minister at the Kremlin in Moscow on June 23, 2025. [AFP] North Korea will send more troops to Russia to assist in its war against Ukraine, possibly as early as July, a South Korean lawmaker said Thursday, citing information from Seoul’s spy agency. The confirmation comes just a week after Sergei Shoigu, head of Russia’s Security Council, said North Korea would send military builders and sappers to help restore Russia’s Kursk region during his visit to Pyongyang. “North Korea is continuing to send troops and supply weapons to Russia, and we see its…
A destroyed residential building that was hit in an Israeli strike, in Tehran, on June 25, 2025. [AFP] US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to hold a news conference on Thursday to offer a fresh assessment of strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, following a stinging row over how much American bombardment set back Tehran’s nuclear programme. After waves of Israeli attacks on nuclear and military sites and retaliatory missile fire from Iran since June 13, the United States bombed three key Iranian atomic facilities over the weekend. The extent of the damage in Iran, where Israel said it had acted…
Protestors along the streets of Nairobi during the gen z 1st anniversary protests on June 25th 2025. [Collins Oduor, Standard] Marches in Kenya to mark a year since massive anti-government demos turned violent on Wednesday, with eight killed and at least 400 injured as protesters held running battles with police, who flooded Nairobi’s streets with tear gas and sealed off government buildings with barbed wire. Initially peaceful commemorations descended into chaos as scattered groups ripped up flagstones to throw projectiles at security forces and chanted for the resignation of President William Ruto. The marches had been called for the anniversary…
Homeless people lay on the floor in Terminal 4 of the Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas airport in Madrid, on May 28, 2025. [AFP] Victor Fernando Meza works during the day, but his salary is not enough to afford rent in the Spanish capital Madrid. So, once again, the 45-year-old Peruvian will spend the night at the airport. On a sweltering May evening, Meza arrived at Barajas airport before 9:00 pm — just in time to get past security. Any later, and people without a boarding pass are not allowed in under a new policy implemented a week ago to deter the…
A bulldozer clears rubble at the scene of a double explosion in the northern rebel-held city of Idlib on June 21, 2018. [AFP] The World Bank announced yesterday it had approved $250 million (Sh32.5 billion) to support Lebanon’s post-war reconstruction and a $146 million (Sh18.98 billion) grant to rehabilitate neighbouring Syria’s electricity sector. Lebanon is reeling from last year’s devastating war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, while Syria faces massive needs after Islamist-led forces toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, capping a 14-year civil war. “The World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved yesterday a $250 million financing to…
A cocoa farmer holds cocoa beans in his hand in the village of Bocanda north of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, October 24, 2022. [AFP] In Ecuador, farmers who bet on cocoa beans rather than bananas, the country’s top agricultural export, are cashing in as a global shortage of the main ingredient in chocolate feeds a price bonanza. Cocoa is now a billion-dollar business in the Andean country, rivalling gold, copper, and silver as well as the ubiquitous banana. Near the Pacific port city of Guayaquil, in a region called Milagro (Miracle), 50-year-old farmer Cergio Lema can scarcely believe his luck. A few…
The Spanish team, Atletico Madrid, left to ruminate after the Club World Cup Knock-Out. Published Date: 2025-06-25 00:05:00 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
What is AI google search screenshot. [Courtesy] Britain’s competition watchdog on Tuesday proposed measures aimed at tackling Google’s dominance in online search, with the US tech giant warning that “punitive regulations” could impact UK economic growth. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it proposes to designate Google with “strategic market status”, subjecting it to special requirements under new UK regulations. A similar tech competition law from the European Union, the Digital Markets Act, carries the potential for hefty financial penalties. Britain’s CMA in January launched an investigation into Google’s dominant position in the search engine market and its impacts on consumers…
Lionel Messi faces a reunion with his former club Paris Saint-Germain after his Inter Miami side reached the last 16 of the Club World Cup with a 2-2 draw with Palmeiras. Published Date: 2025-06-25 00:00:00 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Israeli emergency services and security officers search for casualties in the rubble of a building hit by an Iranian missile in Beersheba in southern Israel on June 24, 2025. [AFP] Iran said on Tuesday that at least 610 civilians had been killed and more than 4,700 wounded in the Islamic republic since the start of the war with Israel on June 13. “They are all civilians,” health ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour said, announcing the increase from the previously reported toll of more than 400 dead and 3,056 wounded. “Over the past 12 days, hospitals… have been confronted with extremely harrowing…
The Ukraine flag flies above Downing Street during a visit by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on June 23, 2025. [AFP] Russian drone attacks killed three people near the northeastern city of Sumy, including a five-year-old child, local authorities said on Tuesday. It came a day after Ukraine said Russia carried out dozens of drone and missile strikes on its territory, killing 10 people in the capital Kyiv. Diplomatic efforts to end the three-year war have stalled, with the last direct meeting between Kyiv and Moscow almost three weeks ago and no follow-up talks scheduled. “As a result of the enemy…
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin attends a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexandrovsky Garden. [AFP] Chinese troops will parade through Beijing’s Tiananmen Square alongside aircraft flypasts and high-tech weaponry to mark 80 years since the end of World War II, officials announced on Tuesday. Millions of Chinese people were killed during a prolonged war with imperial Japan in the 1930s and 40s, which merged with the global conflagration following Tokyo’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Beijing’s Communist Party has held a series of blockbuster events in recent years to commemorate its wartime resistance, vowing…
A general view of the Al-Udeid US military air base, south of Doha, on October 23, 2002. [AFP] Iran announced it had launched missiles at a major US base in Qatar on Monday in retaliation for American strikes on key nuclear facilities, with explosions ringing out in Doha and projectiles seen streaking overhead. Qatar, which lies 190 kilometres (120 miles) south of Iran and is home to the largest US military facility in the Middle East, said its “air defences successfully intercepted a missile attack targeting Al Udeid Air Base”. Iran’s National Security Council confirmed having targeted the base “in…
The organisation of the two sporting extravaganzas last summer cost 2.77 billion euros, which included 1.4 billion euros for security. Published Date: 2025-06-23 13:08:04 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso said his defender Antonio Rudiger had complained of a racist incident at the end the 3-1 Club World Cup win over Mexican side Pachuca. Published Date: 2025-06-23 11:30:04 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Manchester City hit Al Ain for six to secure a place in the last 16 of the Club World Cup after Real Madrid shrugged off an early red card to beat Pachuca 3-1. Published Date: 2025-06-23 11:21:31 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Members of the United Nations Security Council listen Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, speaks via video during a meeting on threats to international peace and security on June 22, 2025 in New York City. [AFP] United Nations chief Antonio Guterres warned Sunday against yet “another cycle of destruction” and retaliation following the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which he said marked a “perilous turn” in the region. “I have repeatedly condemned any military escalation in the Middle East,” the secretary-general told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. “The people of the…
A NATO military force stands guard next to the World Forum ahead of the two-day NATO summit at the World Forum, in The Hague, on June 22, 2025. [AFP] NATO on Sunday signed off on a pledge to ramp up defence spending before its upcoming summit, but Madrid insisted it would not need to hit the five per cent of GDP target demanded by US President Donald Trump. The claim by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez sets up a potential clash with Trump, who has pressured allies to commit to that headline figure when they meet for the two-day…
Israeli security forces and media gather at the site of an Iranian strike that hit a residential neighbourhood in the Ramat Aviv area in Tel Aviv on June 22, 2025.[AFP] A series of unprecedented US strikes against Iran “devastated” its nuclear programme, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday, as he asserted Washington was not seeking regime change in Tehran. The Pentagon chief urged Iran’s leaders to find an off-ramp to the conflict after President Donald Trump announced the strikes on a key underground uranium enrichment site at Fordo, along with nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Natanz. “We devastated the Iranian…
Israeli first responders stand in front of a building heavily damaged by an Iranian strike in Tel Aviv on June 22, 2025. [AFP] The United States struck three nuclear sites in Iran on Sunday, joining Israel’s bombing campaign after days of speculation over US involvement in the conflict. “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace,” President Donald Trump said in an address after the strikes. Here is a roundup of the key reactions: Iran: ‘Everlasting consequences’ Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the US attacks as…
Israeli security and first responders at the site of an Iranian strike in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv. June 22, 2025. [AFP] For nearly half a century, the United States has squabbled with Iran’s Islamic Republic. Still, the conflict has largely been left in the shadows, with US policymakers believing, often reluctantly, that diplomacy was preferable. With President Donald Trump’s order of strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, the United States — like Israel, which encouraged him — has brought the conflict into the open, and the consequences may not be clear for some time to come. “We will only know if…
Signage for US broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) is seen in Washington, DC, on March 16, 2025. US President Donald Trump’s administration on June 20, 2025 ordered mass layoffs at Voice of America and other government-funded media, moving ahead with gutting the outlets despite legal disputes and criticism that US adversaries will benefit.[AFP] President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday ordered mass layoffs at Voice of America and other government-funded media, moving ahead with gutting the outlets despite legal disputes and criticism that US adversaries will benefit. Kari Lake, a fervent Trump supporter named to a senior role at the US…
When Pope Leo XIV delivered his first Regina Caeli prayer from the main central loggia of Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City. [AFP] Pope Leo XIV warned on Friday of the potential consequences of artificial intelligence (AI) on the intellectual development of young people, saying it could damage their grip on reality. Since he was elected head of the Catholic Church on May 8, the pope — a mathematics graduate — has repeatedly warned of the risks associated with AI but this is the first time he has spoken out exclusively on the subject. “All of us… are concerned…
This photograph shows the engraved facade of the Swiss National Bank (SNB BNS) in Switzerland’s capital Bern, on September 23, 2024. [AFP] The Swiss National Bank cut interest rates by a quarter point to zero percent on Thursday, refraining from returning to negative rates despite its gloomy outlook for the global economy. The move is aimed at taming the Swiss franc, a safe haven that has soared against the dollar since President Donald Trump launched his tariff onslaught in April. It also comes as consumer price increases have eased in Switzerland. “Inflationary pressure has decreased compared to the previous quarter.…
Malaysia’s government is verifying media reports that a Chinese company may be circumventing US export curbs on high-end AI chips by using servers housing Nvidia chips based in the Southeast Asian country. The Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese engineers had flown to Malaysia in March carrying hard drives containing data to build artificial intelligence models in Malaysian data centres using advanced Nvidia chips. The engineers planned to bring the AI models back to China, the report said. The United States has cracked down on exports of advanced semiconductors to China, including those made by US tech giant Nvidia, as…
Israeli security forces gather by a damaged minibus at the scene of a building that was hit by an Iranian missile in Israel’s central city of Holon on June 19, 2025. [AFP] A hospital in southern Israel and two towns near Tel Aviv were struck after a barrage of Iranian missiles on Thursday morning, with rescuers reporting at least 47 people injured in the latest attacks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Iran would “pay a heavy price” after the strike on Soroka Hospital in Beersheba in southern Israel, while Defence Minister Israel Katz said the army had been ordered…
Israeli emergency services work at the site of an Iranian missile attack in Ramat Gan in central Israel near Tel Aviv, on June 19, 2025. [AFP] Israel and Iran exchanged fire again on Thursday, the seventh day of the war between the longtime enemies. Here are the latest developments: Hospital strike A hospital in southern Israel was hit as Iran fired a barrage of “dozens” of missiles, officials said, while another impact was reported by emergency services in the Tel Aviv area. “A direct hit has been reported at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, southern Israel,” the Israeli foreign ministry posted…
Smoke billows from a building at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba in southern Israel following an Iranian missile attack, on June 19, 2025. [AFP] Governments around the world are attempting to evacuate thousands of their nationals caught up in the rapidly spiralling Israel-Iran conflict, organising buses and planes and in some cases assisting people crossing borders on foot. Foreigners have rushed to leave both countries after Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign last Friday targeting Iran’s nuclear and military facilities, sparking retaliation from Tehran. But with Israel’s air space closed and the two countries exchanging heavy missile fire, many people are…
Upgrades, which will not change the 4.5 kilometre (2.8 miles) circuit layout, include enhancing run-off areas and barriers. Published Date: 2025-06-18 21:12:32 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, giving a televised address in Tehran on June 18, 2025. [AFP] The United States is “complicit” in Israel’s strikes in Iran, Tehran’s ambassador to the United Nations claimed Wednesday, vowing that his country would respond if Washington crosses a “red line”. After decades of enmity and a prolonged shadow war, Israel says its surprise air campaign that began on June 13 is aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons — an ambition Tehran denies. Iran said early Wednesday that it fired hypersonic missiles at Israel in the latest round of overnight strikes between…
Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. [AFP] Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Wednesday called on Iran to resume talks over its nuclear programme as the conflict between Israel and the Islamic Republic raged. Wadephul said he had delivered the message to his Iranian counterpart in a phone call on Monday, together with the French and British foreign ministers and the European Union’s chief diplomat. “We, the E3 states, remain ready to negotiate a solution,” Wadephul said, with reference to the European grouping of Britain, France, and Germany. “Iran must now act urgently,” he said,…
ran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him speaking to members of Iran’s air force in Tehran on February 7, 2025. Iran will respond “strongly” to any aggression from either Israel or Washington, Tehran’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva said Wednesday. “We will respond strongly and we will stop aggression from any side, be it Israel or the United States,” Ali Bahreini told a press conference. “And we have given a message to the United States that we will respond very firmly and will stop the aggression by anybody — including the United States,” he said. After decades of…
A woman walks past an electronic board showing the Nikkei 225 index on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo on June 17, 2025. [AFP] Oil prices slipped Wednesday following the previous day’s surge, but investors remained on edge, fearing a US intervention in the Israel-Iran conflict after Donald Trump called for Tehran’s “unconditional surrender”. Iran and Israel exchanged missile strikes for a sixth day, with the US president’s latest comments appearing to dent hopes that the crisis in the Middle East could be calmed. Leaving the G7 summit in Canada a day early on Monday, Trump said he was aiming…
Liverpool will kick off their Premier League title defence at home to Bournemouth on Friday, August 15, while Arsenal head to Manchester United in a blockbuster clash on the opening weekend. Published Date: 2025-06-18 11:35:13 Author: By AFP Source: The Standard
Rocket trails seen in the sky above the Israeli coastal city of Netanya amid a fresh barrage of Iranian missile attacks on June 17, 2025. [AFP] Iran said early Wednesday it fired hypersonic missiles at Israel in the latest round of overnight strikes between the archfoes, hours after Donald Trump demanded the Islamic Republic’s “unconditional surrender”. The US president insists Washington has played no part in ally Israel’s bombing campaign, but also warned Iran that his patience is wearing thin as the conflict enters a sixth day. Israeli warplanes targeted the Iranian capital before dawn Wednesday after the military issued…
Israeli air defence systems activated to intercept Iranian missiles over the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on June 18, 2025. [AFP] A first aircraft bringing home Israelis stranded abroad by flight cancellations resulting from the conflict with Iran landed at Ben Gurion Airport on Wednesday, the airport’s authority said. “Just a short while ago, the first flight of Operation Safe Return landed at Ben Gurion Airport,” a statement said, adding that the flight had been operated by national carrier El Al and brought Israelis home from Larnaca in Cyprus. Transport Minister Miri Regev said Tuesday that between 100,000 and 150,000…
Catholic faithful attend a mass held at Rate Field, home to the Chicago White Sox, to celebrate the election of Pope Leo XIV on June 14, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. [AFP] Pope Leo XIV will holiday twice at the papal palace in Castel Gandolfo near Rome this summer, reviving a tradition abandoned by his predecessor Francis, the Vatican said Tuesday. The US pope, elected on May 8, will stay at the villa some 25 kilometres (15 miles) southeast of the Italian capital for a “period of rest” between July 6 and 20, the papal household said in a statement. Leo…