Author: staff

Transnational organised crime groups in East and Southeast Asia are spreading their lucrative scam operations across the globe in response to increased crackdowns by authorities, according to a UN report issued on Monday.For several years, scam compounds have proliferated in Southeast Asia, especially in the border areas of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, as well as in the Philippines, with scammers shifting operations from site to site to stay one step ahead of the police.More recently, scam centres that have cheated victims out of billions of dollars through false romantic ploys, bogus investment pitches and illegal gambling schemes are now being reported operating…

He has played a crucial role in reestablishing relations between the Holy See and China, and signing an agreement to appoint Chinese bishops jointly with Beijing. A moderate, seen as progressive by his critics, he assumed an outsized role during the Pope’s illness, leading the prayer session for his recovery, which was seen by some as an unseemly campaign bid. Parolin is, however, seen as overly bureaucratic and lacking the charisma and common touch of the late pope. This could prove an Achilles heel, alongside a lack of pastoral experience.  Some are already hoping to wreck any bid by Parolin…

Instagram is testing the use of AI to flag underage users who lie about their age, as part of new measures to better protect teens online, parent company Meta said Monday. The platform will now “proactively” look for teen accounts it suspects belong to underage users, even if those users entered a false birthdate when signing up. The app has used AI to estimate users’ ages in the past, but the new approach represents a more aggressive strategy. Meta says it trains its AI to detect signals – like account activity, profile details and content interactions – to flag users who may…

A French team of archaeologists have made a remarkable discovery – the ruins of a 3,400-year-old Egyptian town near the modern-day city of Alexandria, that was possibly built by the legendary King Tutankhamun’s father, Akhenaten. Detailed in a new study published in Antiquity, the mud-brick ruins are believed to date back to Egypt’s 18th Dynasty (circa 1550–1292 BCE), a period known for its wealth, power, and dramatic shifts in religious ideology.The site, known as Kom el-Nugus, lies 27 miles west of Alexandria, perched on a rocky ledge between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Mariout. Although excavations began in 2013, it…

Russian attacks during the 30-hour Easter ceasefire announced by President Vladimir Putin at the weekend killed three people in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, the local governor has said.Governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram that the casualties occurred over the last 24 hours, adding that three others were wounded.Overall, Russia violated the ceasefire more than 2,900 times, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram statement in the early hours on Monday.Zelenskyy said that Russian forces carried out 96 assault operations along the frontline, shelled Ukrainian positions more than 1,800 times and used hundreds of drones during the course of the ceasefire.”The nature…

Pope Francis died on Monday morning at the age of 88, The Vatican ‘Camerlengo’ Cardinal Kevin Ferrell, announced this morning.“At 7.35 this morning, the bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father.“His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his church. He taught us to live the values of the gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially in favour of the poorest and most marginalised. With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love…

Increased global tensions and looming trade wars between the United States and virtually every country on Earth have experts warning of heightened cybersecurity threats and a digital arms race as countries defend themselves. “The geopolitical dust is still settling,” said Verona Johnstone-Hulse, a London-based expert on government cybersecurity polices and the co-author of the report:”What the new normal looks like is still not yet set”.Businesses in particular are increasingly concerned about cyberattacks, according to a report this month by NCC Group, a British cybersecurity firm.At the same time, US President Donald Trump has upended America’s digital defences by shrinking and…

Indeed, it seems the pontiff’s last diplomatic function was a lightning visit by Vance, whose Vance’s motorcade remained in the Vatican for 17 minutes on Easter Sunday, according to media reports. As a social reformer, Francis will be remembered for taking a gentler view of homosexuality. He insisted being gay is “not a crime” and approved blessings for same-sex couples, while apologizing in 2024 for using a slur to refer to gay men. But he also reiterated that homosexuality is a sin in the eyes of the Church. On gender, the pontiff hewed closer to tradition in repeatedly ruling out ordaining female…

Just weeks before he died, Pope Francis was doing what he does best: infuriating conservatives. In an extraordinary intervention in mid-February, the pope initiated a head-on clash with the new U.S. administration, slamming President Donald Trump’s plans to deport millions of undocumented migrants as a “violation of dignity,” and accusing Vice President JD Vance of misusing an obscure theological term. Washington responded with predictable fury, but the Holy See was undeterred.  It was a vintage Francis move: impulsive, instinctively protective of the poor and defenseless, and — mercifully — light on theological jargon. But it was also illustrative of the…

Beijing has warned of retaliatory measures against countries that reach trade agreements with the United States at the expense of China’s interests, as other nations are dragged into the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.In its latest response to the steeply increased US tariffs, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that Beijing “respects all parties’ efforts to resolve their trade disputes with the US through equal consultation.” However, China will not accept any US-led trade deals that harm its interests and will “respond resolutely and reciprocally with countermeasures” to safeguard its rights and interests.In the statement,…