Author: staff

The deal brokered by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt has three phases, as reported by Israeli newspaper Haaretz. The first stage will see the staggered release of 33 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and more than 700 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. More than 1,100 residents of Gaza “who were not involved in the events” of Oct. 7 and are being held in custody will also be freed, according to the Israeli government. Israeli troops will gradually withdraw from Gaza, allowing international aid to flow in, it said. Israel’s Cabinet ratified the agreement in the early hours of Saturday, despite…

In a 1961 report on American broadcaster CBS, TV legend Walter Cronkite visited the military base. His program filmed Camp Century’s massive ice tunnels being dug and showed U.S. army engineers relaxing in their underground, nuclear-powered barracks, reading and listening to records.  All that is now buried under thick layers of ice. Colgan said he and his team of researchers had been unable to find parts of Camp Century, such as its fuel depot, and feared disturbing it too much. “It’s cold, it’s deep, don’t poke it,” he said. There are different ways Camp Century could contaminate the environment. One…

But while Fico’s trip was mainly business, the group of Slovak MPs went around admiring Moscow’s architecture, attending theater plays and browsing Russian supermarkets to prove that stories about missing basic food supplies are (totally and completely!) false. Their positive outlook echoed another controversial recent Russia visit: Conservative pundit Tucker Carlson’s Moscow jolly back in February 2024. The American TV star enjoyed his sit-down with Vladimir Putin so much that he went to Moscow again in December. | Pool photo by Gavriil Grigorov via AFP/Getty Images Tucker Carlson enjoyed his sit-down with Putin so much that he went to Moscow…

Kryvyi Rih has a population of around 660,000 and is the second-largest city in Dnipropetrovsky Oblast. It has been a frequent target of Russian aerial attacks in almost three years of war. At least four people have been killed in a Russian air strike on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk said on his official Telegram account.Three women and one man were killed in the attack which partially destroyed an educational institution and damaged nearby residential buildings.”There are no words to justify it. There is no excuse. This is really genocide. Against peaceful educational establishments,”…

That comes after a unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court on Friday to uphold a federal law banning TikTok unless it’s sold by its China-based parent company, Bytedance. US President Joe Biden won’t enforce a ban on the social media app TikTok that is set to take effect a day before he leaves office on Monday.In a statement, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre cited timing as the reason responsibility for implementing the law was being passed to the incoming Trump administration.”Given the sheer fact of timing, this Administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next…

The U.K. has previously called the EU “an international outlier” for deviating from the globally agreed standards too much. Brussels implemented its version of Basel III, the last piece of a major reform agenda dating back to the global financial crisis, on January 1 this year. But it has already delayed one part of the rules, which affects the international operations of big lenders, until 2026, which could be further postponed in response to the move from London. The EU official said the U.K.’s move creates “clear level playing field issues” that the bloc “will need to consider carefully.” “Implementing…

Musk has thrown his lot in with right-wing figures and causes around the globe, including endorsing the far-right Alternative for Germany in the country’s forthcoming snap federal election, which is set for Feb. 23. The social media mogul is also one of Donald Trump’s most vociferous supporters, earning himself a spot in the U.S. president-elect’s inner circle, and has backed Britain’s right-wing Reform UK, with speculation he could soon start bankrolling the party. Scholz said he wasn’t against Musk expressing his freedom of speech, but: “His siding with the far right, whether for business interests or for reasons to do with his own…

The Commission president was briefly hospitalized with a severe bout of pneumonia and has been working remotely from Hannover. She appeared on Friday at the CDU headquarters in Berlin along with nine heads of government and six opposition leaders from her center-right European People’s Party (EPP). The Commission’s press service said that while recovering she was in “daily contact” with her teams in Brussels, but failed to disclose that she had been taken into hospital until after she returned home. Von der Leyen is not expected to speak publicly at the two-day event. “It is not abnormal that the European…

Cats are easy victims of frost. Homeless ones, if not well fed, can freeze to death within an hour. In a bid to support the city’s stray animals, solar-powered vending machines have been installed across Bucharest’s parks. These machines allow residents to recycle plastic bottles and aluminium cans in exchange for food and water for homeless cats. The initiative aims to provide crucial aid, especially during the harsh winter months when unprotected cats are vulnerable to freezing temperatures, and during scorching summer heatwaves, when water becomes vital for their survival.The project, launched by the Sache Vet Association in collaboration with…

“This landmark deal proves that open, rules-based trade can deliver for our prosperity and economic security,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. The bilateral trading relationship is worth more than €100 billion a year — four-fifths in the form of goods and one-fifth in services. Echoing the apprehension around Trump’s tariff ideas, the German car lobby VDA said “the conclusion of a modernization of the agreement is also an important political signal —especially in times of increasing protectionism.” Cars and spare parts are one of the largest export categories from Europe to Mexico. In 2022, Germany alone sold €2.5 billion…