Author: staff

According to people familiar with Vatican thinking, that likely meant that Parolin discussed the Trump administration’s cuts to USAID, a move seen in Vatican circles as an affront to the Church’s charitable efforts, and reiterated the pope’s opposition to Trump’s migration policy. Over the course of his papacy, Francis has repeatedly urged world leaders to treat migrants with dignity, frequently drawing criticism from conservatives. The visit comes at a sensitive moment. With the pope’s health still in question, Vatican officials are leery at the prospect of powerful American Catholic conservatives trying to influence any future conclave. U.S. Catholics are also…

The interpreter said in the interview with Corriere della Sera that such a calamity has never happened to her before. “I’m sorry above all for not having been useful,” she said. “President Meloni was right to interrupt me, it was a very important meeting and every word carried great weight,” Maiolini-Rothbacher said. “She wanted to be perfectly understood by Donald Trump.” Maiolini-Rothbacher said in the interview that although she had not been to the White House before, she is an experienced interpreter and has worked at high-level meetings including the G20. She has worked as an interpreter since 1991, according…

“Hammerhead! Below you!”This was not the Galapagos wildlife encounter I expected, but considering I’d already spotted five of the iconic “Big 15” animals between the airport and the seaport, run-ins with the 9,000 other species that inhabit the archipelago were as inevitable as they were unpredictable. Nearly 200 years after Charles Darwin sailed through the Galapagos Islands on HMS Beagle, I boarded La Pinta, an expedition ship with 39 guests and 33 crew members — roughly the same soul count as Darwin’s vessel. But our voyage wasn’t a retelling of Darwin’s diary with a luxurious slant. Our four-night northern itinerary…

Recycling has become second nature for many of us, but what products in Europe still struggle to find a second life?Municipalities collected half a tonne of waste per person living in the EU in 2023, the latest figures show, with only around48 per cent of that getting recycled. The pressure is now on to raise that statistic. New EU rules state that by the end of this year, 55 per cent of municipal waste and 65 per cent of packaging waste must be prepared for re-use or recycling. But European countries are struggling to hit these goals. Estimates show that two-thirds of…

“Imagine swimming the backstroke with a view of a church vault and stained-glass windows,” says MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas. Well, soon you’ll be able to.Dutch architecture studios MVRDV and Zecc Architecten have just unveiled their heavenly plans for Holy Water, a public swimming pool inside the former St Francis of Assisi Church in the city of Heerlen.Holy Water will take over the nave of the 1923 church, which has been empty for two years, and turn it into a social space with a pool at its heart. And here’s the particularly divine twist: the pool has an adjustable floor,…

A 79-year-old man was killed in his apartment, more than 100 people were wounded, and more than 500 lost their homes, the police chief said. “They have blast injuries, shrapnel cuts, and shock. There are seven children among the injured.” The attack on Kharkiv marks the third in a row in which Russia is using ballistic missiles filled with cluster munitions against civilian areas, after last weekend’s attack on Sumy on Palm Sunday killed 35 people and the week before attack on Kryvyi Rih that killed 20. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Russia is preparing more strikes over…

US air strikes on Yemen’s Ras Isa oil port have killed at least 74 people and injured more than 100, according to the Iran-backed Houthis, in what appears to be the deadliest such incident since President Donald Trump launched a new military campaign against the rebels last month.The Houthis, who released graphic footage of the aftermath, claimed the strike targeted civilian workers. The blast engulfed the facility in flames and sent fireballs into the sky.In a statement released on Friday, US Central Command defended the attack, saying American forces had struck to “eliminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed…

Zelenskyy revealed Thursday that Ukraine’s intelligence and security services had provided information suggesting China has been covertly supplying weapons to Russia, including gunpowder and artillery. “I cannot say we’re surprised,” Zelenskyy said. “But we talked with the Chinese leader and he gave me his word that he won’t sell or give weapons to Russia. Unfortunately, we have facts and see the opposite information.” Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, China has maintained close economic and political ties with Moscow. This includes an increase in bilateral trade, joint military exercises, and strengthened diplomatic collaboration through forums like…

OpenAI said that it will consider adjusting its safety requirements if a competing company releases a high-risk artificial intelligence model without protections. OpenAI wrote in its Preparedness Framework report that if another company releases a model that poses a threat, it could do the same after “rigorously” confirming that the “risk landscape” has changed. The document explains how the company tracks, evaluates, forecasts and protects against catastrophic risks posed by AI models. “If another frontier AI developer releases a high-risk system without comparable safeguards, we may adjust our requirements,” OpenAI wrote in a blog post published on Tuesday. “However, we would first rigorously confirm…

For two hours, the men surrounded Jagielska, she said, preventing her from doing her job. “These are acts of terror against patients, doctors, and hospital administrators,” Poland’s Minister for Equality Katarzyna Kotula told the TVN24 news channel. Jagielska is not new to abortion protesters. As a doctor performing abortions in one of the countries with the strictest abortion laws in Europe, she has seen her fair share of pro-life demonstrations and online hate. Her hospital attracts crowds of pro-lifers at least once or twice a week, she said. But on Wednesday things escalated beyond anything she had experienced before. “We…