Author: staff

Attacks by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on camps for displaced people in the Darfur region have killed scores of civilians, according to the UN and NGOs.Starting late last week, the RSF and allied militias launched multiple assaults over several days on the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps and the nearby city of el-Fasher — the capital of North Darfur province. The violence destroyed shelters, markets, and healthcare facilities in famine-hit camps hosting more than 700,000 people, NGOs said.El-Fasher is the last major city in the region still under the control of the Sudanese army, which has been fighting…

Separately, Zelenskyy would like to host leaders on May 9 from the coalition of the willing to “determine security guarantees” for Ukraine once a possible ceasefire with Russia has been agreed, Sybiha added. The U.S. isn’t part of that coalition. While he didn’t specify where that meeting would take place, discussions were underway regarding a potential visit to Ukraine in early May by heads of state, including soon-to-be German chancellor Friedrich Merz, said two EU diplomats who were granted anonymity to speak about the potential future event. The Russian president has extended invitations to the leaders of Israel, China, Brazil,…

Did you know that 34% of European adults, or 113 million people, invest, according to BlackRock’s recent People & Money report? Germany, the UK, France and Italy have the most investors. However, for 56% of 18-34 year olds, a lack of knowledge or understanding was the top barrier to investing, followed by a lack of money, cited by 52% of respondents. Fear of losing money and a lack of time were other major reasons for not investing. Carl Hazeley, the newly-appointed CEO of Finimize, a financial insights, news and research platform, addressed the idea that a lack of capital is a barrier…

The watchdog began its investigation in June 2024 after Sunak called a surprise election, a move that is in the gift of the prime minister under the U.K. system. As it announced the charges, the Gambling Commission said: “The investigation, initiated in June 2024, focused on individuals suspected of using confidential information — specifically advance knowledge of the proposed election date — to gain an unfair advantage in betting markets. “Such actions constitute an offence of cheating under Section 42 of the Gambling Act 2005, a criminal offence.” A separate Metropolitan Police investigation into election bets was dropped last August.…

Trump administration officials were out in force across TV networks on Sunday, defending President Donald Trump’s economic policies after another week of reeling markets that saw the Republican administration reverse course on some of its steepest tariffs.Trump, meanwhile, said on his social media platform that there ultimately will be no exemptions for his sweeping tariff agenda, disputing claims that he has granted exceptions for certain electronics, including smart phones, whose production is concentrated in China. Rather, Trump said, “those products are subject to the existing 20% Fentanyl Tariffs, and they are just moving to a different Tariff ‘bucket'”. Electronics are…

In the summer of 1982, seven heroin users were admitted to a California hospital paralyzed and mute. They were in their 20s, otherwise healthy — until a synthetic drug they had manufactured in makeshift labs left them frozen inside their own bodies. Doctors quickly discovered the cause: MPTP, a neurotoxic contaminant that had destroyed a small but critical part of the brain, the substantia nigra, which controls movement. The patients had developed symptoms of late-stage Parkinson’s, almost overnight. The cases shocked neurologists. Until then, Parkinson’s was thought to be a disease of aging, its origins slow and mysterious. But here…

European markets opened the new week with solid gains, buoyed by renewed investor optimism after US President Donald Trump announced that major tech products such as semiconductors and smartphones would be temporarily exempt from the higher tariffs on Chinese imports.However, the US administration clarified that these items remain subject to the existing 20% fentanyl-related tariffs, and a special tariff on semiconductors and electronics will be introduced in around a month.Chinese authorities welcomed the decision, calling the US tariff exemption a small but constructive step toward correcting previous wrongdoings.By 8:15am CEST, the Euro STOXX 50 index – which tracks blue-chip companies…

The damage started earlier this month when the European Commission admitted that some funding contracts with NGOs included what it considered to be “undue lobbying activities,” confirming claims from the center-right European People’s Party. A damning report by the EU’s financial watchdog, the European Court of Auditors, followed last Monday, slamming the Commission for an “opaque” system with limited oversight on how EU grant money to NGOs was being spent. Then, on Tuesday, MEPs passed amendments calling on Brussels to increase scrutiny over how NGOs spend EU grants.   The painful week follows months of attacks against civil society groups…

At the Barcelona Zoo, a 40-year-old African elephant places her foot through the metal barrier where a zookeeper gently scrubs its sole. The beloved pachyderm gets her “pedicure,” along with apple slices every day.The treatment is part of the zoo’s specialised geriatric care for ageing animals that cannot be reintroduced into the wild as zoos worldwide increasingly emphasise lifelong care.“Sending them back into nature would be an error,” said Pilar Padilla, head of the zoo’s mammal care. “It is very likely they wouldn’t survive.”Zoos have undergone a rethink in recent decades with the emphasis on the conservation of species and…

It was a week when penguins, bonds, the new German coalition, Louisiana soybeans, fossil fuels, the EU’s Digital Markets Act, France’s creaking politics and American bourbon all became one news story. POLITICO explains what got us all yippy. Apr 11 11 mins read