World

France’s government went into crisis mode Monday as rescuers raced to reach survivors of a cyclone that left hundreds feared dead after ripping through the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte.Images from Mayotte showed scenes of devastation, with homes reduced to piles of rubble.President Emmanuel Macron summoned key government officials for a crisis meeting that …

France in crisis mode as rescuers rush cyclone aid to Mayotte Read More »

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote on Monday, spelling the effective end of his troubled government and putting Europe’s biggest economy on the path to elections on February 23.Scholz had called the vote, expecting to lose it, weeks after his coalition collapsed. Later Monday he asked President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to dissolve the legislature …

Germany’s Scholz loses confidence vote, triggering early elections Read More »

Western powers are looking to establish contact with Syria’s new rulers, aiming to avoid Iraq- or Libya-style chaos after the fall of the Assad regime to Islamist-led rebels.Europe’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas was heading to Damascus on Monday, after a number of countries, including the United States, announced they had made initial approaches.The situation in …

Western powers resume contacts in Syria to prevent chaos Read More »

The pack of stray dogs — thin and rain-soaked — yelped in fear at the roar of incoming Russian artillery fire that echoed off abandoned Soviet-era buildings and an Orthodox church in frontline Pokrovsk.They bustled into a bare grocery store in the eastern Ukrainian town, where the once distant and dull thuds of fighting have …

The last days of a Ukrainian ghost town within Russia’s grasp Read More »

German opposition leader Friedrich Merz, who hopes to become the next chancellor, is a millionaire ex-corporate lawyer who promises a return to his CDU party’s conservative roots as an alternative to the far right.Now that centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz has lost a confidence vote following the dramatic collapse of his three-party coalition, Merz may soon …

Friedrich Merz: German conservative gunning to become chancellor Read More »

The head of Japan’s SoftBank is set to announce plans on Monday to invest $100 billion in the United States over the next four years, a spokesperson for US President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team told AFP.SoftBank’s billionaire chief executive Masayoshi Son and Trump are expected to jointly announce the planned investment at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago …

SoftBank CEO set to announce $100 bn US investment Read More »

The EU on Monday for the first time imposed fully-fledged sanctions, including asset freezes and visa bans, on Chinese firms for supplying Russia’s military for the war on Ukraine.It has also added North Korea’s defence minister to its sanctions blacklist after the secretive state sent troops to Russia to reinforce its military. The move — part …

EU sanctions Chinese firms, N. Korea minister over Ukraine war Read More »

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday hailed his army’s accelerating advance in Ukraine and praised 2024 as a “landmark” year in the course of Moscow’s military offensive on its Western-backed neighbour.  Addressing top military generals in an end-of-year meeting, the Kremlin leader struck a defiant and optimistic tone, claiming his troops had the upper hand …

Putin says troops have upper hand in Ukraine Read More »

Supporters of rival football teams have come together alongside artists, intellectuals and the internally displaced in Tbilisi as Georgian protesters celebrate their diversity in the unity of their opposition to the government, which they accuse of authoritarian drift.On Sunday, fans of Spanish football teams Real Madrid and Barcelona — who have one of the fiercest …

Rival football fans show diversity of Georgia’s pro-EU protest movement Read More »

The EU on Monday targeted Russian military intelligence agents with its first ever sanctions over so-called “hybrid” attacks aimed at destabilising Europe, including with disinformation, cyber strikes and arson.Western countries have accused the Kremlin of masterminding a string of incidents aimed at trying to undermine support for Ukraine as it battles Russia’s invasion.”For the first …

EU sanctions Russian military intelligence for ‘hybrid attacks’ Read More »