For Sihem Bensedrine, a 74-year-old Tunisian rights activist, being in her cell at the Manouba women’s prison became unbearable last week. “I can’t stand the injustice that’s hitting me anymore,” she posted on her Facebook page on January 14. “I am determined to pull myself out, at all costs, of this black hole that I was arbitrarily thrown into,” she wrote. She has been on hunger strike ever since. Bensedrine has been in pre-trial detention since last August, on charges…
Italy’s top court upheld the conviction of US citizen Amanda Knox for slander on Thursday, in a case that dates back nearly two decades.. Knox was convicted last year of slandering local bar owner Patrick Lumumba by implicating him in the 2007 murder of her British flatmate, Meredith Kercher. But another man, Rudy Guede, was eventually convicted of Kercher’s murder after DNA evidence linked him to the scene. He was sentenced to 16 years in…
In Pedro Sánchez’s first visit to Valencia after the one he made to Paiporta in November with the Kings and which was interrupted by the indignation of those affected, the President of the Government has announced more money for the town councils that continue trying to recover normality. almost three months after the floods. After meeting with the 28 mayors of the municipalities that suffered the most intensely from the effects of DANA and are…
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, who was set to be nominated, accused Sinn Féin and other opposition TDs (MPs) of orchestrating the disruption. He called the delay ‘premeditated, coordinated, and choreographed.’
Fico’s claims, based on what he described as a classified intelligence report, came ahead of a no-confidence motion against his government. The motion was abandoned after the parliamentary session was held in secret at Fico’s request, prompting the opposition to walk out in protest.
A two-year-old boy and a 41-year-old man were killed in a stabbing at Schöntal Park in Aschaffenburg, Germany. Two others, including a child, were seriously injured.
Panic over fire rumor leads to deadly India train accident A rumour that a fire had started on a moving train in western India led to panic and the deaths of at least 12 people. Some passengers jumped off the train with the supposed fire and were hit by another train. It happened in Maharashtra State, between Maheji and Pardhade stations, approximately 410 kilometres (255 miles) northeast of India’s financial capital, Mumbai. What do we…
Solar power surpassed coal as a source of electricity in the European Union (EU) for the first time in 2024, according to a report released on Thursday by climate think tank Ember. Solar energy has become the EU’s fastest growing power source, contributing 11% to its supply. Overall, strong growth in solar and wind have boosted the share of renewables to 47%, up from 34% in 2019. Only 10% of the block’s power was generated with…
One of the first announcements made by Donald Trump in his first week in the US presidency was his country’s exit from the Paris Agreement. It was during his speech at the World Economic Forum taking place this week in Davos that the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, wanted to send a clear message: the institutions and industries that take steps back from the commitments to fight against Climate change is on the “bad side…
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin is set to be reinstalled as taoiseach (prime minister) when the Irish parliament reconvenes on Wednesday. He will succeed Fine Gael’s Simon Harris, who will take on the role of tánaiste (deputy prime minister).
The ousting of Sheikh Hasina last summer launched a new era in Bangladesh, seemingly turning the page on decades of rivalry between Hasina and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. Hasina, 77, is currently in self-imposed exile in India. And with 79-year-old Zia traveling to the UK to seek medical treatment this month, Bangladesh is rife with speculation on reviving a controversial doctrine that once aimed to sideline both leaders. In 2007, the military intervened in…
Whether threatening to end climate protection policies and slap import tariffs on European goods, or envisioning a new imperialism that lays claim to the Panama Canal and Greenland, Donald Trump has been confirming all the worst fears of many German politicians. Despite this, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz congratulated the new US president on his inauguration. Wishing him “strength and success” for the tasks ahead, he added that, “[t]ogether, we can provide crucial momentum on both sides of the…
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that security forces had begun a counterterrorism operation (unverified claims) in the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, just days after a ceasefire went into effect in the other Palestinian territory of Gaza. Demonstrating that the ceasefire meant nothing in pursuit of there genocide in Gaza and the West Bank. The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least two Palestinians were killed and others wounded in an Israeli strike…
Two Americans held in Afghanistan were freed in return for a Taliban fighter serving a life sentence in the US, authorities in Kabul said on Tuesday. “An Afghan fighter Khan Mohammad imprisoned in America has been released in exchange for American citizens and returned to the country,” the Afghan Foreign Ministry said in a statement Mohammad was extradited to the US nearly two decades ago and imprisoned in California on drug trafficking charges. The US Justice…
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to withdraw the United States, the world’s second largest greenhouse gas emitter, from the landmark Paris climate agreement for the second time. The move places the US among just a handful of countries, including Iran and Yemen, that are not part of the international accord. The accord calls on governments to take action to cap global warming at 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) and to pursue efforts to keep temperatures below…
Vietnam’s birth rate sank to a record low in 2024, with the total fertility rate falling to 1.91 children per woman. This marked the third consecutive year the figure remained below the replacement level of 2.1 — and it’s happening against the background of a booming economy. The country’s population currently hovers around 100 million people. The Vietnam News Agency cited Pham Vu Hoang, deputy director of the health ministry’s population authority, as saying…
Beijing sends an opening message to the economic elite in Davos. The Chinese vice premier, Ding Xuexiang, warned this Tuesday against an increase in trade tensions, considering that “there are no winners in a trade war” and has assured that Beijing is not seeking to obtain a surplus but rather to increase its imports. “Protectionism leads nowhere. There are no winners in a trade war,” said the Chinese leader in his speech at the World…
Donald Trump signed a flurry of executive orders on his inauguration day Monday. It wasn’t just the high number that was unusual ― Trump signed several presidential edicts at a red desk at Capitol One Arena in front of tens of thousands of cheering fans. The crowd of Trump supporters had gathered at the venue to watch a livestream of the inauguration and celebrate their president in person afterwards. Normally, the incoming US president signs…
Elon Musk is the world’s richest man and a key ally of US President Donald Trump. Throughout 2024, he placed his considerable cultural and financial weight behind Trump’s successful presidential campaign. The billionaire created and pumped more than $119 million (about €116 million) into a political action committee, “America PAC,” to elect Trump and spent weeks before the election encouraging voters in key battleground states to go to the polls, at one point offering million-dollar prizes. He contributed more than $280…
Gerardo Cuerva, president of Cepyme, describes the Minimum Interprofessional Wage as “interventionism” on the part of the State and points out that the Government does it for “political wills.” This is how Cuerva spoke this Monday prior to a new meeting on the SMI: “Salary increases of more than 80% in eight years due to political will are not necessary at the moment we are in. We do not know the memory of these data…
A newfound “spirit of optimism” echoed throughout speeches at the Left Party’s (Die Linke) convention in Berlin on Saturday, signalling a potential turnaround for Die Linke as Germany’s February 23 parliamentary elections approach.
Indian police in Mumbai on Sunday arrested a 30-year-old suspect in the stabbing of Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan. “Primary evidence suggests that the accused is a Bangladeshi citizen and after entering India illegally he changed his name,” senior police officer Dixit Gedam told a press conference. The suspect, who was arrested on the outskirts of Mumbai, was working with a domestic help agency after coming to the city five or six months ago,…
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s youngest son, Nikolai, has been appearing ever more frequently in the media lately. The 20-year-old, who used to accompany his father on state visits, now appears to be influencing national politics. Young Nikolai Lukashenko is currently touring the country to play piano concerts for a “unity marathon”—propaganda events to gain support for the nomination of his father to another term in office. The elder Lukashenko has ruled the country for…
In Kazakhstan, the penalties for so-called bride kidnapping are to be toughened up. The local parliament is working on changing laws to try to eradicate what is now considered an outdated custom. Almost every young woman in Kazakhstan is only too well aware that she too could become a victim of bride kidnapping. If that happens to a young woman, it puts paid to any personal plans for her future. This is what happened…
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, stated this Sunday that “Spain is going from strength to strength” in employment and social and territorial cohesion and has promised a new increase in the interprofessional minimum wage (SMI) this year. At the closing of the 15th congress of the PSOE of Extremadura, in which Miguel Ángel Gallardo revalidated his position as general secretary, Sánchez focused his speech on boosting the economy in the face of an…
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