When an Australian judge made the unusual decision to reopen a blockbuster defamation trial brought by an alleged rapist against a media company, he declared, “Let sunlight be the best disinfectant.” That’s how claims later described by Justice Michael Lee as “sordid” found their way into the public sphere, giving a startling insight into the way producers from a major ...
Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio has declared a national emergency on substance abuse following calls on his government to crack down on the rising use of a cheap and sometimes deadly synthetic drug known as kush. The highly addictive mix of marijuana, tentanyl and tramadol has caused hundreds of deaths and psychiatrically damaged scores of users since it first ...
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine was damaged Sunday in a drone attack, the International Atomic Energy Agency said, calling the strike “a serious incident (with) potential to undermine integrity of the reactor’s containment system.” In a statement posted to X, the IAEA stressed that the damage at the Russian-controlled facility “has not compromised nuclear safety.” The drone attack ...
The Vatican has issued a strong warning against “gender theory” and said that any gender-affirming surgery risks threatening “the unique dignity” of a person, in a new document signed off and approved by Pope Francis. Titled “Dignitas Inifinita” (Infinite Dignity) the declaration focuses on what it describes as a range of threats to human dignity, including poverty, the death penalty, ...
Authorities in the Russian Republic of Chechnya have announced a ban on music that they consider too fast or slow. Minister of Culture Musa Dadayev announced the decision to limit all musical, vocal and choreographic compositions to a tempo ranging from 80 to 116 beats per minute (BPM) at a meeting Friday, the Russian state new agency TASS reported. “(I) ...
The Israeli military said it has withdrawn its ground forces from Khan Younis in southern Gaza after months of fierce fighting. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday that its 98th division had “concluded its mission” in Khan Younis. The division was leaving the Gaza Strip to “recuperate and prepare for future operations.” The IDF added that “a significant ...
Ecuador is facing outrage after storming the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, a controversial figure who had been seeking asylum there. The late Friday night arrest of Glas prompted Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to order the immediate suspension of diplomatic ties with Quito. In a post on X, Obrador called the ...
A doctor at a field hospital for detained Palestinians at Israel’s Sde Teiman army base has described “deplorable conditions” and “routine” amputations due to handcuff injuries, according to an exclusive report from the newspaper Haaretz. In a letter to Israel’s attorney general and defense and health ministers, obtained by Haaretz, the doctor said the conditions at Sde Teiman field hospital compromise ...
Mexico is breaking diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police raided its embassy in Quito to arrest former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas. Ecuadorian police stormed the Mexican embassy in Ecuador’s capital Quito on Friday night to arrest the former vice president, who is seeking asylum there, an escalation of tensions that Mexico decried as “an outrage against international law.” Video ...
Israel’s military said its troops made a series of “grave” mistakes and violated protocol in their strikes that killed seven aid workers in Gaza this week. An Israeli inquiry published Friday found troops mistakenly thought they were attacking Hamas gunmen when drone strikes targeted three vehicles of the World Central Kitchen (WCK) late Monday night. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ...