US Southwest swelters under dangerous heat wave, with new records on track

A dangerous heat wave threatened a wide swath of the Southwest with potentially deadly temperatures in the triple digits on Saturday as some cooling centers extended their hours and emergency rooms prepared to treat more people with heat-related illnesses. “Near record temperatures are expected this weekend!" the National Weather Service in Phoenix warned in a tweet, advising people to follow its safety tips such as drinking plenty of water and checking on relatives and neighbors. &ld

World NewsJuly 16, 2023

US politics and the Paris finance summit

By Jeffrey D. Sachs Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley and French President Emmanuel Macron invited world leaders to Paris on June 22-23 to reach a new “global pact” to finance the fight against poverty and human-induced climate change. All kudos for the ambition, yet few dollars were put on the table. To an important extent, the continuing global failure to finance the fight against poverty and climate change reflects the failings of US politics, since the US, at least for the mome

World NewsJuly 11, 2023

[Graphic News] Majority of S. Koreans hold positive view of US, Biden: poll

A majority of South Koreans hold a positive view of the United States and President Joe Biden while more than 7 out of every 10 South Koreans also believe the US contributes to global peace and stability, a poll showed. In a 23-nation survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, 79 percent of those polled in South Korea said they hold a positive opinion of the US, significantly higher than the 23-country median of 59 percent. The reading for South Ko

World NewsJuly 10, 2023

Pope Francis names 21 new cardinals, including prelates based in Hong Kong and Jerusalem

Pope Francis on Sunday announced he has chosen 21 new cardinals, including prelates from Jerusalem and Hong Kong — places where Catholics are a small minority — as he continues to leave his mark on the body of churchmen who will select his successor. The pope announced his picks during his customary weekly appearance to the public in St. Peter’s Square, saying the ceremony to formally install the churchmen as cardinals will be held on Sept. 30. Among those tapped are several

World NewsJuly 9, 2023

NATO unity will be tested at upcoming summit. Ukraine's possible entry may be the biggest challenge

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues with no end in sight, NATO's much-celebrated unity faces fresh strains when leaders gather for their annual summit this week in Vilnius, Lithuania. The world’s biggest security alliance is struggling to reach an agreement on admitting Sweden as its 32nd member. Military spending by member nations lags behind long-standing goals. An inability to compromise over who should serve as NATO’s next leader forced an extension of the current s

World NewsJuly 9, 2023

[Graphic News] Most livable city is Vienna; Seoul ranks 4th among Asian cities

Vienna has been ranked the world’s most liveable city for the second year in a row, while Seoul and Busan respectively claimed the fourth and sixth spots among Asian cities. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Vienna achieved a score of 98.4 out of 100 on the annual Global Livability Ranking, followed closely by Copenhagen in Denmark and Melbourne with scores of 98 and 97.8, respectively. Seoul and Busan fell slightly short of the 90-point threshold, placing them lower than Londo

World NewsJuly 7, 2023

Dutch to return colonial treasures to Indonesia, S.Lanka

The Netherlands said Thursday it will hand back hundreds of colonial-era artifacts to Indonesia and Sri Lanka, including a haul of treasure and a gem-encrusted bronze cannon. The decision to return some 478 objects followed recommendations by a government-appointed commission last year looking into illegal Dutch colonial acquisitions now being displayed in museums in the Netherlands. "These recommendations are a milestone in dealing with collections from a colonial context," said Gunay

World NewsJuly 6, 2023

[Graphic News] 60% of Americans say gun violence is ‘very big’problem: poll

A Research Center poll shows 60 percent of Americans believe gun violence is a very big and growing national problem. But the poll also shows an even split as to whether gun ownership increases or decreases safety. The majority, 58 percent, said US gun laws should be more strict. A bare majority of 51 percent of white Americans wanted stricter laws, while 77 percent of Black Americans supported stricter gun laws. The vast majority - 88 percent - supported keeping mentally ill people from buying

World NewsJuly 6, 2023

[Graphic News] Asia’s billionaire club takes heaviest hit in 2022

Billionaires in Asia faced the steepest drop in membership in 2022 at 7.1 percent, more than any other region, according to data firm Wealth-X Analytics. This decline, when contrasted with North America’s modest 2.3 percent dip, reflects a year of heightened economic volatility. South Korea and Taiwan’s tech sectors bore the brunt of Asia’s decline, while market sentiment was constrained by China’s stringent zero-COVID policy, the report explained. Against a backdrop of g

World NewsJuly 4, 2023

Baltimore block party shooting leaves 2 dead and 28 injured

BALTIMORE -- Gunfire erupted at a block party in Baltimore on Sunday -- killing two people, wounding 28 and leaving an extensive crime scene that marred the US holiday weekend, police said. Three of the wounded were in critical condition. Baltimore Police Department Acting Commissioner Richard Worley told reporters there were a total of 30 victims during a press conference at the scene. The shooting took place just after 12:30 a.m. at a block party in the Brooklyn Homes area in the southern part

World NewsJuly 2, 2023

New legal battles await colleges after US Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling

The Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday barring race-conscious admissions policies will force universities to find new ways to attract a diverse student body -- but experts said such efforts will likely open a new front in what has been a decades-long legal battle over race and college admissions. The majority opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by the court’s five other conservatives, held that giving some minority applicants a boost over others based on their

World NewsJune 30, 2023

US economic growth last quarter is revised up to a 2% annual rate

The US economy grew at a 2 percent annual pace from January through March as consumers spent at the fastest pace in nearly two years, the government said Thursday in a sharp upgrade from its previous estimate. The government had previously estimated that the economy expanded at a 1.3 percent annual rate last quarter. The Commerce Department's third and final report on January-March economic growth pointed to surprising resilience but still marked a deceleration from the 2.6 percent annual r

World BusinessJune 29, 2023

[Graphic News] Migrant deaths in Middle East, North Africa hit highest since 2017

Last year marked a grim milestone as migrant deaths within and from the Middle East and North Africa region surged to nearly 3,800 people, the highest number since 2017, according to data released by the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project. This unsettling trend was mainly spurred by a shift in migratory paths, as increasing interceptions by the Libyan Coast Guard have forced desperate migrants to seek alternative and often perilous sea routes from North Afr

World NewsJune 29, 2023

[Graphic News] New York tops world’s most expensive cities for expats

New York has leapfrogged Hong Kong as the world’s most expensive city to live in as an expat, while skyrocketing rents saw Singapore crash into the top five, according to a new study. Soaring inflation and rising accommodation costs were cited as reasons for New York topping ECA International’s Cost of Living Rankings for 2023, while Geneva and London remained in third and fourth place, respectively. Seoul, which rose from 10th to 9th place this year due to increased housing and acco

World NewsJune 27, 2023

How JFK would pursue peace in Ukraine

By ​​​​​​​​​​Jeffrey D. Sachs US President John F. Kennedy was one of the world’s great peacemakers. He led a peaceful solution to the Cuban Missile Crisis and then successfully negotiated the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with the Soviet Union at the very height of the Cold War. At the time of his assassination, he was taking steps to end US involvement in Vietnam. In his dazzling and unsurpassed Peace Speech, delivered exactly 60 years ago on June 10, 1963, Kennedy laid out his formu

World NewsJune 27, 2023

What we know about Russia's Wagner rebellion

MOSCOW (AFP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin faced the most serious challenge to his long rule on Saturday when the leader of the Wagner mercenary group vowed to topple Moscow's military leadership. Yevgeny Prigozhin, 62, released a series of messages from late Friday into Saturday claiming that he and his troops had entered the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and taken control of its military sites. That sparked a series of extraordinarily fast-moving events, with the private ar

World NewsJune 25, 2023

Rebel Russian mercenaries halt advance on Moscow, Kremlin says fighters to face no action

Heavily armed Russian mercenaries who advanced most of the way to Moscow halted their approach, de-escalating a major challenge to President Vladimir Putin's grip on power, in a move that their leader said would avoid bloodshed. Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former Putin ally and founder of the Wagner army, said his men reached within 125 miles (200 km) of the capital on Saturday. Earlier, Moscow deployed soldiers in preparation for their arrival and told residents to stay indoors. The Wagner fighte

World NewsJune 25, 2023

The mercenary chief who urged an uprising against Russia's generals has long ties to Putin

The millionaire mercenary chief who long benefitted from the powerful patronage of President Vladimir Putin has moved into the global spotlight with a dramatic rebellion against Russia's military that challenged the authority of Putin himself. Yevgeny Prigozhin is the 62-year-old owner of the Kremlin-allied Wagner Group, a private army of inmate recruits and other mercenaries that has fought some of the deadliest battles in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. On Friday, Prigozhin abruptly

World NewsJune 25, 2023

Russia says Wagner Group's leader will move to Belarus after his rebellious march challenged Putin

  Russia says the head of a private military company who staged a short-lived rebellion will move to Belarus and not face prosecution as part of deal to defuse a crisis that posed a challenge to President Vladimir Putin's government.   The rebellious Russian mercenary commander who ordered his troops to march on Moscow before abruptly reversing course will move to neighboring Belarus and not face prosecution, the Kremlin said Saturday, as part of a deal to defuse a crisis that represen

World NewsJune 25, 2023

Putin vows to crush 'armed mutiny' after Russian mercenary boss tries to oust top brass

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to crush what he called an armed mutiny after rebellious mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday he had taken control of a southern city as part of an attempt to oust the military leadership. The dramatic turn, with many details unclear, looked like the biggest domestic crisis Putin has faced since he ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine - which he called a "special military operation" - in February last year. In a televised address

World NewsJune 24, 2023