Storms and flash floods turned roads into gushing rivers and swamped homes with waist-high muddy water across the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Wednesday, killing at least 10 people.The East Africa region has been lashed by relentless downpours in recent weeks, as the El Nino weather pattern exacerbates
LOST AND FOUND: The Jewish family who owned the portrait fled Austria after 1930, but the Liesers’ heirs and current owners made an agreement to sell it
A portrait of a young woman by Gustav Klimt that was long believed to be lost on Wednesday was sold at an auction in Vienna for 30 million euros (US$32 million).The Austrian modernist artist started work on the Portrait of Fraulein Lieser in 1917, the year before he died, and it is one of his last w
Five British military horses spooked by noise from a building site on Wednesday bolted during routine exercises near Buckingham Palace, threw off four riders and caused chaos as they galloped loose through central London streets and collided with vehicles during the busy morning rush hour.The commot
Doctors have transplanted a pig kidney into a New Jersey woman who was near death, part of a dramatic pair of surgeries that also stabilized her failing heart.Lisa Pisano’s combination of heart and kidney failure left her too sick to qualify for a traditional transplant, and out of options. Then doc
The blades of the Moulin Rouge windmill, one of the most famous landmarks in Paris, collapsed during the night, firefighters said yesterday, just months before the French capital hosts the Olympics.There was no risk of further collapse, Paris firefighters said. The reason for the accident was not ye
GERMANYAgency warns companiesThe domestic spy agency on Wednesday told companies that they should be on guard against industrial espionage by Beijing, warning them not to be naive or overreliant on China. The warning from the agency’s deputy head Sinan Selen came days after three German nationals we
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing.The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also exp
‘HISTORICAL DEMONSTRATIONS’: Students, unions and professors pushed back against budget cuts that prompted a university to declare a financial emergency
Raising their textbooks, diplomas and posters aloft, thousands of people on Tuesday filled the streets of Buenos Aires and other cities in Argentina to demand increased funding for the country’s public universities, in an outpouring of anger at Argentine President Javier Milei’s austerity measures.T
An Australian court yesterday extended an order that X take down videos of a Sydney bishop being stabbed after X chief executive officer Elon Musk vowed to fight the ban.In a brief hearing, Justice Geoffrey Kennett extended the injunction until May 10.Australian authorities have argued that video of
Australia’s top spy yesterday urged greater cooperation from big tech companies, asking them to provide access to encrypted messages.Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Director-General Michael Burgess said encrypted messaging had compromised the ability to root out threats and that tech c
Italy today celebrates its liberation from fascism, an anniversary overshadowed by a censorship row at the public broadcaster centered on Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.RAI, which has several TV and radio stations and is funded in part by a license fee, canceled a monologue on fascism by a re
NORTH KOREADelegation departs for IranA high-level economic delegation was on its way to Iran, state media reported yesterday, for what would be the two countries’ first known talks since August 2019. The delegation, led by Minster of External Economic Relations Yun Jung-ho, flew out on Tuesday for
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week.The State Department’s annual
‘CRIMINAL SCHEME’: The former US president faces 34 counts of falsifying business records over a US$130,000 ‘hush money’ payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels
Former US president Donald Trump engaged in “election fraud” by paying hush money to a porn star just days before the 2016 presidential election, prosecutors said on Monday at the first ever criminal trial of a former president.“This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a cover-up,” Assistant Dis
CULTURAL DEBATE: Some Jewish students at Columbia University have reported intimidation and anti-Semitism amid the days-long demonstration
Tensions flared on Monday between pro-Palestinian student protesters and school administrators at several US universities, as in-person classes were canceled and demonstrators arrested.The protests, which began last week at Columbia University with a large group of demonstrators establishing a so-ca
During World War II, dozens of female students from the University of Cambridge worked around the clock in complete secrecy to crack Nazi codes, but only now are the unsung heroes getting recognition.At least 77 women from the female-only Newnham College were drafted to Bletchley Park, the code-brea
Haiti’s capital is almost completely cut off by air, sea and land blockades as gang violence intensifies, stopping aid from getting to 58,000 children with the most life-threatening form of malnutrition, the head of the UN children’s agency said on Monday.UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell
A Belgian man with a very rare metabolic condition that causes his body to produce alcohol had a drink-driving charge against him dismissed in court on Monday.The 40-year-old proved that he has auto-brewery syndrome (ABS), which causes carbohydrates in his stomach to be fermented, increasing ethanol
Elon Musk yesterday lashed out at Australia’s prime minister after a court ordered his social media company X to take down footage of an alleged terrorist attack in Sydney, and said the ruling meant any nation could control “the entire Internet.”At a hearing overnight, Australia’s Federal Court orde
People walk past destroyed buildings in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and the militant group Hamas.