Category: Spotlight

PARIS – France won a record €15 billion (S$21.9 billion) in foreign investment pledges on May 13, allowing President Emmanuel Macron to bask in the limelight with global CEOs, and forget about strained public finances and weak polls for a while. The bumper crop of pledges, in sectors ranging from artificial intelligence to pharmaceuticals to energy, stood Mr Macron in…

AMSTERDAM: Pro-Palestinian protesters were occupying a University of Amsterdam (UvA) site on Wednesday, a day after police clashed with protesters in the Dutch capital and broke up an earlier encampment at the university. Police said the UvA had not asked them to stop the protest, contrary to early on Tuesday when riot police used a bulldozer to knock down barricades…

NEW DELHI: Canadian PM Justin Trudeau said on Saturday that Canada is a “rule-of-law country” following the arrest of three Indian nationals in a case linked to killing of pro-Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a designated a terrorist by India. “This is important because Canada is a rule-of-law country with a strong and independent justice system, as well as a…

A whistleblower who accused a Boeing supplier of ignoring manufacturing defects on the 737 Max died on Tuesday. The former Spirit AeroSystems employee Josh Dean, 45, died after contracting a sudden illness, according to reports by family members on social media, The Seattle Times reported on Wednesday. Josh’s aunt, Carol Parsons, told the outlet that Dean went to the hospital…

EU regulators have opened an investigation of 20 airlines over their potentially “misleading greenwashing practices”, including the claimed benefits of offsetting emissions from flying. The European Commission said on Tuesday that it had written to the airlines and to national consumer protection authorities “identifying several types of potentially misleading green claims”. The airlines were not named, but the national regulators…

A police sniper was reportedly photographed and filmed “overlooking” pro-Palestine protests at Indiana University on Thursday. if you criticize the state of israel they send snipers to your schools https://t.co/LyRiGCWhB4 — Mohammad (@MargBarAmerica) April 25, 2024   They won’t even do this for our border, but they’ll do it for Jewish feelings. Incredible. pic.twitter.com/FkrdF8CCHv— Lucas Gage (@Lucas_Gage_) April 26, 2024…

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia. Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he…

Columbia University retracted ultimatum for pro-Palestinian demonstrators amidst US tensions. Police used force at universities. Debates on free speech intensified. Student Skyler Sieradsky expressed fear as a Jew in America due to messages of hate and violence. Authorities confirmed that police forces conducted widespread arrests, employing chemical irritants and tasers to disperse protests at several universities. Reports emerged of clashes…

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean police said Friday they searched the office of the hard-line incoming leader of an association of doctors and confiscated his mobile phone as he faces accusations that he incited the protracted walkouts by thousands of medical interns and residents. The development could further dim prospects for an early end to the strikes. The…

European lawmakers have approved a resolution that calls for the “immediate and unconditional release” of all political prisoners held in Russia, including journalists Alsu Kurmasheva and Evan Gershkovich. The resolution was part of a joint motion in the European Parliament on April 25, condemning Russia’s “undemocratic” presidential election last month and their “illegitimate extension” to territories inside Ukraine that Moscow…

A top Russian military official was arrested on suspicion of accepting a bribe, authorities said Tuesday, a high-profile arrest that comes as Moscow’s war in Ukraine is in its third year. Timur Ivanov, 48, one of Russia’s 12 deputy defense ministers, was sanctioned by both the United States and the European Union in 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia’s state…

It’s the latest sign of internal turmoil at the tech giant centered on “Project Nimbus,” a $1.2 billion contract signed in 2021 for Google and Amazon to provide the Israeli government with cloud computing and artificial intelligence services. Workers held sit-in protests last week at Google offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California. The company responded by calling the police,…

BERLIN (AP) — A man who works for a German lawmaker in the European Parliament has been arrested on suspicion of spying for China, German prosecutors said Tuesday. The suspect, identified only as Jian G. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested Monday in Dresden, federal prosecutors said in a statement. They said that he has worked for a…

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Tech billionaire Elon Musk accused Australia of censorship after an Australian judge ruled that his social media platform X must block users worldwide from accessing video of a bishop being stabbed in a Sydney church. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded Tuesday by describing Musk as an “arrogant billionaire” who considered himself above the law and was…

A court in Vietnam on Thursday ordered the death penalty for a real estate tycoon found guilty in a financial fraud case totalling more than $12 billion US. Vietnamese state media called it the country’s largest-ever case of financial fraud. The conviction of Truong My Lan came amid a government anti-corruption crackdown by Communist Party general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong….

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has greenlighted an emergency $138 million in foreign military sales for Ukraine to provide critical repairs and spare parts for Kyiv’s Hawk missile systems. The U.S. announced the move Tuesday saying that Ukraine has an urgent need for the maintenance support to keep the missile system running. The announcement follows a similar, small-sized round…