Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi added his voice Friday to calls for the reform of global lenders such as the World Bank, as G20 finance ministers and central bank heads met.. This is partly because they have been slow to reform themselves," Modi said by video link as the two-day gathering began.
Brazilian authorities said Thursday evening that the death toll from floods and landslides triggered by torrential rains in the country's southeast had risen to at least 50, with emergency workers continuing to dig through the wreckage.. Last weekend's record storms dumped more than an entire February's worth of rain in 24 hours on the picturesque beach resort town of Sao Sebastiao and the surrounding region, triggering violent floods and landslides that tore through precariously built hillside communities.
Ukrainians will hold ceremonies across their war-ravaged country Friday on the first anniversary of Russia's invasion, with President Volodymyr Zelensky to assure them of victory even as they face the threat of new missile strikes.. On Friday, Zelensky will hold a news conference to mark the bitter milestone, while commemorations will be held across the country.
The United States' candidate to lead the World Bank, Ajay Banga, has helmed large institutions and "helped bring 500 million unbanked people into the digital economy," according to US authorities.. The next World Bank president will need to "unite a very large group of countries behind a common agenda," said Clemence Landers, policy fellow with the Center for Global Development.
Hollywood star Alec Baldwin pleaded not guilty Thursday to manslaughter over the death of a cinematographer who was shot on the set of low-budget Western "Rust.". "And then they somehow got loaded into a gun handed off to Alec Baldwin.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas urged the West to "discredit" Russia's tool of aggression in Ukraine to prevent further attacks, in an AFP interview ahead of the invasion anniversary.. We have to totally discredit the tool of aggression," she told AFP. Otherwise, "the signal to... all the aggressors, or would-be aggressors, in the world, is that this pays off.
Former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was sentenced Thursday to 16 years in prison for the rape of a woman in a Beverly Hills hotel room a decade ago.. Weinstein is already serving a 23-year sentence for his separate 2020 conviction in New York for sex crimes.
A US judge on Thursday handed disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly a 20-year prison term for child pornography and other charges -- but he will serve most of it simultaneously with a previous sentence.. The judge in Chicago -- Kelly's hometown, where he was once seen as a source of pride -- ruled that most of the new sentence would be served concurrently with the previous one, with all but one year taken at the same time.
US, European and other governments on Thursday urged Nigeria to ensure a peaceful presidential election this weekend as skirmishes broke out in a key city on the last day of campaigning.. Thursday was the final day of campaigning for the presidential, senate and parliamentary elections.
From pandas to sea lions to tigers, hundreds of wildlife species across the globe are contaminated by potentially harmful "forever chemicals", according to a review of hundreds of peer-reviewed studies.. The mapping of over 125 peer-reviewed scientific studies is the first global scoping of the problem in wildlife, the authors said.
