World News

Pentagon combines sea drones, AI to police Gulf region

Iran's recent seizure of unmanned US Navy boats shined a light on a pioneering Pentagon program to develop networks of air, surface and underwater drones for patrolling large regions, meshing their surveillance with artificial intelligence.. Airborne and subsea drones are pretty well developed and proven, but unmanned surface boats are much newer and yet essential for the future, 5th Fleet spokesman Commander Tim Hawkins told AFP.  Since starting last year, the US Navy and regional partners have deployed both slow USVs like Saildrones and battery-powered speedboats like the Mantas T-12.

Fri, Sep 9, 2022 3 mins read

World News

Argentine reverence for Queen Elizabeth marred by Falklands memories

Argentines wavered between admiration and disillusion in appraising the legacy of Queen Elizabeth II of Britain, a country with which they share a complex history marred by a territorial war fought brutally on her watch.. Two nations share a long history with many ups and downs.

Fri, Sep 9, 2022 3 mins read

World News

Why go back to the Moon?

On September 12, 1962, then US president John F Kennedy informed the public of his plan to put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade.. - Maintaining leadership over China - Apart from Mars, another reason put forward by the Americans for settling on the Moon is to do so before the Chinese, who plan to send taikonauts by the year 2030.

Fri, Sep 9, 2022 3 mins read

World News

Canada admired its queen, but not so much the monarchy

Canadians were attached to Queen Elizabeth II right to the end, but their relationship with the monarchy has been increasingly strained and experts believe her death on Thursday will reignite debate over its future.. - Monarchy entrenched - To follow the lead of Barbados, which in 2021 chose to secede from the British Crown and bec Canadians were attached to Queen Elizabeth II right to the end, but their relationship with the monarchy has been increasingly strained and experts believe her death on Thursday will reignite debate over its future.

Fri, Sep 9, 2022 3 mins read

World News

Mexican lawmakers approve contentious security reform

Mexican lawmakers on Friday approved a plan to put the National Guard under military control -- a move that critics say hands too much power to the armed forces.. His reform putting the National Guard under the defense ministry's control was passed in the Senate by 71 votes in favor and 51 against, having already been approved by the lower house of Congress. 

Fri, Sep 9, 2022 2 mins read

World News

Ukraine reconstruction to cost $349 bn: report

Rebuilding Ukraine following the devastation caused by the Russian invasion will cost an estimated $349 billion, according to a report issued Friday.. Physical damage alone inflicted since the invasion in late February through June 1 already totaled $97 billion, the report said.

Fri, Sep 9, 2022 1 mins read

World News

Russia reinforces Kharkiv to counter Ukraine push

Russia said on Friday it was sending reinforcements to the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine, where Kyiv's forces have announced major gains as part of a broader counter-offensive.. The counter-offensive has shown progress in the south of the country too, particularly in the Kherson region, as well as in Kharkiv and in the industrial Donbas province in the east.

Fri, Sep 9, 2022 3 mins read

World News

Venezuela, Colombia to reopen land borders, skies

Venezuela and Colombia said Friday they will reopen their shared land border later this month and resume commercial flights after renewing diplomatic ties severed in 2019.. The countries' shared 2,000-kilometer (1,200-mile) land border -- the scene of clashes between armed and criminal groups --  was closed from 2019, and reopened in October last year but to pedestrians only.

Fri, Sep 9, 2022 1 mins read

World News

Russians killed two Zaporizhzhia nuclear staff, abused others: Ukraine

Russian forces controlling Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have killed two staff at the facility and detained and abused dozens of others, the head of Ukraine's nuclear energy agency told AFP on Friday.. Kotin also said Ukraine insists that Russia remove military hardware from the plant and that staff from Russian nuclear agency Rosatom also leave the area. 

Fri, Sep 9, 2022 3 mins read

World News

Gibraltar 'under cloud of sorrow' over queen's death

Gibraltar was "under a cloud of sorrow" on Friday a day after the death of Queen Elizabeth II at the age of 96, with the British enclave at the southern tip of Spain cancelling its national day, the chief minister  said.. "The whole of Gibraltar is under a cloud of sorrow today," he said, announcing the cancellation of the territory's September 10 national day which would have been its first post-pandemic celebration. 

Fri, Sep 9, 2022 1 mins read