World News

Spain's local elections set to put PM on the back foot

Spain votes Sunday in local and regional polls which will be a barometer for a year-end general election that surveys suggest Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will lose, heralding a return of the right.. But if the polls -- which forecast a shift to the right -- are correct, success at a regional level will provide opposition leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo, head of the right-wing Popular Party (PP), with the "momentum" he needs to win the end-of-year election, Santi said.

Sat, May 27, 2023 3 mins read

World News

Then and now: 70 years of Everest

Seventy years ago, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepali Tenzing Norgay Sherpa became the first humans to summit Everest on May 29, 1953. . Hillary and Tenzing summited Everest on May 29 but it only appeared in newspapers on June 2, the day of Queen Elizabeth's coronation: the news had to be brought down the mountain on foot to a telegraph station in the town of Namche Bazaar, to be relayed to the British Embassy in Kathmandu.

Sat, May 27, 2023 4 mins read

World News

70 years after first summit, Everest keeps giving

When Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa first climbed Everest 70 years ago, they paved the way for thousands of foreign climbers to try to follow in their footsteps.. The eight-day trek to the Everest base camp is among the most popular multi-day hikes in Nepal, with tens of thousands of tourists making the journey every year.

Sat, May 27, 2023 3 mins read

World News

Erdogan seeks third decade of rule in Turkish runoff

Turkey votes Sunday in a historic runoff that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan enters as the firm favourite to extend two decades of his Islamic-rooted rule to 2028.. Erdogan's warm ties with the West during his first decade in power were followed by a second in which he turned Turkey into NATO's problem child.

Sat, May 27, 2023 3 mins read

World News

War, and words -- Ukraine, Russia writers' dilemma

When bombs are falling, can writers from across the warring sides still talk?. "I have this damned passport, and with my language, with the fact that I lived there my whole life I am part of this, I cannot escape it," Nemzer, who left Russia after the war started, told AFP. "It's a trap, it's unfair, but how can I even say the word unfair when we know what unfairness is: bombs flying."

Sat, May 27, 2023 3 mins read

World News

Crime thriller steals best pic at Bollywood awards in UAE

Crime thriller "Drishyam 2" was crowned best picture as Bollywood glossed over its recent struggles with a high-octane International Indian Film Academy Awards show in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.. The IIFA awards, intended to reach an international audience, were held for the second year running in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates where more than a third of the 10 million population is Indian.

Sat, May 27, 2023 2 mins read

World News

'Brahmastra' grabs gongs at Bollywood awards in UAE

Fantasy adventure "Brahmastra: Part One -- Shiva" won a series of prizes as the glitzy International Indian Film Academy Awards show started in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.. The IIFA show, one of a number of Indian awards ceremonies, is aimed at reaching international audiences and has been held in several countries since its debut in London in 2000. aem-th/it

Sat, May 27, 2023 1 mins read

World News

Israelis continue judicial reform protests after budget approved

Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv Saturday night for the 21st straight week against the hard-right government's controversial judicial reform plans, days after parliament approved the state budget. . Ongoing dialogue produced no major breakthrough, and on Wednesday parliament approved the state budget, with Netanyahu vowing to "continue our efforts to reach understandings as broad as possible on the legal reform."

Sat, May 27, 2023 1 mins read

World News

Giant anti-government rally in Belgrade over mass shootings

Tens of thousands of people staged the fourth weekly anti-government protest in the Serbian capital Belgrade Saturday after two back-to-back  shootings that killed 18 people, half of them children.. Nothing will change here until people realise it is posible and that we do have a choice," 40-year-old Dusan Valent told AFP. The protests took shape after the early May mass shootings that left 18 people dead and wounded several others.

Sat, May 27, 2023 1 mins read

World News

Hundreds working for Germany in Russia forced to quit, leave

Hundreds of civil servants and local employees working for German institutions in Russia will need to leave the country or lose their jobs in the coming days following an order by Moscow, Germany's foreign ministry said Saturday.. Russian employees should not be required to leave the country, but will lose their jobs since German institutions will no longer be able to employ them, the ministry said -- clarifying initial indications the locals would have to leave too.

Sat, May 27, 2023 2 mins read