User Articles

Harris back with attack on Trump

Former Vice President Kamala Harris has used a high-profile speech to sharply criticise President Donald Trump amid speculation about whether she will mount another presidential campaign or opt to run for California governor. In her most extensive public remarks since leaving office in January following her defeat to Trump, Harris said she has been inspired by Americans fighting Trump’s agenda despite threats to their freedom or livelihood. “Instead of an administration working to advance America’s highest ideals, we are witnessing the wholesale abandonment of those ideals,” Harris said a day after Trump reached 100 days in office.

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Finance

3 hours ago

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3 hours ago

Religion

10 hours ago

Supreme Court weighs public funds for religious school

Chief Justice John Roberts appears to hold the key vote over whether the Supreme Court will allow the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school in Oklahoma. Roberts was the only justice whose vote seemed in doubt after the court heard more than two hours of arguments in a major culture-war clash involving the separation of church and state. The court seemed otherwise deeply divided.

10 hours ago

Government

11 hours ago

Trump: Musk can stay as long as he wants

President Donald Trump has said during his Cabinet meeting that Musk is invited to stay in his administration indefinitely as the billionaire is said to be preparing to return to focusing on his companies Tesla and SpaceX. “You’re invited to stay as long as you want,” Trump said. “You’ve really been a tremendous help. You opened up a lot of eyes as to what could be done. And we just want to thank you very much.“

11 hours ago

Odd Spot

Residents take invading woodpecker in stride

Rockport residents have a history of fighting off invaders, but not this time. During the War of 1812, townsfolk in the tiny fishing village hurled rocks at British soldiers using their stockings as slings. Now, they’re slinging trash bags and...

Iran

Epicentre of port blast tied to supreme leader

The explosion that rocked an Iranian port, killing at least 70 people and injuring more than 1000 others, had its epicenter at a facility ultimately owned by a charitable foundation overseen by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s office. That...

Asia

19 hours ago

‘Peace is the dream everyone wants’

Vietnam celebrated the 50th anniversary of the end of the war with the United States and the formation of its modern nation with a military parade and a focus on a peaceful future. The fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, marked the end of a Vietnam divided into the communist North and US-allied South, and the country’s top official told crowds the past decades had led to ever increasing unity.

19 hours ago

Economy

US economy shrinks amid tariff concerns

The US economy contracted 0.3 per cent from January through March, he first drop in three years. It was slowed by a surge in imports as companies in the US tried to bring in foreign goods before President Donald Trump imposed massive tariffs. The January-March expansion in gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — was down from 2.4 per cent in the last three months of 2024. Imports shaved 5 percentage points off first-quarter growth.

Africa

Junta leader likely to become Mali’s president

A national political conference launched by Mali’s military regime has recommended naming junta leader General Assimi Goita, who seized power following coups in 2020 and 2021, as president. Members of the national dialogue, held in the capital Bamako, also recommended “the dissolution of political parties and the abolition of the status of opposition leader.“ They said Goita should be installed as president for a renewable five-year term, according to Abdou Salam Diepkilé, director general of territorial administration and general reporter of the meeting.

Ukraine

23 hours ago

No quick end to war, says Russia

Clinching a deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war “is far too complex to be done quickly,“ a senior Kremlin official has said, as the US expresses frustration over the slow progress. Meanwhile, a nighttime Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv wounded at least 45 civilians, officials said. The United Nations reported that the number of Ukrainian civilian casualties in the more than three-year war has surged in recent weeks amid Washington’s attempts to broker a peace agreement.

23 hours ago

Defence

NZ and Philippines sign defence pact

The Philippines has signed a military pact with New Zealand as Manila continues to build security alliances as it faces an increasingly aggressive China in the disputed South China Sea. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr witnessed the ceremony in Manila, where Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr and and his New Zealand counterpart, Judith Collins, inked the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement.

Greenland

Danish king arrives in Greenland

King Frederik X of Denmark has arrived in Greenland, kicking off a visit to the semiautonomous territory that US President Donald Trump wants to annex because of its strategic Arctic location. Frederik’s trip to the island’s capital city of Nuuk follows the new Greenlandic prime minister’s visit to Copenhagen earlier this week. Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen accompanied the monarch to Nuuk. The king wore a jacket with emblems of the Danish and Greenlandic flags as he disembarked from the plane to applause.

India

Deadly fire rips through hotel

A fire has torn through a hotel in Kolkata in eastern India, killing at least 14 people. Senior police officer Manoj Kumar Verma told reporters the fire broke out Tuesday evening at the Rituraj Hotel in central Kolkata and was doused after an effort that took six fire engines. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear. Photos and videos carried in Indian media showed people trying to escape through the windows and narrow ledges of the building.

Ukraine

Zelensky wary of Russian drills

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has suggested that Russia might be preparing a new attack, using military drills in Belarus as cover. Speaking via video-link, Zelensky noted “that’s usually how they start a new attack” adding that everybody needs to stay ready. The Ukrainian leader made the comments before the Three Seas Summit, a forum which brings together 12 European Union member states situated between the Baltic, Black and Adriatic Seas, as the grouping of mostly formerly communist countries aims to boost ties amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.

History

Battle with Agent Orange remains 50 years on

The Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975, when the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to Communist forces. But millions of people still face daily battles with its chemical legacy. Nguyen Thanh Hai, 34, is one of millions with disabilities linked to Agent Orange. Born with severe developmental challenges, it’s a struggle for him to complete tasks others take for granted: buttoning the blue shirt he wears to a special school in Da Nang, practicing the alphabet, drawing shapes or forming simple sentences.

Environment

New Zealand gets jolt from quake

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit off the west coast of New Zealand with no risk of a tsunami. The US Geological Survey says the quake occurred shortly after 1am local time. It was 300km (187 miles) southwest of Invercargill, New Zealand, and 10km (6 miles) under the sea. Monitors in New Zealand described the quake as moderate. There were no immediate reports of damage.

Cost of living

Consumer confidence plummets to Covid-era low

Americans’ confidence in the economy has slumped for the fifth straight month to the lowest level since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic as anxiety over the impact of tariffs takes a heavy toll. The Conference Board said that its consumer...

Attack

India shutters resorts in Kashmir

Authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir have closed more than half of the tourist resorts in the scenic Himalayan region after last week’s deadly attack on tourists raised tensions between India and Pakistan and led to an intensifying security...