A long-delayed and complex project to bring a subway line under ancient Roman ruins and through Rome’s historic center has entered a crucial phase, with the digging of an 280-foot deep retaining wall around the flagship station. During a tour Thursday of the construction site at Piazza Venezia, chief engineer Andrea Sciotti said work on the nearly $3.3 billion project, …
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Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Thursday his country does not have a “China-phobia” policy and wants to engage both Beijing and Washington, expressing hopes for both powers to resolve their differences. Anwar, who is attending a Nikkei annual conference in Tokyo, said China is an important neighbor as it grows economically and militarily. “While I maintain excellent relations with …
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A deputy chief of the Russian military general staff has been arrested on charges of large-scale bribery, Russian news reports said Thursday, the latest in a series of bribery arrests of high-ranking military officials. The arrest of Lt. Gen. Vadim Shamarin followed the arrest this week of Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov, a former top commander in Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, …
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Two abortion-inducing drugs could soon be reclassified as controlled and dangerous substances in Louisiana under a first-of-its-kind bill that received final legislative passage Thursday and is expected to be signed into law by the governor. Supporters of the reclassification of mifepristone and misoprostol, commonly known as “abortion pills,” say it would protect expectant mothers from coerced abortions. Numerous doctors, meanwhile, …
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It’s been a dog’s life at this year’s Cannes Film Festival — or should that be the Canine Film Festival? Since the 77th edition’s opening day, human actors have shared the limelight with their canine co-stars on and off the red carpet, kept secure by the perky sniffer dogs that dart around the press ladder and tripods ahead of every …
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President Joe Biden and Kenyan President William Ruto are using the first state visit to the United States by an African leader in more than 15 years to call on economies around the globe to take action to reduce the enormous debt burden crushing Kenya and other developing nations. The call to action, dubbed the Nairobi-Washington Vision, comes as Biden …
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President Joe Biden’s administration is pushing the tech industry and financial institutions to shut down a growing market of abusive sexual images made with artificial intelligence technology. New generative AI tools have made it easy to transform someone’s likeness into a sexually explicit AI deepfake and share those realistic images across chatrooms or social media. The victims — be they …
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Poverty in Lebanon tripled over the course of a decade during which the small Mediterranean country slid into a protracted financial crisis, the World Bank said Thursday. The percentage of people in Lebanon living below the poverty line rose from 12% in 2012 to 44% in 2022, the bank said in a report based on surveys conducted in five of …
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An explosion at an apartment building in northeastern China killed one person and injured three others on Thursday, state media reported. Parts of the five-story apartment building in Harbin were damaged, with one apartment’s balcony completely blown off, videos on social media showed. Officials told local media that the explosion was likely from a natural gas tank that was left …
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Baltimore’s Catholic archdiocese, the nation’s oldest, will cut the number of parishes in the city and nearby suburbs by about two-thirds as part of a realignment plan responding to falling attendance and aging infrastructure. Under the final plan released Wednesday, the number of parishes will drop from 61 to 23 with 30 worship and ministry sites. CATHOLIC MONK COMES OUT …
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