World

A red dragon, a feline deity and dogs and cats cover Tanyapong Jaikham’s rice paddies in northern Thailand, a living tribute in rice plants to flooding that inundated nearby areas in September, stranding thousands. To transform more than 2 hectares (5 acres) of land into the vibrant images, Tanyapong and his team used AI to plot and…

Six people died when a propane-butane cylinder exploded at a restaurant in the northwest Czech city of Most, setting the building on fire, emergency services said on Sunday. Eight people were injured in the fiery blast that occurred late on Saturday evening, and 30 people were evacuated from the restaurant and surrounding buildings, the Czech fire rescue…

Ukraine’s president is offering a prisoner swap with North Korean soldiers it has captured, in exchange for Ukrainians held by Russia. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made a direct appeal to leader Kim Jong Un after seizing two North Koreans in Russia’s Kursk region. “In addition to the first captured soldiers from North Korea, there will undoubtedly be more.…

Firefighters scrambled Sunday to make further progress against wildfires that have destroyed thousands of homes and killed 24 people in the Los Angeles area as forecasters again warned of dangerous weather with the return of strong winds this week. At least 16 people were missing, and authorities said that number was expected to rise. The National Weather…

LA’S rich and famous are hiring $2,000-an-hour private firefighters to save their million-dollar homes and businesses as the wildfires rage on. As the flames continue to force thousands out of their homes, some celebs and billionaires have sparked backlash for their “tone-deaf” move to save their investments. Keith Wasserman, co-founder of real estate investment firm Gelt Venture…

A CHINESE scientist at the centre of the Covid origins debate is still carrying out “risky” research on coronaviruses, scientists have warned. Shi Zhengli, 60, earned herself the nickname of China’s “batwoman” as one of the world’s leading scientists working on bat coronaviruses in Wuhan. Her team at Wuhan Institute of Virology collected more than 20,000 samples…

Sunita Williams is set to undertake her first spacewalk in 12 years. According to a statement from NASA, she will join fellow astronaut Nick Hague on a mission aboard (on January 16) the International Space Station (ISS) to repair the Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) X-ray telescope. In addition to this, Sunita Williams will take part…

Former child star Rory Sykes, who appeared in the British 1990s show “Kiddy Kapers” and lived with cerebral palsy, died in the devastating Los Angeles wildfires Wednesday. He was 32. “It is with great sadness that I have to announce the death of my beautiful son @Rorysykes to the Malibu fires yesterday,” his mother, Shelley Sykes, revealed…

When Elon Musk launched his own AI startup, xAI, he touted a key advantage over his competitors: access to the vast trove of data from his newly acquired social media platform Twitter. By implementing new API fees on the network he quickly renamed X, Musk locked out other AI companies, maintaining exclusive access for his own models.…

Two wounded North Korean soldiers have been captured as prisoners of war by Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday. The two men are receiving “necessary medical assistance” and are in the custody of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Kyiv, according to Zelensky. The president said he was “grateful” to…

A teenage artist who has already sold works for £23,000 has just passed another milestone – her first ever painting lesson. Makenzy Beard, 17, made waves back in 2020 when a portrait she painted of her neighbour went viral on social media. The painting went on to appear at The Royal Academy of Arts, a prestigious London…

Zoos in Berlin have closed, while the neighboring state of Brandenburg banned animal transport on Saturday following an outbreak of the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease. Germany recorded its first cases of foot-and-mouth disease in 35 years in a herd of water buffalo in Hönow, Brandenburg, just outside the Berlin city limits. Operators of Berlin Zoo in the…

Rosalind Smith is not a ‘dog person.’ “If I see a dog, I will scream, I will cry, and then I will run,” says the 48-year-old. “I scream like someone is attacking me with a knife! I don’t do it intentionally, because obviously it’s a mortifying and embarrassing thing to go through… but I am honestly that…

New York City will close 13 emergency shelters that housed asylum seekers by June as the numbers of migrants in the Big Apple have fallen to its lowest point in 18 months. Mayor Eric Adams announced the closings in all five boroughs on Friday, crediting his administration’s strategy for dealing with the immigration crisis and the federal…

Flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the Jeju Air flight that crashed at South Korea’s Muan International Airport stopped recording four minutes before the tragedy that claimed 179 lives. On December 29, a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 traveling from Bangkok to Muan belly-landed, overshooting the runway and colliding with a concrete embankment before erupting into flames,…

The foundational building block for Jeff Bezos’ space dreams is finally ready to launch. A New Glenn rocket — built by Blue Origin, the rocket company that Mr. Bezos started nearly a quarter century ago — is sitting on a launchpad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It is as tall as a 32-story building,…

The name of Luigi Mangione has come up often over the past few days in social media users’ discussions of the fires ravaging Southern California. Many, angered by State Farm’s decision last summer to cancel hundreds of homeowners policies in some of the neighborhoods now devastated by the blazes, are looking at the 26-year-old as the type…

Fear of ingesting a contaminated substance led Britain’s Emma Raducanu to turn down treatment for an insect bite ahead of the Australian Open which starts this weekend. Speaking ahead of her opening round match against Russian 26th seed Ekaterina ­Alexandrova, the former U.S. Open champion said recent high-profile doping cases had made her wary. “I got really…

A pair of glasses belonging to the comic Eric Morecambe have been sold for £20,000 at auction. Personal items and showbiz memorabilia from Morecambe’s home in Hertfordshire were put up for sale following the death of his widow, Joan, in March 2024. The glasses were sold along with a Barling briar pipe and two photographs of the…

Katie Piper has decided to get an “artificial eye” more than 16 years after an acid attack which left her with serious injuries and permanent scarring. The TV presenter shared the news on Instagram, saying it follows “many years of battling” with her health. “I’ve reached the end of [the] road somewhat, and the decision has been…

TERRIFIED Los Angeles residents trying to flee the deadly wildfires have been left trapped in gridlocked traffic. At least 11 people have died due to the wildfires with 13 still missing as officials warn the fires could rage on for days. Six out of control wildfires are continuing to burn through LA with flames roaring towards more…

Online disinformation about the LA wildfires has sparked a resurgence of bizarre conspiracy theories revolving around ‘smart cities’. More than 100,000 people have had to be evacuated and 10 died after fires tore through parts of Los Angeles and surrounding areas. Follow our live blog for the latest updates on the LA wildfires An estimated 10,000 buildings…

Special Counsel Jack Smith resigned Friday from the Department of Justice as President-elect Donald Trump and others continued efforts to block the release of Smith’s final report on his criminal investigations of the Republican. Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022, left his post 10 days before Trump’s inauguration. His departure was…

Karla Sofía Gascón reads the hate. All of it. Alongside the flood of praise for her lead performance in the late-breaking Oscar favorite Emilia Pérez, a steady trickle of vitriol has flowed in the gutters of social media. When we meet in her native Madrid, Gascón takes out her phone to show me messages she has screenshotted…

NORWAY is set to build thousands of bomb shelters as they prepare for the “worst-case scenario” amid fears of a Russian war with Nato. The Norwegian government say the creation of safety bunkers in all new large-scale buildings is being done to counter the huge amount of “uncertainty” plaguing Europe around Vladimir Putin’s next move. It has…

The Canadian government on Friday refused the reports claiming that all four Indian nationals arrested on charges of their alleged involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorists Hardeep Singh Nijjar are out on bail. “All four of them are in custody and have not been granted bail,” a spokesperson for the BC Prosecution Service (BCPS) told Times…

A woman in Australia has annulled her marriage after realising that a fake wedding ceremony she took part in for a social media stunt was in fact real. The unknowing bride said her partner was a social media influencer who convinced her to take part in the ceremony as a “prank” for his Instagram account. She only…

I’ll spare you the experience of listening to one of the richest men in the world whine and just tell you straight out: Mark Zuckerberg’s interview on The Joe Rogan Experience is full of lies. Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook’s parent company Meta, sets the tone at the very beginning: “I think at some level you only start…

The retailer previously announced it would shutter 150 ‘nonproductive’ stores as part of a revitalization plan Macy’s announced that it will close 66 stores across the country this year as part of the retailer’s revitalization program, including its location in Philadelphia’s Center City, a process the CEO said is “never easy.” The company said in February 2024…

The last two years exceeded on average a critical warming limit for the first time as global temperatures soar “beyond what modern humans have ever experienced”, an EU agency said Friday. This does not mean the internationally-agreed 1.5C warming threshold has been permanently breached, but the Copernicus Climate Change Service said it was drawing dangerously near. The…

Actor Alec Baldwin sued New Mexico prosecutors and sheriff’s office officials on Thursday alleging a “malicious” prosecution against him for the 2021 fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western movie “Rust.” The action against special prosecutor Kari Morrissey and others is among at least a dozen civil lawsuits filed over Hutchins’ death,…

Paris Hilton says her “heart has shattered into a million pieces,” after visiting the charred remains of her Malibu beach house which has been destroyed in wildfires sweeping LA. Describing herself on Instagram as “in complete shock,” the hotel heiress said seeing her family memories “reduced to ashes” was “devastating”. Meanwhile, Mel Gibson has said the loss…

David Beckham has joined calls for football authorities to do more to help footballers affected by dementia and their families. The former England captain threw his support behind the Football Families for Justice group which gathered retired players and relatives on Friday to lobby authorities on brain injuries caused by the sport. In a video message played…

The US Supreme Court heard arguments on Friday over whether to accept the appeal of social media platform TikTok against a law which could see the platform shut down if Chinese owner ByteDance does not sell it to a US owner. The law was passed by Congress and ratified by outgoing President Joe Biden last year, citing…

Business was brisk at Teddy’s Cocina in Pasadena as wildfire evacuees ate lunch and passersby ducked indoors to escape from the brown, smoky air blanketing the city. “It’s not breathable,” said Dulce Perez, a cook at the restaurant, as an eye-watering haze hung overhead on Thursday about two miles (3.2 km) away from one of the multiple…

The “pizzagate” gunman who fired his rifle in a Washington, D.C., pizza restaurant in 2016, acting on a debunked conspiracy theory, has died after police shot him in a traffic stop. Edgar Maddison Welch was shot by police over the weekend and died from his injuries Monday, authorities in North Carolina said Thursday. Almost 10 years ago,…

Last year was the planet’s hottest in recorded history, multiple government agencies announced Friday, marking two years in a row that global temperatures have shattered records. Scientists with NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said 2024 was hotter than any year since at least 1880. Previously, 2023 was named the planet’s warmest year on record.…

Nigel Farage has told Sky News he “can’t be pushed or bullied” by anybody after Elon Musk said the Reform MP “doesn’t have what it takes” to lead his party. In an interview with Sky’s political correspondent Ali Fortescue, Mr Farage said he has spoken with the billionaire owner of X since his criticism on 5 January,…

Donald Trump has been handed a no-penalty sentence following his conviction in the Stormy Daniels hush money case. The incoming US president has received an unconditional discharge – meaning he will not face jail time, probation or a fine. Manhattan Judge Juan M Merchan could have jailed him for up to four years. The sentencing in Manhattan…

Authorities in California have vowed to arrest anybody caught looting in burnt-out neighbourhoods, with one official warning: “We are not screwing around with this.” Five separate wildfires continue to burn across Los Angeles County, including the Pacific Palisades blaze – which has torn through more than 20,000 acres of land and destroyed an estimated 5,000 structures. Los…

Groomed and raped by a criminal gang as a teen, a British woman now in her 30s continues to live in fear 15 years on. The woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, was one of the thousands of victims of the so-called “grooming gangs” scandal, a series of criminal cases in multiple English towns and…

The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way on Thursday for Donald Trump to be sentenced for the president-elect’s conviction on criminal charges involving hush money paid to a porn star, with two conservative justices joining the three liberal members in a 5-4 decision. The court turned down Trump’s last-minute bid to prevent his sentencing, scheduled for Friday…

The Pacific Palisades area ravaged by wildfires in Los Angeles is one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the U.S., home to Hollywood A-Listers and multimillion dollar mansions. And ahead of this week’s disaster, its insurance costs were among the most affordable in the country, according to a Reuters analysis of insurance and real estate industry data.…

A small-time Chinese actor had been missing for two days in Thailand when his girlfriend decided to ask the internet for help. “We have no choice but to borrow the power of the internet to amplify our voices,” Wang Xing’s girlfriend wrote on the Chinese social media platform Weibo on 5 January. The plea went viral after…

It had all the hallmarks of a cold-blooded, professional assassination. Next to a well-known temple in Bangkok’s historic royal quarter a man is seen on a security camera video parking his motorbike, removing his helmet, so that his face was clearly visible, and walking calmly across the road. A few minutes later shots are heard. Another man…

Several iconic Los Angeles restaurants and landmarks have been burned down as multiple wildfires have ravaged the Pacific Palisades, Pasadena, Altadena, the Hollywood Hills and surrounding areas. The Palisades Fire, which began the morning of Jan. 7, the Eaton Fire and the Sunset Fire have resulted in the evacuations of nearly 180,000 Los Angeles residents and the…

All five of the living US presidents have been pictured together at the funeral of Jimmy Carter. The 39th US president died at the age of 100 on 29 December, in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. President Joe Biden gave a eulogy to his fellow Democrat at the state funeral at the Washington National Cathedral. He appeared…

Hollywood celebrities are among thousands of people who have been evacuated in Los Angeles, some fleeing homes now burned to the ground. Paris Hilton and actor Billy Crystal have both lost their houses as fires rip through parts of California, including exclusive suburbs home to film stars and billionaires. Oscar-winning songwriter Diane Warren, talk show host Ricki…

Photographs have captured the moments after a baby girl was born on a packed migrant dinghy heading for the Canary Islands. The small boat was carrying 60 people and had embarked from Tan-Tan – a Moroccan province 135 nautical miles (250km) away. One image shows the baby lying on her mother’s lap as other passengers help the…

Musk’s platforming of far-right politicians is endorsed by Trump, expert says Marietje Schaake, a fellow at Stanford University and the author of the book “The Tech Coup, How To Save Democracy From Silicon Valley,” called the talk between tech billionaire Elon Musk and AfD leader Alice Weidel “very awkward, uncomfortable and underwhelming.” She also added that there…

NOVAK Djokovic claims he was “poisoned” by food he ate while detained during his 2022 Australian Open visa saga. The 24-time tennis Grand Slam winner had his visa cancelled ahead of the tournament following days of drama over the country’s Covid entry rules and his unvaccinated status. The 37-year-old Serbian was detained in a Melbourne hotel shared…

Singapore has the world’s most powerful passport, according to the 2025 Henley Passport Index. The nation-state was one of six countries which tied for the top spot in 2024 in the list produced by the migration consultancy Henley & Partners, which ranks passports by the number of destinations that holders can access without needing a visa. Singapore…

PRESIDENT Joe Biden has been blasted for putting his head down at Jimmy Carter’s funeral by viewers who thought he was falling asleep. Social media users speculated that Biden dozed off after his wife, Jill Biden, was seen nudging him during the service. The president, 82, closed his eyes as he was surrounded by other politicians including…

Imagine that your city experiences its worst drought in decades, only to be suddenly inundated by record-breaking rainfall weeks later. This dramatic swing between weather extremes, known as “hydroclimate whiplash,” is becoming increasingly common worldwide – and new research suggests it’s getting worse due to climate change. Published in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, the report reveals…

Elon Musk’s biographer has warned the billionaire is “going mad” and could “endanger us all” as concerns grow over his wellbeing. The owner of X has been writing unhinged comments and reacting to posts on his platform, including criticising the UK government after it rejected a call for a public inquiry into the grooming scandal in the…

Firefighters are battling to control a series of major fires in the Los Angeles area that have killed seven people, ravaged communities from the Pacific Coast to Pasadena and forced over 180,000 people to flee their homes. Steve Kerr’s mother among those who lost their home to the blazes The 90-year-old mother of Golden State Warriors head…

A MILLIONAIRE has been slammed for asking if any private firefighters were available to protect his home as devastating wildfires ravaged Los Angeles. Keith Wasserman, an LA-based real estate developer, swiftly deleted a post in which he requested private firefighters to come to his Pacific Palisades home. “Does anyone have access to private firefighters to protect our…

More than 400 people trapped by rubble in earthquake-stricken Tibet have been rescued, Chinese officials said on Wednesday, with an unknown number still unaccounted for in freezing weather a day after a strong tremor rocked the Himalayan foothills. The epicentre of Tuesday’s magnitude 6.8 quake, one of the region’s most powerful tremors in recent years, was located…

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was freed by Iran on Wednesday and returned home, three weeks after she was detained in Tehran during a reporting trip. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani were on hand to greet the 29-year-old as she flew back into Rome, highlighting the political importance attached to her case. Sala,…

Raging wildfires surrounding Los Angeles spread to the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday, after other fires in the area killed at least five people, destroyed hundreds of homes and stretched firefighting resources and water supplies to the limit. More than 100,000 people were ordered to evacuate as dry, hurricane-force winds hindered firefighting operations and spread the fires, which…

CES, the annual trade show of all things tech, kicks off this week in Las Vegas. Swaths of the latest gadgets and advances across industries like personal tech, transportation, health care, sustainability and more are set to be on display. And, like last year, artificial intelligence is everywhere you look. The golden CES ticket It seems like…

Fresh from pouring his money and energies into helping Donald Trump win reelection, Elon Musk has trained his sights on Europe, setting off alarm bells among politicians across the continent. The Tesla and SpaceX chief executive has endorsed the far-right Alternative for Germany, demanded the release of jailed U.K. anti-Islam extremist Tommy Robinson and called British Prime…

Immigration has long been a polarising issue in the West but Canada mostly avoided it – until now. With protests and campaign groups springing up in certain quarters, some argue that this – together with housing shortages and rising rents – contributed to Justin Trudeau’s resignation. But could Donald Trump’s arrival inflame it further? At first glance,…

Every evening, Ernest Wong takes five minutes to walk from the front door of his house to the dining table, four metres away. His steps are unbalanced, even with the aid of a walking stick the 42-year-old – diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a toddler – grips tightly. And every evening, his mother sits at the table,…

The race to be Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s successor kicked off on Tuesday, a day after he resigned amid a looming trade war with the United States and a divisive political climate at home. The country’s new leader is likely to face elections within weeks of taking over from Trudeau in March. With the incumbent Liberal…

Two people have been found dead in the landing gear compartment of a JetBlue plane after a routine inspection in Florida. The airline said the flight had most recently landed in Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International after travelling from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport with the flight number 1801. JetBlue confirmed the bodies were discovered during a…

A soldier who exploded a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas used generative AI – including ChatGPT – to help plan the attack, police have said. Matthew Livelsberger, 37, a US Army Green Beret, fatally shot himself just before the truck blew up outside the hotel on New Year’s Day. Police in Las Vegas…

Jess Phillips has said she has “more important things to be thinking about” than Elon Musk after he accused her of being a “rape genocide apologist”. The safeguarding minister has hit back at the billionaire’s criticism of her for the first time, telling Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast that his claims are…

US president-elect Donald Trump has refused to rule out military or economic action to seize the Panama Canal and Greenland – as he said he believes NATO spending should be increased to 5% per member state. Speaking at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, Mr Trump made a series of sweeping claims on what his policies could look like when he…

A state of emergency has been declared by the governor of California as wildfires, fuelled by high winds, sweep through the suburbs of Los Angeles. Firefighters are battling the fast-moving blaze which is sweeping an exclusive LA hillside dotted with celebrity homes. Posting on X, Governor Gavin Newsome said: “I’ve proclaimed a state of emergency to support…

More than 400 people in Tibet trapped by a deadly earthquake in the foothills of the Himalayas have been rescued, Chinese officials said on Wednesday, but an unknown number remained unaccounted for in severe cold weather. The epicentre of Tuesday’s magnitude 6.8 quake, one of the region’s most powerful tremors in recent years, was located in Tingri…

Electric vehicle producer BYD (002594.SZ), brought hundreds of Chinese workers on irregular visas to build a factory in Brazil, a key labor inspector told Reuters on Tuesday, adding the company has pledged to comply with local labor laws for the workers remaining in the country. A total of 163 of those workers, hired by BYD contractor Jinjiang,…

Fast food giant McDonald’s has been rocked by fresh claims that young staff in the UK were subjected to sexual and other forms of harassment by restaurant managers More than 700 current and ex McDonald’s staff are suing the firm over ­allegations bosses sexually abused them as teenagers. The burger giant has been hit by new claims…

AN arctic blast has left death and devastation in its path, with at least six people killed by frozen roads and frigid temperatures. One victim was found frozen to death at a bus stop while desperately seeking shelter from Winter Storm Blair as another bout of weather fury is set to blow through the US. On Monday,…

Elon Musk’s dad has said that people should ‘ignore’ his son if they disagree with his views as the tech billionaire continues to attack Britain’s Labour party via his X platform. Errol Musk responded to the tycoon’s withering assault on Sir Keir Starmer and other senior figures in the party over their record on tackling the child…

Donald Trump Jr. is heading to Greenland, visiting the Danish territory as his father has continued to stoke seemingly far-fetched suggestions that the U.S. could take control of it. The younger Trump is going for a day trip to shoot video content for podcasting and will not be meeting with any government officials or political figures, according…

Apple has said it will update, rather than pause, a new artificial intelligence (AI) feature that has generated inaccurate news alerts on its latest iPhones. The company, in its first acknowledgement of the concerns, on Monday said it was working on a software change to “further clarify” when the notifications are summaries that have been generated by…

North Korea has claimed it fired a new intermediate-range ballistic missile tipped with a hypersonic warhead which “will reliably contain any rivals in the Pacific region”. The launch on Monday – Pyongyang’s first in two months – came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Seoul for talks with some of South Korea’s key leaders.…

At least five people have died in a winter storm that has seized a swathe of the US in its icy grip, leading to mass school closures, travel chaos and power cuts. Seven US states declared emergencies: Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky and Arkansas. More than 2,300 flights have been cancelled, with nearly 9,000 delays…

Warning: This story contains distressing details. Just before New Year, 21-year-old Shatha al-Sabbagh was out buying chocolate for her family’s children from a shop in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank. The “fearless” journalism student – who wanted to shed light on the suffering of the Palestinians – was with her mother, two young nephews and another…

After a year of actual normalcy (one without strikes or a pandemic), Hollywood is back to its regularly scheduled programming, which includes a fun and frenzied Golden Globes. The enjoyable but unserious cousin of the awards shows has finally found its stride, post-Hollywood Foreign Press Association scandals. Following an absolute dud of a ceremony last January, the…

It’s been less than 24 hours since the Golden Globes ceremony, but the producers behind the Jan. 5 kudocast are already looking at bringing back host Nikki Glaser for an encore next year. “We absolutely had a great experience with her, and think that she would be great at this in the long term,” executive producer Glenn…

A recent outbreak of Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) in China has sparked global concern, with Malaysia reporting hundreds of cases and India detecting two cases. China has, meanwhile, downplayed the situation, claiming that the country remains safe for travelers. Rising Cases in Malaysia Malaysia has seen a significant increase in HMPV cases. In 2024, 327 cases were reported,…

Elon Musk is facing a whirlwind of criticism after using a slur against an X user on Monday, just days after demanding that users post more positive content. The incident came about when Joni Askola, a Finnish doctoral candidate, tweeted, “Elon Musk is rapidly becoming the largest spreader of disinformation in human history, hijacking political debates in…

Louisiana health authorities on Monday reported the first human death in the United States linked to bird flu, while noting the patient had underlying medical conditions and that general risks to the public remained “low.” The patient, aged over 65, had been hospitalized in the southern state since at least mid-December, when the US Centers for Disease…