Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has apologised to the president of neighbouring Azerbaijan for the downing of a commercial airliner in Russian airspace, in which 38 people were killed – but stopped short of saying Russia was responsible. In his first comments on the Christmas Day crash, Putin said the “tragic incident” had occurred when Russian…
World chess number one Magnus Carlsen has quit a major tournament after being told he could not carry on playing while wearing jeans. The chess great had been defending his titles at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in New York when officials made the request. The grandmaster said he had offered to…
AFP via Getty Images Singh’s funeral procession through the streets of Delhi India has mourned one of its longest-serving prime ministers, Manmohan Singh, with a state funeral in Delhi. Singh led the country from 2004 to 2014 and was considered the architect of India’s economic liberalisation. He died on Thursday aged 92. Prime Minister Narendra…
If current global trends are correct, in 2025, around 41 million people will die from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs)—which include cancer, heart disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory illness, and severe mental illness—representing around 74 percent of all deaths globally. Despite major advances in medicine over the past few decades, the numbers dying from NCDs are still on…
US President-elect Donald Trump has asked the US Supreme Court to delay an upcoming TikTok ban while he works on a “political resolution”. His lawyer filed a legal brief on Friday with the court that says Trump “opposes banning TikTok” and “seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he…
White House spokesman John Kirby has said the US has seen “early indications” that Russia may have been responsible for the downing of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed on 25 December, killing 38 people. Mr Kirby did not elaborate further, but told reporters the US had offered assistance to the investigation into the crash….
Actress Olivia Hussey, who shot to international prominence as a teenager for her role in the acclaimed 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet, has died aged 73. The Argentinian-born actress, who grew up in London, died on Friday surrounded by her loved ones, a statement posted on her Instagram said. Hussey won the best…
Chester Zoo The snails were marked with ‘colour coded’ identification dots before being released More than 1,300 pea-sized, critically endangered snails that were bred in a zoo have been set free to wander (very slowly) on a remote Atlantic island. The release brings two species of Desertas Island land snails back to the wild. Prior…
BBC Abdullah Al Nofal (left) and his wife Douna Haj Ahmed It was early December when Douna Haj Ahmed, a Syrian refugee, discovered the disturbing details of her husband’s detention in the notorious Al-Khatib prison – known as “Hell on Earth“. She was watching bewildered prisoners fleeing the country’s brutal security apparatus, on the news…
Throughout 2024, CNBC’s Jim Cramer discussed the seemingly boundless rise of artificial intelligence with dozens of CEOs across the tech world. Here is how five top enterprise leaders characterized AI’s meteoric rise this year. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the “AI computing ramp” is only beginning and will last years. Huang in March painted a…
