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13+ min ago (164+ words) The death toll from the destruction of the buildings includes several children. At least 19 people have been killed and 16 injured by the collapse of two buildings in Morocco's historic Fes city, according to the state news agency. The death toll from the collapse of the four-storey buildings on Wednesday included children, local media reported. The buildings were inhabited by eight families and were in the Al-Mustaqbal neighborhood, the state agency said. Police and civil protection services rushed to the site, social media footage showed. The injured were transported to the university hospital centre in Fes, the state news agency reported. In September, deteriorating living conditions in Morocco caused protests over poverty and public services. In 2023, the government identified more than 12,000 buildings in Marrakesh and nearby regions as being vulnerable, according to local media reports. Some authorities have suggested that many…...

24+ min ago (1153+ words) The worst cyclone to hit the Indian Ocean island in a century uprooted fully-grown crops of tea, a key source of export revenue. Colombo, Sri Lanka " Sundaram Muttupillai, 46, had been working on a tea estate in Thalawakelle in Sri Lanka's central district of Nuwara Eliya since he turned 17. However, a devastating cyclone last week, the worst to hit the Indian Ocean island in a century, has left him without work or a home. Cyclone Ditwah left a huge trail of destruction across the island, killing at least 635 people and affecting more than two million people, or a 10th of the country's population.Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake declared a state of emergency last week and named 22 of the island's 25 districts as disaster zones. Central Sri Lanka " the country's tea and vegetable heartland " was the worst hit, with official data on…...

38+ min ago (222+ words) President Donald Trump was roundly mocked on Tuesday night after he issued his latest threat to The New York Times over its overage of his health. Trump made a winding post on Truth Social after his speech in Monroe County, Pennsylvania on Tuesday that was supposed to be about affordability, but often touched on other points such as immigration and domestic policy. In the post, he called the NYT's reporting on his health 'treasonous' and said the country would be better off if the newspaper stopped printing. "I actually believe it's seditious, perhaps even treasonous, for The New York Times, and others, to consistently do FAKE reports in order to libel and demean 'THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,'" Trump wrote. "They are true Enemies of the People, and we should do something about it." :They have inaccurately reported on…...

52+ min ago (794+ words) Trump's sometimes incoherent Politico interview featured recycled far-right tropes about European immigration " key US politics stories from Tuesday 9 December at a glance Donald Trump has hinted he could walk away from supporting Ukraine as he doubled down on his administration's recent criticism of Europe, describing it as "weak" and "decaying" and claiming it was "destroying itself" through immigration. In a rambling and sometimes incoherent interview with Politico, a transcript of which was released on Tuesday, the US president struggled to name any other Ukrainian cities except for Kyiv, misrepresented elements of the trajectory of the conflict, and recycled far-right tropes about European immigration that echoed the "great replacement" conspiracy theory. Trump called for Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to accept his proposal to cede territory to Russia, arguing that Moscow retained the "upper hand" and that Zelenskyy's government must "play ball…...

1+ hour, 10+ min ago (366+ words) The European Union is fast-tracking plans to preserve peace without the aid of the United States following comments from Donald Trump's administration. A defense official representing a European country told Politico that "awkward" conversations over America's involvement in the continent were now being prioritized as the "uncertainty" of how the US would react to global conflicts is "just too high". The preparation comes following the release of the Trump administration's National Security Strategy. Though the administration has played a part in peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, the National Security Strategy makes it clear the US will no longer prop up "the entire world order". Such comments have caused uncertainty in European nations, some of which are now fast-tracking plans for a continent without America's influence. Trump's discontent was made clear in an interview earlier this week where he said…...

1+ hour, 22+ min ago (840+ words) How Iran's 'hostage diplomacy' evolved since 1979 Iraq braces for fresh US penalties over Iran-backed groups Life spared of Iran child bride sentenced to death: judiciary How Netanyahu's pardon request could reshape Israeli politics A fragile dawn: Syria's first year after Assad Yasser Abu Shabab's death: Israel's failed proxy gambit in Gaza Gaza's Yellow Line of Death Return to Syria: Rebuilding lives a year after Assad's fall Against all odds, Gaza's amputee children learn to walk again Meet the Rawis reawakening Saudi Arabia's oldest oral tradition On 4 November 1979, more than four decades ago, Islamist Iranian students stormed the US embassy in Tehran and took 62 American staff hostage. That crisis lasted 444 days'a moment few imagined would help define Iran's foreign policy for decades. The recent conditional release of a French couple, as a British couple remains imprisoned, has once again brought the…...

1+ hour, 24+ min ago (324+ words) On this week's show, the panel talks about the film Jay Kelly, the filmed stage show Merrily We Roll Along, and the story of the Warner Brothers acquisition. In our third segment, the panel turns to another showbiz saga full of bitter regret: the fight to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery. Joined by writer and Hollywood watcher Mark Harris, they untangle the fight between Netflix and Paramount to outbid each other for the legacy film studio'and what it all has to do with Trump and the future of movie-going itself. Act now, there's still time to leave us a voicemail with your burning cultural queries for our annual call-in show by calling us at 347-201-2397. June: The novel The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor. Julia: The work of the late, beloved Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry and the essay remembering his legacy…...

1+ hour, 27+ min ago (209+ words) His fantastical claims have become more unhinged. This is especially troubling given that he is the oldest president ever to be sworn in and has a family history of Alzheimer's. Trump even seems to be confused about when he was president. And he keeps claiming that the Epstein files were a hoax created by his predecessors, even though the arrest and demise of Trump's close friend Jeffrey Epstein happened during Trump's own first term. Paranoia and anger are common symptoms of dementia; so is a loss of impulse control. All have become cornerstones of Trump's second term. Trump's Cabinet could invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. Instead, Stephen Miller, Russell Vought, JD Vance, and RFK Jr. seem to be feeding into Trump's paranoid delusions to increase their own power and advance their own fanatical agendas. A person suffering…...

1+ hour, 34+ min ago (482+ words) The US president made baseless claims during remarks on cost of living that meandered into racism and bigotry Donald Trump made a series of false and baseless claims in Pennsylvania on Tuesday during a speech that was billed as an address on affordability, but quickly became a meandering, campaign-style rally. Here are some key fact-checks and takeaways: The president, once again, claimed that "prices are way down. In fact, prices have increased during Trump's second term. The consumer price index shows that average prices were 1.7% higher in September than they were in January, as CNN outlined in a recent fact-check. There was a 0.3% increase in consumer prices in September, largely due to a 4.1% surge in gasoline prices. Prices were 3% higher in September this year compared with September 2024. In one striking tangent, Trump repeated false claims about Ilhan Omar, the Minnesota…...

1+ hour, 36+ min ago (584+ words) Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Russian, Chinese planes entered its air defence zone during the joint exercise. By Ted Regencia and News Agencies South Korea and Japan separately scrambled fighter jets after Russian and Chinese military aircraft conducted a joint air patrol near both countries. Seven Russian and two Chinese aircraft entered South Korea's Air Defence Identification Zone (KADIZ) at approximately 10am local time (01:00 GMT) on Tuesday, according to the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul. The planes, which included fighter jets and bombers, were spotted before they entered the KADIZ " which is not territorial airspace but where planes are expected to identify themselves " and South Korea deployed "fighter jets to take tactical measures in preparation for any contingencies, according to reports. The Russian and Chinese planes flew in and out of the South Korean air defence…...