Author: AFP
Joe Biden on Saturday awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 honorees, bestowing the highest civilian honor in the United States on entertainers, sports stars, activists and diplomats including Jane Goodall and Hillary Clinton. Among those receiving honors from the outgoing US president were singer and activist Bono, basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, longtime Vogue editor Anna Wintour, soccer superstar Lionel Messi, actors Denzel Washington and Michael J. Fox, and fashion designer Ralph Lauren. Posthumous recipients included Fannie Lou Hamer, a Black civil rights activist. In a White House ceremony, Biden praised the group of “truly extraordinary people who…
The United States’ top government doctor on Friday called for health warnings on alcoholic drinks to highlight that they cause cancer and urged a reassessment of daily consumption limits due to the risks. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said that the connection between alcohol and cancer has been known since the 1980s, with mounting evidence reinforcing the dangers. Yet, mandatory warning labels fail to address the health threat. “Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer, responsible for about 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States,” Murthy said in a statement, emphasizing that this toll exceeds…
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has cancelled her travel plans until mid-January because of a “severe” case of pneumonia, her office said Friday. The German politician, 66, is carrying out her duties from her home city of Hanover and remains in close contact with her team, a spokesman for the commission said. “The president has cancelled her external engagements for the first two weeks of January. She is dealing with a severe pneumonia,” the spokesman said. Among the events that von der Leyen, who has led the commission since 2019, had to call off were a speech in…
Donald Trump doubled down Thursday on linking the deadly New Orleans truck-ramming attack to President Joe Biden’s border policies, even though the attacker was identified as a US citizen and military veteran. The Republican, hours after the attack early Wednesday morning, claimed to have been vindicated in saying on the campaign trail that “criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in the country.” Law enforcement later identified Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Texan, as the driver of the pickup truck who plowed into a crowd of New Year’s revelers, killing 15. Biden described the attack as “despicable,”…
Donald Trump doubled down Thursday on linking the deadly New Orleans truck-ramming attack to President Joe Biden’s border policies, even though the attacker was identified as a US citizen and military veteran. The Republican, hours after the attack early Wednesday morning, claimed to have been vindicated in saying on the campaign trail that “criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in the country.” Law enforcement later identified Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Texan, as the driver of the pickup truck who plowed into a crowd of New Year’s revelers, killing 15. Biden described the attack as “despicable,”…
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the achievements made under his rule in a New Year’s Eve speech on Tuesday marking 25 years since he came to power. “We still have a lot to decide but we can be rightfully proud of what has already been done,” Putin said in the annual address aired on state television.
The German government, under fire for failing to prevent a deadly car-ramming attack on a Christmas market, argued on Monday that the tragedy would have been hard to prevent and said that the suspect appeared to be mentally disturbed. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser along with security and intelligence chiefs faced questioning by a parliamentary committee about the attack that killed five people and wounded more than 200, and on whether there had been missed clues and security lapses. Faeser said no motive had yet been established for the December 20 attack in the eastern city of Magdeburg, where a Saudi…
Russia and Ukraine swapped more than 300 prisoners of war on Monday in an exchange brokered by the United Arab Emirates ahead of New Year’s Eve, officials from both countries said. The two sides have exchanged hundreds of captive soldiers since Russia began its military assault on Ukraine in February 2022, in one of the few areas of cooperation. “On 30 December, as a result of the negotiation process, 150 Russian servicemen were returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime. In return, 150 Ukrainian army prisoners of war were handed over,” the Russian defence ministry said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr…
Syria’s leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said Sunday that his country needed ties with Iran, a major ally of deposed leader Bashar al-Assad, but said relations had to be based on mutual “respect” for sovereignty. “Syria cannot continue without relations with an important regional country like Iran, but they must be based on respect for the sovereignty of both countries and non-interference in the affairs of both countries,” Sharaa said in an interview with Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television.
Syria’s leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said new elections could take four years and that drafting a new constitution could take three, in an interview with Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television on Sunday. “The election process could take four years,” Sharaa said, three weeks after leading opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and allied anti-regime groups ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, adding: “We need to rewrite the constitution” which could take “two or three years.”