The day started with a hurried departure and the promise of a resignation. Sri Lankans woke to the news that overnight President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the man whose family had ruled the island with an iron fist for most of the last two decades, had fled the country having promised to…
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Thousands of firefighters are battling wildfires in Portugal, Spain and southwestern France, in the grip of a heatwave that shows no sign of easing. In northern Portugal, a pilot died when his waterbombing plane crashed in the Foz Coa area, near the Spanish border. Fires are ravaging areas of France’s…
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US President Joe Biden says he raised the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Mr Biden is in Saudi Arabia to rebuild relations, having previously promised to make the country a “pariah” over its human rights record. He said he had…
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In the case of global warming, a few degrees make all the difference. The United Nations’ latest IPCC report emphasizes that the Earth is on a collision course with catastrophic climate change—that is unless, in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement, the global rise in temperatures can be limited to 1.5°C.…
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We’ve covered this topic in the past when the world’s GDP was $88 trillion (2020) and then $94 trillion (2021), and now according to the latest projections, the IMF expects the global economy to reach nearly $104 trillion in nominal value by the end of 2022. Although growth keeps trending upwards, the recovery that was expected…
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US President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Lapid sign joint declaration during meeting in Jerusalem. United States President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid have reiterated their anti-Iran positions in a joint declaration committing to preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The two leaders signed the statement earlier after…
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IMF funds will help avert a potential default and pave the way for more aid from other institutions, friendly nations. Pakistan has reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund, a milestone that would pave the way for the release of an additional $1.2 billion in loans and unlock…
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Gotabaya Rajapaksa arrives in Singapore after fleeing Sri Lanka amid protests over an economic crisis. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has submitted a letter of resignation to the speaker of Sri Lanka’s parliament, a spokesperson for the speaker said, hours after he fled to Singapore. The announcement triggered jubilation in the commercial…
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Heathrow Airport has told airlines to stop selling summer tickets, as the UK’s biggest airport struggles to cope with the rebound in air travel. The airport is limiting the number of passengers who can depart each day over the peak summer months to 100,000, 4,000 fewer than currently scheduled. The…
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Japan has witnessed an extraordinary outpouring of grief and sadness for former prime minister Shinzo Abe who was assassinated in the city of Nara on Friday. The country has seen nothing like it since the death of Emperor Hirohito in 1989. Abe, the country’s longest serving post-war prime minister, inspired…
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