International News

Rwanda-backed rebels are advancing on a third city in eastern Congo, residents say

Feb. 19, 2025

Rwanda-backed rebels appeared to be heading toward a third major city in eastern Congo, residents said Tuesday, as international pressure rose over the M23’s expansion in a mineral-rich region that is critical for global technology. The M23 rebels on Tuesday attacked all the main Congolese army positions on the road to Butembo, a city of 150,000 people, and the situation was rapidly deteriorating, said Auguste Kombi, a civil society leader in Kitsombiro, a town along the road.

Entertainment

Kyle Kuzma shocked Winnie Harlow with a Caribbean proposal: 'We're over the moon'

Feb. 19, 2025

Supermodel Winnie Harlow got the surprise of her life over Valentine's Day weekend. Harlow, 30, and her NBA star beau Kyle Kuzma, 29, revealed in an exclusive interview with Vogue, published Tuesday, that they got engaged during a romantic trip to Turks and Caicos. Disguised as a getaway for the long weekend, Kuzma chartered a private plane filled with roses, balloons, Champagne and chocolate to jet them off to the Caribbean islands. "We're over the moon," Harlow told Vogue. There, the 6-foot-9 Milwaukee Bucks newcomer "threw me off the scent" by choosing Feb. 13 for his proposal. Harlow gushed to Vogue. "I was just like, 'This is so cute for Valentine's Day, oh my gosh!'"

International News

Attacks by Sudan’s RSF leave many dead as force prepares political charter

Feb. 19, 2025

Attacks by Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces have killed more than 200 people over the past three days, activists said Tuesday, as the paramilitary group delayed signing a political charter that could pave the way for a breakaway government. After nearly two years of war between the RSF and Sudan’s army, the RSF controls most of the west of Sudan and parts of the capital, Khartoum, but has been losing ground in central Sudan to the army.

International News

U.S. condemns 'dangerous' Chinese maneuvers after close encounter with Philippine plane

Feb. 19, 2025

The United States condemned Wednesday what it called “dangerous maneuvers” by China after a Chinese navy helicopter flew within 10 feet of a Philippine patrol plane in a disputed area of the South China Sea. The incident took place Tuesday morning local time as a plane belonging to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources was flying what Philippine officials said was a routine low-altitude patrol over the Scarborough Shoal, an atoll that is mostly underwater but is rich in fish stocks.

International News

Sweden’s top court rejects Greta Thunberg’s lawsuit on climate action

Feb. 19, 2025

Sweden’s Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Greta Thunberg and hundreds of other activists cannot proceed with a lawsuit that had sought to force the state to take stronger action against climate change. Activists filed a class action lawsuit in 2022 with a district court, arguing that the state violates rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights by not doing enough to limit climate change, or mitigate its effects.

International News

False killer whales stranded in Australia are expected to be euthanized after unsuccessful rescue mission

Feb. 19, 2025

More than 150 false killer whales have washed up on the coast of the Australian island state of Tasmania, with none of them expected to survive, officials said Wednesday. The 157 whales were found Tuesday afternoon on a remote beach near Arthur River on Tasmania’s northwest coast. By Wednesday afternoon, only 90 appeared to still be alive, The Associated Press reported, citing the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania.

International News

What China fears most about Trump’s turn toward Russia

Feb. 19, 2025

US President Donald Trump’s push to end the war in Ukraine appears poised to hand key concessions to Russia, leaving Kyiv and its European supporters on the sidelines as they face the prospect of a peace deal made over their heads. But they aren’t the only major players grappling with the fallout of Trump’s pivot to Russia that has upended years of US foreign policy in a burst of rapid-fire diplomacy. In Beijing, too, the breakneck turn of events is seen to be raising questions about how the US peace drive will impact Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s carefully wrought partnership with Russian President Vladimir Putin – and China’s precarious relations with the Trump administration.

International News

A conservationist is building bridges in the Amazon so monkeys can cross the road

Feb. 19, 2025

The first time Brazilian biologist Fernanda Abra saw a Groves’ titi monkey, one of the most 25 endangered primates in the world, it was positioned right next to a road. “It was totally exposed to road mortality,” recalls Abra. Although figures vary wildly, by some estimates, 475 million vertebrate animals are killed by vehicles every year in the South American country, which is home to the world’s fourth biggest road network, and the Amazon rainforest.

International News

Israeli hostage families forum receives ‘heart-shattering’ news of Bibas deaths

Feb. 19, 2025

Israel’s Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Wednesday that it had received the “heart-shattering news” that Shiri Bibas and her two young children, Ariel and Kfir, are among the four dead hostages expected to be released from Gaza on Thursday. The body of Oded Lifshitz is also expected to be released on the same day, in what will be the first handover of dead hostages since the ceasefire deal with Hamas went into effect in January. “This news cuts like a knife through our hearts, the families’ hearts and the hearts of people all over the world,” the forum said in a statement. “It is with great sadness that we received the news of the return of Shiri, Kfir and Ariel Bibas, along with Oded Lifshitz, who were kidnapped alive and will return deceased for eternal rest in Israel.”

International News

As Trump’s attacks on Zelensky turn personal, there’s only one winner: Russia

Feb. 19, 2025

The suspicion this was personal always lingered. But there was hope the greater good of both the US and Ukraine would win out. The past 24 hours has seen US President Donald Trump’s slow-burn, apparent dislike for his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, belch out into the open. And with it comes a real and new uncertainty about the future of Ukraine, and more widely the security of Europe. Last week, Trump hinted he felt Zelensky’s poll numbers were low and he would have to face elections, but Tuesday night he dug deeper, falsely stating the wartime leader was at 4 per cent favorability and Ukraine had started the war.