Top World News
Exeter University approves deal with Saudi Arabia to train military officers and officials
In move that could generate millions, Exeter academics to deliver MA at National Defense University in RiyadhThe University of Exeter has approved plans for a “formal partnership” with Saudi Arabia to train senior military officers and government officials, despite long-held concerns about the Saudi government’s human rights record, the Guardian has learned.In a deal that could generate millions of pounds for the Russell Group university, Exeter academics will deliver an MA in applied security and strategy (also known as an MStrat) to a cohort at the National Defense University (NDU) in Riyadh. Continue reading...
Trump Announces US Space Academy To Train Military, Civilian Recruits
The United States is competing with China in the race to land astronauts on the Moon before 2030, more than 50 years after humans first walked the lunar surface.
SpaceX Recovers Starship From Indian Ocean A Month After Launch
Elon Musk's company is now in the process of shipping Starship back to its home base in Texas, a trip expected to take several months.
‘In walked this big bundle of energy’: the day Dolly Parton came to Rotherham
Country star came to South Yorkshire town in 2007 for UK launch of the Imagination Library, her book donation schemeShane Jarman was up a ladder decorating a Christmas tree at the school where he was deputy headteacher when he got a call asking him to come to Rotherham hospital ASAP. It was December 2007 and Jarman’s wife, Claire, had given birth the previous day to their first child, a girl called Emma, so of course he rushed to the phone. All was well, he was told, but that “everything would become clear” when he got to the hospital.Once there, his wife told him – somewhat unexpectedly – that they were going to meet Dolly Parton. “And literally within what felt like five minutes,” he recalled, “there were great camera flashes, lots of noise, lots of clicking and in walked this real big bundle of energy.” Continue reading...
Statins can safely cut risk of heart attacks or strokes in healthy people aged over 70, world-first clinical trial shows
Australian-led trial finds low risk of side effects from common cholesterol-lowering medication for otherwise healthy older peopleTaking a common cholesterol-lowering medication can reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke for people aged over 70, with a low risk of serious side effects, a world-first clinical trial led by Australian researchers has found.Statins are already commonly prescribed to people under the age of 75 who meet certain risk criteria, such as having diabetes and high cholesterol, to prevent them from having a major heart event such as a heart attack, stroke, or from requiring heart surgery. Continue reading...
Gunfire and explosions reported in Niger's capital, local media and witness say
Local media and an Associated Press witness say heavy gunfire and explosions were heard overnight into Saturday morning in Niger’s capital of Niamey
Hilarity, unease and relief: games show China is not over the finish line in humanoid robot race
World Humanoid Robot Games showcased leaps Beijing has made in the tech, but also highlighted limitations as US rivals prepare their own launchesWith exploding pelvises, enough comic pratfalls for a Buster Keaton show reel and the odd moment of ruthless violence, the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing gripped the world this week with an unsettling mixture of hilarity, trepidation and relief.The five-day showcase staked out China’s claim to undisputed leadership in humanoid robotics as android martial artists landed knockout roundhouse kicks and robot teams marched into the arena heralded by flag-waving captains astride giant robotic dogs. The games’ blue-riband event, the 100m, did not disappoint when the robot-sprinters ran quicker than Usain Bolt before slamming mindlessly into a padded wall in a blaze of sparks, flames and flying mechanical limbs. Continue reading...
Ireland will be united, says Gordon Brown
Former PM believes Northern Ireland will leave UK in the long term – but remains opposed to Scottish independence‘I don’t want to be a backseat driver’: Gordon Brown on Burnham, billionaires – and his vision for a better BritainThe former prime minister Gordon Brown has said it is inevitable that Ireland will become united at some point in the future, in a wide-ranging interview with the Guardian.While he added that any union would necessarily be “a long process” and based on mutual agreement, Brown’s comments are notable both because of his vehement opposition to Scottish independence, but also because of his involvement in government in efforts to bring peace to Northern Ireland. Continue reading...
‘The butcher may be gone, but to many he is a hero’: victims condemn glorification of Mladić
Architect of Srebrenica genocide is dead but those scarred by his atrocities say his ideology is still shockingly pervasiveTo most of the world, he was and will always be the “Butcher of Bosnia”, a grim epithet but one that still fails to fully convey the evil and horror inflicted on its people by Gen Ratko Mladić, who died in prison on Thursday.As commander of the Bosnian Serb forces, Mladić was responsible for the killing of an estimated 100,000 men, women and children during the savage breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. He was most notoriously the architect of ethnic cleansing and the genocide at Srebrenica in which at least 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were slaughtered. Continue reading...
What we know about the Australians missing in the Nepal floods
More than 40 Australians are among several thousand people unaccounted for after catastrophic flooding on the Nepal-Tibet borderHow the deadly Nepal and Tibet flash flood unfolded – a visual guideGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAn 11-year-old child, an ADF member and many other pilgrims and trekkers have been named among the Australians missing after deadly flash floods and landslides tore through valleys on the Nepal-Tibet border.As of Saturday there were 41 Australians among almost 2,500 people reported missing in the disaster, including at least 777 foreigners. At least 93,000 people were estimated to have been affected by the disaster, according to the Red Cross. Continue reading...
Search continues as number missing in Nepal-Tibet floods rises to 2,478 – as it happened
This live blog is now closed‘The flood took everything I have’: survivors grieve for relatives and homes swept away in NepalVisual guide: how the deadly flooding unfoldedTell us: have you been affected by the flash floods?More now on the Nepali army’s rescue operation to save about 100 people trapped in a tunnel at a hydropower project swamped by Wednesday’s flooding.“Two helicopters have been dispatched but it is challenging because it is tough to even locate the entry points of the tunnel,” army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet told AFP.Relief efforts are also under way to provide the rescued people what they need.The army is still working to safely evacuate more than 100 people trapped in the same tunnel. Continue reading...
Europe's summer drought threatens fish in rivers, lakes and farms
Extreme drought and heat have severely impacted the Danube River and surrounding regions
