On Wednesday, dozens of Havana residents gathered and watched as Russian warships sailed into Cuba’s main harbour – in the latest display of naval strength by Moscow amid heightened tensions with the United States. The Caribbean nation is a neighbour of the US, which at its closest point, is just about 150 kilometres (94 miles) away, but have had tense relations for decades. While it is not the first time Russian navy ships have visited Cuba, this convoy appears to be the largest in several years. The fleet is expected to stay between June 12 and 17 and the public…
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Earlier this year, BASF had to delay the opening of a battery materials plant in Finland when a court agreed with environmental groups that the company didn’t have a good plan to deal with its wastewater. As battery factories spring up around the world, the specter of wastewater threatens to stall their construction. One startup, though, says the solution isn’t to dispose of it, but recycle it. Wastewater from these plants emerges laden with sodium sulfate, a byproduct of sulfuric acid and caustic soda, two chemicals used in battery manufacturing, copper refining and other industries. “We can totally create a…
A record-breaking 120 million people have been forced to flee their homes by war, violence and persecution – the 12th year in a row the number has increased, the UN refugee agency said. The global displaced population is now equivalent to that of Japan, the agency said. New conflicts in Sudan and Gaza contributed to the rise, which the UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi called a “terrible indictment on the state of the world”. He called on governments to tackle the root causes of the problem, rather than politicising refugees and turning to quick fixes such as closing borders,…
South Korea is extending a ban on stock short selling through March 30 next year and planning harsher penalties for illegal trades. “If short selling is resumed without a monitoring system in place, there is the risk that massive illegal activities may be repeated,” said Kim Soyoung, vice chair at the Financial Services Commission. “It will be allowed from March 31 after the platform is ready,” he said, adding that it’s difficult to say whether the rule change will be applied to all stocks. The government banned the trade in November to root out naked short selling—a practice of selling…
US downplays deployment, which comes amid rising tensions over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s Admiral Gorshkov frigate and the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan, accompanied by a tug boat and a fuel ship, have arrived in Cuba for a five-day visit seen as a show of force by Moscow amid rising tension over its invasion of Ukraine. Curious onlookers, fishermen and police gathered along the Malecon seafront boulevard in Havana to welcome the fleet as it entered the city’s harbour on Wednesday. Cuba, a longtime ally of Russia, saluted the vessels’ arrival with a 21-gun salute, while Russian diplomats waved small…
Millions of American youth are hooked on nicotine—and politicians tore into top public health officials during a contentious hearing Wednesday on the meteoric rise of illegal e-cigarettes. Particularly, the senators blamed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) for not enforcing the Tobacco Control Act, which authorizes federal agencies to regulate tobacco products. “While these two agencies sit on their hands, during both the Trump and Biden administrations, e-cigarette companies addicted a new generation of children to nicotine, erasing the hard work so many of us did to convince them not to smoke tobacco cigarettes,…
Luxury lifestyle brand Virgin Hotels is on track to make its London debut later this year. Virgin Hotels London-Shoreditch is slated to open in August in the city’s trendy Shoreditch neighborhood. The 120-room hotel will be the eighth for the brand. Some might see the move as a long time coming: London is the birthplace of Sir Richard Branson’s broader Virgin Group, which includes subsidiaries like Virgin Hotels and Virgin Atlantic. “We’re all absolutely delighted that Virgin Hotels Collection will be opening a Virgin hotel in London,” Branson said in a statement. “Since the inception of Virgin Hotels, we’ve had…
ChromeOS will “soon be developed on large portions of the Android stack” so that it can roll out AI features at a faster pace, Google announced on Wednesday. The company says it will be embracing things like the Android Linux kernel and Android frameworks “as part of the foundation of ChromeOS.” The changes won’t just mean more AI features, according to Google. The company also noted that they will help “simplify engineering efforts” and “help different devices like phones and accessories work better together with Chromebooks,” as detailed in a blog post. Google surely wants to have Chromebook users trying…
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has told Hamas that it is “time for the haggling to stop”, after its leaders proposed “numerous changes” to a plan for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. He told reporters in Doha that some of the changes were “workable” and others were not, but that the US and mediators Qatar and Egypt would “try to close this deal”. Hamas said on Tuesday that it was ready to “deal positively” with the process but stressed the need for Israel to agree to a permanent ceasefire and full withdrawal from Gaza. The Israeli government…
Attendees of the annual Group of Seven (G7) summit—which gathers leaders from some of the world’s most powerful democracies—are used to rubbing elbows with the likes of President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. This year, as they’re discussing climate change, immigration, and economic security, they’ll be joined by an unlikely guest: Pope Francis. The event, slated for June 13-15 in the Puglia region of Italy, will mark the first time a pope has been in attendance. Though the pontiff lacks the official status associated with state leaders, Francis’ influence—which he’s previously used to raise concerns over climate change…
West was one of the greatest players in NBA history, redefining the modern day shooting guard position in basketball. Jerry West, an iconic 1960s star guard for the Los Angeles Lakers who inspired the NBA logo, died Wednesday at age 86, the Los Angeles Clippers announced. West played for the Lakers from 1960 through 1974, winning his only NBA title in 1972, and was co-captain on the 1960 Rome Olympic US basketball gold medal squad. In later years, West served as an executive on several NBA clubs, most recently the Clippers. With impressive speed and quickness and a deft shooting…
Apple TV+ doesn’t really have original superpowered offerings, leaving that to its competitors like Disney+. But newfound abilities and coming-of-age stories are a pretty classic combination, so Apple TV+ has a new series from writer and showrunner Barry L. Levy that’s attempting to grab a piece of that pie: it’s called Me. Lucian-River Chauhan (a standout performance in the Riz Ahmed-led sci-fi Encounter) leads the 10-episode series as Ben, a 12-year-old student who develops superpowers in middle school — namely being able to transform into other people. Telling only his sister Max (Arrival’s Abigail Pniowsky), Ben must figure out how…