A holiday paradise turned into a scene of panic after a massive fire broke out at a beachfront hotel in the Dominican Republic. Leaving one tourist dead and forcing nearly 1,700 guests to evacuate. The victim was identified as 46-year-old Italian visitor Francesca Valentino. She died during the blaze at the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach
How does a simple marketing campaign turn into a national controversy overnight? In South Korea, Starbucks has just found out the hard way. The company’s local CEO has been dismissed after a promotional campaign — “Tank Day” — sparked outrage. For being seen as a reference to one of the country’s most painful historical events:
How do you return to a place that once held your entire life — after it’s been reduced to ashes? For residents of Tai Po District, that question is painfully real. Months after a devastating fire tore through the Wang Fuk Court complex, survivors like 59-year-old Fanny Mok are finally being allowed back — but
NASA has launched its high-stakes Artemis II from Kennedy Space Center. Sending a crew of three Americans and one Canadian on a historic journey around the Moon. The massive Space Launch System roared into the sky, carrying the Orion capsule into orbit—marking the first crewed lunar mission in over 50 years. So what’s the plan?
After striking a controversial deal with the United States Department of Defense, CEO Sam Altman admitted the rollout felt “opportunistic and sloppy.” So, what changed? New safeguards. Most notably, OpenAI says its systems will not be used to spy on Americans. A line it now wants clearly written into the contract. The tension didn’t appear
Two years after his death in a Siberian penal colony, the mystery surrounding Alexei Navalny has taken a dramatic turn. British and European officials now say he was killed with epibatidine — a rare toxin derived from South American dart frogs. Yes, dart frogs. The kind better known for rainforest documentaries than geopolitical intrigue. Speaking
A Russian warship has sailed into South African waters. It will join Chinese and Iranian naval vessels for a week-long set of military exercises off Cape Town. This move could further strain Pretoria’s already tense relationship with Washington. The corvette Stoikiy, flying the Russian flag, pulled into False Bay near Simon’s Town, South Africa’s main
Nigeria is reeling after one of the country’s worst-ever school kidnappings. More than 300 children and staff are now believed to have been abducted by gunmen from St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Niger state. The number is even higher than the infamous Chibok abduction. The Christian Association of Nigeria says 303 students and 12
Japan could soon have its first-ever female prime minister — and she’s already shaking things up. Sanae Takaichi, a 64-year-old conservative firebrand, has just been elected leader of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). This puts her on track to take the country’s top job. A former minister, TV host, and self-confessed heavy metal drummer,
What do you do with a diamond the size of a fist? In Antwerp — the glittering heart of the global diamond trade — experts are puzzling over that exact question. Meet “Motswedi,” a jaw-dropping 2,488-carat stone dug out of Botswana’s Karowe mine last summer. It’s the second-largest diamond ever found, weighing about half a
How strong is the US economy, really? A new report from the Labor Department just threw cold water on the narrative of steady job growth. It revealed that the country added 911,000 fewer jobs in the year through March than originally thought. That’s not a small revision. It means the job market was weaker than
The school year in Minneapolis had barely begun when tragedy struck. A gunman dressed in black opened fire on children attending mass at a Catholic school on Wednesday. He killed two young students — just eight and 10 years old — and injured 17 others. He then took his own life. Police say the man,
