Today is the 120th anniversary of Henry Royce and Charles Rolls forming the luxury car maker Rolls-Royce. Jesse W. Reno invented the first working escalator and received his patent on this day. Yoko Ono unveiled a seven-foot bronze statue of John Lennon overlooking the check-in hall of Liverpool’s John Lennon airport. Will.i.am celebrates his 51st birthday.
Since the United States and Israel first attacked Iran on Feb. 28, war has exploded across the Middle East. At least 1,444 Iranians had been killed as of March 13, including at least 168 children who were killed in a strike on an elementary school. Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon has killed more than 600 people and displaced over 800,000. Iran's …
The US-Israeli war on Iran has affected the production of fertilizer in the Persian Gulf. The conflict has closed the Strait of Hormuz and choked off shipping routes. Fertilizer production in the Gulf is dominated by China, the US, India, and Russia, but Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar are the ninth, tenth, and eleventh-largest producers of nitrogen fertilizers. Urea is …
The conflict in the Middle East could divert new capital to Hong Kong due to the city's stability and regulatory certainty. Christopher Hui Ching-yu said the government would step up efforts to attract family offices and become a commodity trading hub. Since the outbreak of the US-Israel strikes against Iran in late February, the financial and legal sectors in Hong …
Trump's executive order raised the fee for H-1B visas to $100,000. It's unclear what effect, if any, the new rules will have on hiring, immigration, and the workforce. The fee hike is disproportionately affecting rural schools and hospitals. Alaska has nearly 600 international teachers, 341 of whom are on H- 1B visas.
Francois Kaserake Kamate is a climate and human rights activist from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). For 13 years he has been involved in non-violent movements for justice and accountability. Kamate has been arrested countless times, had to relocate to Kinshasa, and even lost his job as an educator. He believes ignorance, poverty and corruption are the three …
Colossal Biosciences, valued at $10.2bn, has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from celebrities including Tiger Woods and Paris Hilton. Last year it announced it had made the dire wolf, a species lost from the world for more than 10,000 years, "de-extinct" via the birth of three new pups. Colossal is doing this by sourcing ancient DNA from …
2026 Iran conflict created a major geopolitical shock that rattled global markets. It pushed investors to reassess traditional safe-haven assets such as gold and emerging alternatives like Bitcoin. Bitcoin experienced volatility but recovered quickly, reflecting its growing role as an alternative asset. The strength of the US dollar played a key role in shaping both gold and Bitcoin’s performance. Gold's …
The Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb are the most important maritime chokepoints in the Middle East. Since the 1980s, the two-way trade between the Gulf and Asia has boomed, but little was done to protect their supply chains. The current conflict between the US and Iran has exposed the "structural tension" in the Gulf-Asia economic relationship.
More than 900 people have signed an open letter to the owners of the website internationalwomensday.com. Belinda Jane Batt, a coach who works with mothers, and Mo Kanjilal, founder of a training company focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, wrote the letter. They believe the website has been exploiting a social movement for financial gain without addressing the structural issues …
More than 300,000 people from over 60 countries have been recruited into Southeast Asia’s scam operations. Some were deceived or trafficked and subjected to a “litany of abuse” including torture, sexual assault and forced labour. The International Justice Mission has helped nearly 2,700 victims of forced labour and cyberscams since 2021.
Brandon Sigaran Cruz, 21, was deported to El Salvador on March 15, last year. He was among more than 260 migrants sent to CECOT, an infamous megaprison known for human rights abuses. He has been imprisoned without access to a lawyer, contact with his family and no prospect of a trial before a judge in El Salvador.
The first time Dr. Menno Oosterhoff ended a patient’s life was when she was 18 years old and had been diagnosed with OCD, an eating disorder, and autism. Dutch law gave him the power to grant her request. In 2002, the Netherlands began allowing doctors to administer death to patients who make “voluntary and well-considered” pleas to end “unbearable” suffering.
The military operation in Iran entered its sixth day on Sunday. Joint Italian-American base in Kuwait was hit by an Iranian drone strike. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claims the new Supreme Leader Motjaba Khamenei is in good health and in control of the situation. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright expects the conflict with Iran to be over within the …
Iranian drones struck Nakhchivan International Airport in Azerbaijan on March 5. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev mobilised the army, recalled diplomats from Tehran and suspended cross-border truck traffic. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev issued an unusually sharp condemnation.
Two of Ali and Waed Odeh's children were shot in the head in Tammun, West Bank. They were going to buy new clothes for Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan this week. The Odehs' two surviving children had shrapnel wounds. Israel's military and police say they opened fire after a car accelerated toward them. Israel …