WORLD

BAGHDAD, IRAQ | Xinhua | Iraqi security personnel cast their votes on Saturday in 15 of the country’s 18 provinces ahead of the provincial elections slated for Monday following a 10-year hiatus. The voting began after 7 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) when soldiers and policemen lined up to cast …

BEIJING | Xinhua | A Chinese defense spokesperson has urged the U.S. side to exercise caution on the Taiwan question and the South China Sea issue. Zhang Xiaogang, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, made the remarks in response to a media query regarding a U.S. warship illegally intruding …

ST. PETERSBURG | Xinhua |  The value of Russia’s gold reserves has exceeded 150 billion U.S. dollars for the first time in contemporary history, due to the rise in gold prices, RIA Novosti news agency reported on Thursday. The value of Russia’s gold investments in November increased by 2.2 percent, …

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM | THE INDEPENDENT | European Union (EU) leaders agreed on Thursday to open EU accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova and to grant candidate status to Georgia. The EU will also open negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina once the necessary degree of compliance with the membership criteria is …

JERUSALEM | Xinhua |  Mohamed Ghraib, a Palestinian taxi driver, is waiting for his business at the Israeli side of the Qalandia checkpoint 15 km away from Jerusalem, but not much luck has come to him so far. “Before the Israel-Hamas conflict, at this time of the day and this …

Dubai, UAE | THE INDEPENDENT |  Uganda’s Michael Okao, Darius Ogwang and Joshua Elem have won this year’s Commonwealth Sustainable Energy Transition Award for the best technical solution for their solar concentrator that harnesses renewable energy for clean cooking. They are students of Comboni College in Lira. The Commonwealth Secretariat announced …

NAIROBI, KENYA | Xinhua | Foreign visitors to Kenya will not be required to have a visa beginning January 2024, President William Ruto announced Tuesday during the celebration of Jamhuri Day, or Independence Day, held in Nairobi, the capital. Ruto said all foreign nationals will enter the county without a …

RAMALLAH,PALESTINE | Xinhua | Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Rula Maayah said Wednesday that Palestine’s tourism industry is expected to lose 200 million U.S. dollars by the end of the year under the impact of Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip. In a statement published by the official Palestinian news …

Dubai, UAE | THE INDEPENDENT | The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) closed on Wednesday with an agreement that signals the “beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era. Delegates from over 190 countries who have been meeting for the last two weeks, finally agreed on a text …

It reflects growing concerns over the ability of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to deceive and dehumanise COMMENT | ROGER J. KREUZ |  When Merriam-Webster announced that its word of the year for 2023 was “authentic,” it did so with over a month to go in the calendar year. Even then, the …