Frankfurt am Main, Germany | AFP | Luxury automaker Daimler on Friday said it was scrapping “thousands” of jobs to help fund the switch to electric vehicles, in the latest layoffs to hit the stuttering German car industry. The Mercedes-Benz maker said it wanted to save 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 …
Read More »Romania’s 1989 revolution generation await ex-president’s trial
Bucharest, Romania | AFP | On the morning of December 22, 1989, Bogdan Stan drank his usual cup of coffee and went to join the wave of protests against Romania’s communist regime. Shortly after that, he was shot and killed in front of the public TV building. Almost 30 years later, …
Read More »Malta PM says no immunity for top suspect in journalist killing
Valletta, Malta | AFP | Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said Friday the main suspect in the 2017 killing of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia would not be granted immunity to disclose what he knows about the case. After an emergency cabinet meeting that dragged on for more than six hours …
Read More »Responsible finance bets on green future
Paris, France | AFP | It’s a jungle out there as responsible finance investors seek ways to fund a green future for the planet. Here is a look at key terms used in the “green” investment world, and whether its various schemes are having a positive impact. – SRI or ESG? …
Read More »Macron, NATO chief hold talks in ‘brain death’ row
Paris, France | AFP | NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg will on Thursday confront Emmanuel Macron in Paris over the French president’s claim the alliance is suffering “brain death”, a charge that has set the stage for a testy NATO summit next week. Macron delivered his damning assessment in an interview earlier …
Read More »Labour accuses UK PM of plot to ‘sell’ NHS to Trump
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Britain’s main opposition Labour party on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of plotting a “toxic” deal with President Donald Trump to allow US pharmaceutical companies access to the state health service. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn held up what he claimed were 451 pages of …
Read More »Five years after sanctions, Russian cheeses getting top marks
Korolyov, Russia | AFP | Elvira Kovtun made her first cheese in a pot in her kitchen four years ago. Kovtun, a housewife and mostly self-taught cheesemaker, became so good that she and her husband decided to turn her passion into a business. Last month, the high-school sweethearts and parents of …
Read More »Trump says will designate Mexican cartels as ‘terror’ groups
Washington, United States | AFP | US President Donald Trump said in an interview posted online Tuesday that he planned to designate Mexican drug cartels as terror groups. The move comes after Trump called for a “war” on the cartels in early November when nine women and children from a Mormon …
Read More »Thousands rally worldwide against abuse of women
Paris, France | AFP | Tens of thousands have rallied across the world to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, as France unveiled new measures to combat domestic violence. Demonstrators on Monday gathered in countries as diverse as Guatemala, Russia, Sudan and Turkey, where riot police …
Read More »At Instagram hotspot, LOLs trump likes
Cologne, Germany | AFP | Crammed into a supermarket trolley, Kiki Malliora squealed with laughter as she rolled past her sister at Cologne’s pop-up selfie museum, where visitors said having fun outweighs the hunt for “likes” in a changing social media landscape. “Sure, the setting is fake,” said the 38-year-old office …
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