WORLD

  Near Baghouz, Syria | AFP | Jihadist fighters made a desperate last stand in eastern Syria on Wednesday, while their wives and children fled the final, blood-soaked implosion of the Islamic State group’s “caliphate”. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces on Saturday launched a final push to expel IS fighters from the sole remaining morsel …

Frankfurt am Main, Germany | AFP | A British departure from the European Union without a deal could put 600,000 jobs around the world at risk, with Germany the hardest hit, a study published Monday found. Researchers at the IWH institute in Halle, eastern Germany, examined what would happen if UK …

Washington, United States | AFP | A major French study published Monday has found for the first time a link between the consumption of ultra-processed foods and a higher risk of death, but researchers warned more work was needed to determine which mechanisms were at play. The study, which involved …

Paris, France | AFP | An artificial intelligence (AI) programme developed in China that combs through test results, health records and even handwritten notes diagnosed childhood diseases as accurately as doctors, researchers said Monday. From the flu and asthma to life-threatening pneumonia and meningitis, the system consistently matched or out-performed primary …

New York, United States | AFP | Over the weekend, from Los Angeles to London, the showbiz A-list strutted their stuff on red carpets for the Grammys and Britain’s Bafta film awards. Halfway between in New York, the style glitterati lined catwalks to preview the trends for next autumn and …

Paris, France | AFP | Nearly half of all insect species worldwide are in rapid decline and a third could disappear altogether, according to a study warning of dire consequences for crop pollination and natural food chains. “Unless we change our way of producing food, insects as a whole will …

  Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump on Monday ordered the US administration to give greater priority to artificial intelligence, a move seen as firing up a battle for leadership with China. The American AI Initiative executive order calls for the administration to “devote the full resources of …

  Islamabad, Pakistan | AFP | Thirty years after Iran called for the killing of Salman Rushdie, the British novelist remains a figure of hate for extremists across the Muslim world, and though the level of outrage has dropped, the issue of blasphemy is as incendiary as ever. Rushdie’s novel “The …

New York, United States | AFP | The stunning revelation that a tabloid obtained below-the-belt selfies of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — the world’s richest man — suggests that even billionaires are not out of the reach of hackers. Bezos came out fighting this week, accusing the National Enquirer of blackmailing …

Los Angeles, United States | AFP | Here is a list of winners in the major categories for the Grammy Awards, which were handed out on Sunday in Los Angeles. Country star Kacey Musgraves won the top prize of the night, Album of the Year, for her “Golden Hour.” Album …