World News from WN Network

China warns diplomatic ties with US could face 'downward spiral' as Blinken visits Beijing 2024-04-26
France24

China's foreign minister on Friday urged visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to address rising disagreements or risk a "downward spiral" between the two powers after months of efforts to ease tensions. ......

photo: AP / Mark Schiefelbein, Pool

Wave of pro-Palestinian protests on campus meets forceful response 2024-04-26
CyprusMail

Renewed clashes between police and students opposed to Israel’s war in Gaza broke out on Thursday, raising questions about forceful methods being used to shut down protests that have intensified since mass arrests at Columbia University last week. Over the past two days, law enforcement at the...

photo: AP / Jose Luis Magana

Why is Elon Musk feuding with Australia and Brazil over free speech? 2024-04-26
Al Jazeera

Elon Musk, the self-proclaimed free speech absolutist and CEO of X, Tesla, and SpaceX, is once again at the centre of a heated debate about free speech and censorship. Since buying X, the platform formally known as Twitter, in 2022, Musk has sparred with governments and public figures around the...

photo: AP / Patrick Pleul

India election: Second phase of voting today as Modi vs Gandhi campaign heats up 2024-04-26
Khaleejtimes

India began voting on Friday in the second phase of the world's biggest election, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his rivals raise the pitch of the campaign by focusing on hot-button issues such as religious discrimination, affirmative action and taxes. Almost one billion people are eligible to...

photo: AP / Channi Anand

Malaysia’s ex-PM Mahathir faces anticorruption probe 2024-04-26
Al Jazeera

Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is being investigated in connection with a corruption probe involving his sons, the country’s anticorruption agency has confirmed. Azam Baki, chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), said on Thursday that Mahathir was...

photo: AP / Vincent Thian

Gaza Aid Flotilla Prepares to Sail Despite IDF Threat 2024-04-26
Greek City Times

A fleet of ships carrying over 1,000 activists and humanitarians, along with 5,500 tons of supplies, is poised to depart from Istanbul “Constantinople”for Gaza. The flotilla faces potential interception and violence from the Israeli...

photo: AP / Khalil Hamra

Two Trump courtroom dramas could help shape the tone of a future presidency 2024-04-26
CNN

A wild day of often outlandish legal arguments and tabloid tales could not obscure the stakes for the country. Only Donald Trump could conjure a two-city legal spectacle that gave equal billing to the deepest thoughts of George Washington and a former National Enquirer publisher known for lurid...

photo: AP / Alex Brandon

Haiti transitional council ceremony forced to change venue as violence persists 2024-04-25
Saudi Gazette

PORT-AU-PRINCE — A new body tasked with forming Haiti's next government will swear in its members on Thursday, as violence continues in the capital.A swathe of recent gang violence forced officials ......

photo: AP / Ramon Espinosa

New EU trade rules ‘green squeeze’ the Global South 2024-04-25
Asiatimes

The EU parliament has just approved sweeping new rules that will require companies to avoid and mitigate human rights and environmental abuses in their supply chains. These are noble aims. They have been a long time coming. But without careful design and more proactive support for business and...

Hamas official says group would lay down weapons if two-state solution is implemented 2024-04-25
Naharnet

A top Hamas political official told The Associated Press the Islamic militant group is willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel and that it would lay down its weapons and convert into a political party if an independent Palestinian state is established along pre-1967 borders....

photo: AP / Abdel Kareem Hana