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Facebook Tweet Email Link Ghana’s defense and environment ministers are among eight people killed after a military helicopter crashed in the southern Ashanti region on Wednesday, according to the chief of staff to the Ghanian president. Defense Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed were among the five passengers on board the helicopter, as well as three crew members. Ghana’s Armed Forces said earlier on Wednesday that it had lost contact with a Z9 helicopter that was en route from the capital of Accra to Obuasi, a mining town in southern Ghana. Julius Debrah, the chief of…

Facebook Tweet Email Link A dinner scheduled Wednesday night at Vice President JD Vance’s residence was seen as an opportunity for Trump administration officials to realign amid the ongoing Jeffrey Epstein scandal, according to four people familiar with the situation. That would include a potential chance for Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, who had been at odds over the response, to clear the air. As of Wednesday afternoon, administration officials familiar with the meeting said the dinner was now in flux, given its intense coverage, and it was unclear whether it would ultimately be called off,…

Facebook Tweet Email Link London  —  The Royal Ballet and Opera (RBO), one of Britain’s most prestigious arts institutions, has canceled its planned production of “Tosca” in Israel after a widespread staff backlash. In a recent open letter, 182 members of staff said they “reject” holding current or future performances in Israel because of its war in Gaza. The RBO had planned to stage the three-act opera, which dramatizes the “devastation of war,” in collaboration with the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv next year. But the signatories accused the RBO of having “chosen to actively support the Israeli state” while…

Facebook Tweet Email Link President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced sweeping and substantial tariffs on India, one of America’s most important trading partners. In addition to a 25% tariff that is set to go into effect Thursday, Trump also announced an additional 25% tariff on India that will go into effect later this month as punishment for importing Russian oil and gas. Those combined penalties would bring the total tariff on goods imported from the world’s fifth-largest economy to a whopping 50% – among the highest the US charges. The latest executive order, according to a document posted on the…

Facebook Tweet Email Link The US State Department has voiced rare support for El Salvador’s decision to abolish presidential term limits, paving the way for President Nayib Bukele to seek indefinite reelection. Critics argue the controversial move undermines democratic stability. El Salvador’s legislature, controlled by Bukele’s Nuevas Ideas party, approved the constitutional amendment swiftly in a vote late last week, sparking immediate backlash domestically and internationally. The amendment clears the way for presidents to serve multiple consecutive terms. Now, the US is publicly backing the Central American nation’s leadership. “El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly was democratically elected to advance the interests…

Facebook Tweet Email Link Another international soccer superstar has arrived in the United States to play in Major League Soccer. South Korean forward Son Heung-min officially signed with Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) on a permanent transfer on Wednesday. Son was welcomed by chants from the club’s passionate fanbase as he walked onto the stage for his unveiling. “What can I say? Dream come true, what a city?” Son said at his introductory news conference at BMO Stadium in LA. “I’m here to win and I will perform. I will definitely show you something exciting. Do we call it football…

Facebook Tweet Email Link The 50% tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump on many Brazilian products took effect Wednesday, a situation that China is already taking advantage of by opening its market to Brazilian coffee, one of the products most affected by the trade measures. China’s embassy in Brasilia said that Chinese companies “are arriving” in Brazil, sharing a video on X featuring its food delivery giant Meituan. “And the bridge is bidirectional: Brazil is also consolidating its presence in China with its beloved Brazilian coffee,” the post said. Days earlier, the embassy announced that China had authorized 183…

Facebook Tweet Email Link Taipei, Taiwan AP  —  Chinese authorities are using nets, spraying insecticide and even deploying drones to fight the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus, which has infected thousands of people. Authorities had reported more than 7,000 cases of the virus as of Wednesday, mostly in the southern Chinese manufacturing hub of Foshan, some 170 kilometers (105 miles) from Hong Kong. The number of new cases appears to be dropping slowly, according to authorities. It appears to be the largest chikungunya outbreak ever documented in China, according to Cesar Lopez-Camacho of the University of Oxford. The virus is transmitted by…

Facebook Tweet Email Link Zed Nelson spots the painting on the wall behind me almost as soon as we begin our interview. “It’s perfect,” he said. The canvas depicts a sleeping tiger draped across a velvet cushion, floating among pastel-shade leaves and flowers. The London-based photographer doesn’t mean “perfect” as in “masterfully painted;” he means it’s the perfect metaphor for the idealized, human-centric relationship we’ve cultivated with nature. The painting reminds him of another artwork, “A young Tiger Playing With Its Mother,” by the French Romantic artist Eugene Delacroix, who used a captive tiger at a zoo and his pet…

Facebook Tweet Email Link Kherson, Ukraine  —  Russia has launched a new bid to exert control over the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson by threatening key access roads with its drones and trying to split it in two by striking a vital bridge. On Sunday, a wave of airstrikes damaged a key bridge between Kherson’s island, Korabel, and the main city, sparking a widespread effort to evacuate the estimated 1,800 Ukrainian civilians who still live there. Russian forces appear not to have targeted the evacuation effort over the past three days, according to locals and rescuers, a rare moment of…