By AFP, AP, EPA and Reuters Published On 17 Feb 202617 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share People are celebrating the Lunar New Year with prayers, fireworks and street festivals to welcome the Year of the Fire Horse. Crowds thronged temples and festivals across Asia and beyond on Monday night, … Read more
Hundreds of residents gathered at a beach in Yokosuka city’s Kurihama area, south of Tokyo, over the weekend to pray for marine safety in a summer festival that fuses sacred ritual and seaside spectacle. As a portable shrine called mikoshi, decorated with Shinto ornaments, was lifted onto bearers’ shoulders, the audience cheered. The mikoshi had … Read more
PARIS — French Culture Minister Rachida Dati and former Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn will face trial on charges of corruption, a Ministry of Justice official confirmed. Dati is being charged with “passive corruption and influence peddling by a person holding elective public office within an international organization (in this case, the European Parliament),” the official, … Read more
How has Project 2025 shaped Trump’s second term? Marc Lamont Hill speaks to its former director, Paul Dans. Project 2025 became a flashpoint during the 2024 presidential campaign. The sweeping conservative policy blueprint aims to overhaul the federal government and reshape United States society. How closely is President Donald Trump following its direction? And how … Read more
In May 2021, for instance, a 22-year-old Associated Press staffer, Emily Wilder, was fired after right-wing media resurfaced pro-Palestinian statements she made while in college. More recently, in March, the administration of President Donald Trump detained Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish PhD student studying at Tufts University, and stripped her of her visa. Her supporters say … Read more
President Donald Trump orders 100 percent tariffs on imported films and those made outside the US. In recent years, California – home to America’s film industry – has slipped to become the sixth most preferred location to shoot and produce movies. Hollywood producers are moving to cities in Canada, the United Kingdom, Central Europe and … Read more
Japan’s Coming of Age Day is a sure sign of winter, arriving after New Year celebrations and before the cherry blossom parties of early spring. The national holiday is held on the second Monday of January. People turn out to admire the elaborate outfits young people don to celebrate the transition from childhood to adulthood. … Read more
The buttery yellow ramparts encircling the center of Avignon stretch 2.6 miles and are notched with arrow slits and gaps for dumping boiling water or cooking oil on attackers below. Over the centuries, the walls have protected popes and warded off sieges. They have been rebuilt by the 19th-century architect who refurbished Notre-Dame, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, … Read more
Many African, Latin American and Asian nations are demanding that their former occupiers return historical objects and artworks. It’s given rise to a global debate: Can developing nations, short of funds, preserve the centuries-old artefacts they are reclaiming? Presenter: James Bays Guests: Karen Byera Ijumba – Senior Researcher, Open Restitution Africa Jos Van Beurden – … Read more
101 East enters the high-stakes world of Indian chess and meets players reshaping the game on the global stage. India is in the middle of a chess obsession. The world’s most populous nation is emerging as a superpower in the sport that is believed to have originated there in the sixth century. With 85 grandmasters, … Read more