Pressure is mounting on Russian President Vladimir Putin over how to end his war in Ukraine as Moscow’s battlefield offensive stalls, financial resources dwindle and more frequent Ukrainian drone strikes inside Russia exacerbate growing public dissatisfaction, Russian and European officials and analysts said. Source link
A MORE CONTESTED WORLD The defence minister said the military investment reflects a changing threat environment shaped by growing strategic competition and conflicts beyond New Zealand’s shores. “We live in a world where there is competition and contest, even within our region. Further afield, there’s conflict,” Penk said, pointing to wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and their implications for the international rules-based order and global economic security. “We need to increase our defence investment to resource our navy, army and air force to be able to meet the needs of New Zealand in our region and further afield.” Maritime capability is one of New Zealand’s most urgent priorities, he said, noting that by the mid-2030s most ships in the nation’s naval fleet are expected to have reached the end of their design life. The government is evaluating options to replace its frigates and other naval assets, alongside investments in air assets and uncrewed technologies. DEEPENING ENGAGEMENT WITH ASIA Alongside military modernisation, Wellington is seeking to strengthen its engagement across Asia. “The Asia region …
US futures are but well off session lows, as part of a weaker risk tape after the US and Iran exchanged strikes, fueling doubts whether an end to the war is imminent and crushing hopes for a Hormuz deal (gasp). Overnight, US forces carried out airstrikes on an Iranian military site which Centcom described as “purely defensive” and designed to maintain the ceasefire; it also imposed new sanctions to prevent Tehran from profiting from vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. In response, Iran targeted the American airbase from which the attack originated. Centcom said that Kuwait also intercepted a ballistic missile launched toward it. While S&P futures initially tumbled as much as 0.5% on the news in overnight trading, they since recovered much of the losses, but were still down 0.2% as of 8:00am, with Nasdaq futures down 0.5%. In premarket trading, Mag7 names are mostly lower as Semis are sold and Software bid post earnings releases. Defensives and Energy are the notable outperformers as the market resumes its US / Iran playbook; EM likely to …
Silicon Valley has always had messianic dreams, dating back to the days when computers filled entire rooms. One of the oldest industry jokes has a programmer asking a computer, “Is there a God?” The computer answers: “There is now.” The Whole Earth Catalog, a proto-hacker compendium of tools that deeply influenced Steve Jobs, proclaimed, “We are as gods and might as well get good at it.” By investing hundreds of billions of dollars in artificial intelligence, tech leaders are signaling that those early dreams have been fulfilled. Next stop, transcendence. Just as the new religion of A.I. seemed to be solidifying its control over mankind’s destiny, however, a new voice is being heard on the other side of the world. Its message to the tech industry: Slow down. Elevate the human. Machines are not gods. Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, published with great ceremony on Monday his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, or “Magnificent Humanity.” The 42,300-word policy statement is respectful and named no names, but is at heart a sharp rebuke to Silicon …
Hot flushes are associated with the menopause, but women actually get progressively hotter from the start of adulthood to midlife Dmitry Marchenko/Alamy Resting body temperature rises a little bit each year in women from the age of 18 to 42, for reasons that are still being figured out. The finding opens up the possibility of using temperature-sensing wearables to track ageing and detect perimenopause or potential health problems. “We think there is a lot of information about health in the temperature signal,” says Marie Gombert-Labedens at SRI International, a research institute headquartered in California. “We hope this facilitates investigations to identify novel markers of conditions – it may be an untapped resource of information about our health.” Gombert-Labedens and her colleagues analysed data from a 1990s study that asked more than 750 women aged 18 to 42 to measure their oral or rectal temperature with a thermometer every day when they first woke up. The readings showed that, on average, body temperature was lower during the first half of the participants’ menstrual cycles and higher during the …
NewsFeed Health workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are restoring Ebola treatment centres as authorities struggle to contain a rapidly spreading outbreak that has caused more than 130 suspected deaths and over 500 suspected cases. Published On 19 May 202619 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Source link
Youth unemployment hits 11-year high as Labour tax rises bite Source link
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the World Health Assembly in Geneva that the scale and speed of the epidemic was alarming Source link
The toll from the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has risen to an estimated 131 deaths from 513 suspected cases, Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba said. “We have recorded roughly 131 deaths in total and we have around 513 suspected cases,” Samuel Roger Kamba told Congolese national television overnight. He cautioned however that the toll was an estimate and further research was needed to confirm whether all 131 suspected deaths were indeed linked to Ebola. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has declared the outbreak a Continental Public Health Emergency, in a statement late Monday. Declaring a continental emergency empowers the Africa CDC, based in Ethiopia, to mobilise extra resources including emergency response teams and surveillance operations. To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. Accept Manage my choices One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Try again © France 24 “Africa …
(RNS) — A group of synagogues, nonprofits and small lay-led prayer communities previously on the margins of the Jewish establishment have formed a new association as an effort to better advocate for their emerging vision of Judaism in the 21st century. The association, the Jewish Diaspora Movement, launched Monday (May 18), consists of 40 groups, mostly in North America, that are united in their rejection of Israel’s ethno-nationalist Judaism. Though not explicitly anti-Zionist, the association is committed to centering the diaspora, rather than Israel, and working toward the liberation of all people, it said in announcing the association. “We joyfully view wherever we are in the entire world as our home and reject the vision of Judaism that is state-centric, militarist, ethno-nationalist,” said a news release announcing the new association. The “founding minyan,” or quorum of groups, under the new umbrella includes Jewish Voice for Peace, the largest organization of anti-Zionists in the country, and Rabbis for Ceasefire, a coalition of rabbis that emerged in the wake of Israel’s war on Gaza. It also includes …
