Top World News

Apr 29, 2025 - World

Marsupial spotted hopping along side of interstate before police surrounded area and owner used dart to tranquilize itA runaway kangaroo named Sheila shut down a stretch of interstate in Alabama on Tuesday before state troopers and the animal’s owner wrangled the wayward marsupial.The Alabama law enforcement agency said the kangaroo was spotted on Tuesday hopping along the side of Interstate 85 in Macon county, which is between Montgomery and Auburn. Continue reading...

Apr 29, 2025 - World

Facebook parent Meta Platforms on Tuesday launched a separate app for its Meta AI assistant, similar to those offered by Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Alphabet's Google.

Apr 29, 2025 - World

The scheme, part of policy blitz for local elections, will encourage councils and police forces to work togetherCouncils will be encouraged to work with police forces to seize and crush vehicles used by fly-tippers, in the latest phase of a government policy blitz before Thursday’s local elections.Under a scheme being led by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), new legislation will impose jail sentences of up to five years for people who illicitly transport waste in England. Continue reading...

Apr 29, 2025 - World

Forecasters say temperature could soar to 30C later this week, the earliest date the high would have been reachedThe UK experienced its hottest day of the year so far on Tuesday and temperatures could reach 30C at the earliest point on record later this week, forecasters said. The highest temperature recorded on Tuesday was 24.9C in Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire, according to the Met Office. The previous hottest day this year was 24.5C recorded in St James’s Park, London, on Monday. The Met Office, which warned last month that the climate crisis is pushing temperature extremes to new levels, said temperatures could hit 27C or 28C on Wednesday in southern England and the Midlands. In a further sign of the changing climate, Wales could also set a new record for its highest April temperature – currently 26.2C. Meteorologist Craig Snell said the most likely places to see the warmest weather on Wednesday were “in a line from London over towards the West Country and into the Midlands”. Snell told the PA news agency: “The central southern parts of the UK are probably going to be where the highest temperatures will be tomorrow.” He said Thursday would be “the peak of the heat”, adding: “We are likely to see 28C or 29C, and again it’s going to be a corridor from the west of London over towards Bristol which will probably be the most likely places to see the highest temperatures.” The meteorologist said the high temperatures on Thursday would result in one of the “warmest starts to May on record”. Met Office chief meteorologist Paul Gundersen said April temperatures in the mid-20s were “not particularly unusual” but added: “It is more unusual to see temperatures reach the high 20s, and if we see 30C this week, it will be the earliest point in the year in which we have achieved that threshold.” Temperatures are forecast to drop across much of the UK on Friday as the high pressure starts to pull away. The highest recorded April temperature was in 1949, when Camden Square, London, recorded 29.4C. The London fire brigade (LFB) has urged caution around open-water swimming after last month saw a 32% increase in water-related incidents compared with the same period last year. Craig Carter, the LFB’s assistant commissioner for prevention and protection, said: “Even when the sun is shining, water temperatures can be dangerously cold. Cold water shock can affect anyone, no matter how fit or experienced they are. “It can lead to water inhalation and, in the worst cases, drowning. Be particularly careful near the water’s edge – it’s easy to slip and fall unexpectedly. And think twice before jumping into open water.” Research this month found that the number of UK homes overheating in summer quadrupled to 80% over the past decade. The study also found that the use of air conditioning soared sevenfold to 21% of homes between 2011 and 2022. The researchers warned that continuation of this trend could put strain on the national electricity grid, increase carbon emissions and fuel social disadvantage among families unable to afford air conditioning. The research was prompted by extreme heatwaves in 2022, when temperatures in the UK rose above 40C for the first time. The past two years have been the hottest on record globally, driven by the burning of fossil fuels. More than 10,000 people have died as a result of summer heatwaves from 2020 to 2024, data from the UK Health Security Agency shows. The huge rise in overheated homes and air conditioner use was “a shocking result”, said Dr Mehri Khosravi at the University of East London, who led the study. She added: “Over the heatwaves experienced in 2022 we had nearly 4,500 dead, but this excess mortality is hidden.” Continue reading...

Apr 29, 2025 - World

A retired judge and author is accusing CBS and President Donald Trump of "negotiating a bribe" under the guise of a federal lawsuit settlement, a former judge wrote in a new opinion piece in Newsweek."To be sure, a pantomime is being played out," wrote Thomas G. Moukawsher, a legal scholar and former Connecticut Superior Court judge. "The parties are pretending to be earnestly negotiating the settlement of a federal lawsuit. But they should not delude themselves. They are negotiating a bribe."Moukawsher claimed the "bribe" is one of Trump's "new favorite grifts" whereby he files "bogus personal lawsuits against people he could hurt with presidential power," then demands a payoff. "He has already collected $15 million from ABC News and $25 million from Meta for some seriously silly suits," he wrote."But this one's the worst," Moukawsher claimed. "Trump alleges that '60 Minutes' used an excerpt from a pre-election interview with Kamala Harris that made her look more coherent than if it had used a longer version. That's it. That's all. From this Trump has demanded $20 billion, payable to him personally. He says, but has offered no proof, that this bit of snipping set off a tsunami."As icing on the cake, Trump claimed he's not the only victim because the '60 Minutes' piece "perpetrated a gigantic fraud on the public" and "devastated his revenues" from his Truth Social platform."The claims are too stupid for any adult to accept, not to mention any of the players involved who attended law school," Moukawsher wrote, "So why is CBS parleying for a payoff?"ALSO READ: 'Never so scared': Furious pastor berates cops after witnessing tasing of MTG constituentThe answer has to do with quid pro quo: CBS's parent company, Paramount Global, needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission so it can be bought by Skydance Media. And Trump's appointed chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr, "has made it clear that Trump's complaint about CBS will come up in the discussions about whether to approve the transfer."Moukawsher defines bribery in his piece as "directly or indirectly" giving "anything of value to any public official... with intent to influence an official act." He continued, "Bribery also includes when an official 'demands' or 'seeks' 'anything of value personally or for any other person or entity,' in return 'for being influenced in the performance of any official act.'"Moukawsher concluded by saying the statute of limitations for prosecuting people who bribe the president of the United States is five years, and that Trump has less than four years left in office. "CBS, Trump, their lawyers, the mediator, and Redstone should run from this farce," he wrote, before a Democratic administration takes the helm.Read the Newsweek article here.