Posts by Amelia Frost
‘Seventh Heaven’: Tears And Laughter As Ukrainian POWs Return
Waxy and emaciated, Konstantin Steblev spoke to his mother for the first time in three years after being released as part of the biggest ever prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine. “Hello mum, how are you?,” the 31-year-old soldier said, moments after stepping back onto Ukrainian soil on Friday. “I love you. Don’t be sad.…
Read MoreSuriname Poised For Cash Inflow From Newly Discovered Oil
Suriname, South America’s smallest country, is preparing for an inflow of cash from a huge offshore oil find, with the president insisting the population will receive a direct share of the wealth. The Dutch-speaking nation of about 600,000 people expects to rake in about $10 billion in the next decade or two, with crude extraction…
Read MoreCannes Closes With Iranian, Ukrainian Films Tipped For Glory
The Cannes Festival draws to a close on Saturday, with a wry Iranian film about political prisoners and a Ukrainian-directed drama about despotism among the frontrunners to pick up the Palme d’Or top prize. After almost a fortnight of glamorous red carpets and some politics, French actor Juliette Binoche and her jury will announce the…
Read MoreGrowing Arctic Military Presence Worries Finland’s Reindeer Herders
A fighter jet roaring through the grey sky breaks the tranquillity of a boreal forest in northern Finland, one more sign of a growing military presence that is challenging the ability of reindeer herders to exercise their livelihood. “Military activity has increased massively here since Finland joined NATO,” reindeer herder Kyosti Uutela said on a…
Read MoreThousands Remain Isolated As Floods Ease In Eastern Australia
Tens of thousands of Australians remained isolated and thousands were without power on Saturday, authorities said as conditions in New South Wales eased after days of heavy rain that caused widespread flooding. Floodwaters were slowly subsiding but more than 20 emergency warnings remained in place, with the focus shifting to assessing properties and delivering supplies…
Read MoreUN Chief Says Gaza War In ‘Cruelest Phase’ As Aid Trucks Looted
The United Nations chief said Friday that Palestinians were enduring “the cruelest phase” of the war in Gaza, where more than a dozen food trucks were looted following the partial easing of a lengthy Israeli blockade. Aid was just beginning to trickle back into the war-torn territory after Israel announced it would allow limited shipments…
Read MoreVenezuela Opposition Leader Arrested Ahead Of Tense Election
Leading Venezuelan opposition politician Juan Pablo Guanipa was arrested Friday on charges of conspiring to sabotage upcoming parliamentary and regional elections that the opposition has vowed to boycott. The arrest of Guanipa, a 60-year-old former MP and close ally of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, comes amid rising tensions ahead of Sunday’s election. Machado has…
Read MoreUS, Boeing Reach Deal To Resolve MAX Criminal Case
The Justice Department said Friday it reached a preliminary agreement with Boeing to settle a long-running criminal probe into deadly 737 MAX crashes, drawing condemnation from some crash victim families. Under an “agreement in principle,” Boeing will pay $1.1 billion and the Department of Justice (DOJ) would dismiss a criminal charge against Boeing over its…
Read MoreAnthropic’s Claude AI Gets Smarter — And Mischievious
Anthropic launched its latest Claude generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) models on Thursday, claiming to set new standards for reasoning but also building in safeguards against rogue behavior. “Claude Opus 4 is our most powerful model yet, and the best coding model in the world,” Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei said at the San Francisco-based startup’s…
Read MoreTrump Greenlights Nippon Steel ‘Partnership’ With US Steel
US President Donald Trump on Friday threw his support behind a new “partnership” between US Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel, sending the American firm’s share price skyrocketing on hopes of an end to the long-running saga over foreign ownership of a key national asset. While the details of the deal remained unclear, the Pennsylvania-headquartered firm’s…
Read MoreGerman Woman Arrested After 17 Stabbed At Hamburg Station
German police on Friday said they had arrested a woman after at least 17 people were injured in a knife attack at the main station in the northern city of Hamburg. Some of the victims sustained life-threatening injuries in the stabbing, which took place in the middle of the city’s evening rush hour, emergency services…
Read MoreTrump Official Insists ‘There Is No Pain’ From Tariffs. His Audience Immediately Calls Him Out
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed at a recent event that President Donald Trump’s tariffs have not impacted consumers, but audience members quickly challenged him for spreading the administration’s false narrative. “Seriously, for the month of May, every product in the world got 10% on it—right now with no exceptions, no exclusions,” the billionaire-turned-politician claimed…
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