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Bhutanese teen helps build satellite in Australia
THIMPHU, Bhutan (Kuensel/ANN) — Pema Tsho Sakhu, a 13-year-old Bhutanese student living in Perth, Australia, is already reaching for the stars, literally. She is part of the BinarX program at Curtin University, where she is helping develop a scientific payload that will soon be launched into Earth's orbit aboard a CubeSat, a miniature satellite, typically shaped like a cube, measuring 10cm on all sides. A student at Balcatta Senior High School, she is one of the youngest participants in the prog
April 23, 2025 -
University students fill key role in teaching Japanese to foreign children
TOKYO (Japan News/ANN) — More and more university students are teaching children with foreign roots the Japanese language, and working to create places for them to feel comfortable. Amid a shortage of teachers for Japanese as a second language, students studying Japanese language education at universities are working actively in the field, and putting what they have learned into practice. Club activities "Yu-bin-u-ke. Do you know what that means?" In mid-April in a classroom at Toyo University i
April 23, 2025 -
Singapore's elderly cheerleaders show off their moves
SINGAPORE (Straits Times/ABB) — Lydia Lee pulled off her first cheerleading routine at the age of 77. Decked out in matching blue and white outfits, she and her teammates punched the air with their bright red pom-poms, spun each other around and grooved in sync to the beat. Rah Rah, as their 60-member squad is known, made its debut performance at the World Aging Festival on April 8 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Center — the culmination of three months of weekly practice. Their ages
April 23, 2025 -
WHO announces mass layoffs amid funding cuts
GENEVA (AFP) — The World Health Organization chief said Tuesday that operations and jobs would be slashed as US funding cuts had left the UN agency with a budget hole of several hundred million dollars. "The sudden drop in income has left us with a large salary gap and no choice but to reduce the scale of our work and workforce," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told member states, according to a transcript of his remarks. The United Nations health agency has been bracing for President Donald Trump's
April 23, 2025 -
UN to review the impact of its agency helping Palestinian refugees in Gaza and elsewhere
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations chief appointed a British human rights activist on Tuesday to carry out a strategic review of the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees to assess its impact under the"present political, financial, security and other constraints." Israel has banned the agency, known as UNRWA, from operating on its territory, but its Palestinian staff have still been key to delivering aid and running medical clinics in Gaza, even though Israel has cut off all humanitarian
April 23, 2025 -
Zelenskyy pushes back on ceding Ukrainian land in potential peace deal ahead of London talks
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday pushed back at the idea of Ukraine ceding territory to Russia as part of any potential peace agreement, a day before American, European and Ukrainian officials are set for high-level talks in London. During similar talks last week in Paris, US officials presented a proposal that included allowing Russia to keep control of occupied Ukrainian territory as part of a deal, according to a European official familiar with the matter. The off
April 23, 2025 -
Rubio unveils massive overhauls to State Department
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled a massive overhaul of the State Department on Tuesday, with plans to reduce staff in the US by 15 percent while closing and consolidating more than 100 bureaus worldwide as part of the Trump administration's "America First" mandate. The reorganization plan, announced by Rubio on social media and detailed in documents obtained by The Associated Press, is the latest effort by the White House to reimagine US foreign policy and scale back the
April 23, 2025 -
Militants kill dozens of tourists at a resort in Indian-controlled Kashmir
SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Gunmen shot and killed at least 26 tourists Tuesday at a resort in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said in what appeared to be a major shift in a regional conflict in which tourists have largely been spared. Police blamed militants fighting against Indian rule for the attack in Baisaran meadow, some 5 kilometers from the disputed region's resort town of Pahalgam. At least three dozen people were wounded, many of them seriously, according to two senior police officers. "T
April 23, 2025 -
Musk to reduce White House role as Tesla profits plunge
NEW YORK (AFP) -- Elon Musk will significantly scale back his Trump administration work in May to focus on Tesla, the billionaire announced Tuesday as the electric vehicle maker reported a 71 percent drop in first-quarter profits. "Probably in the next month, my time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly," Musk said at the outset of an earnings conference call, referring to his work for the "Department of Government Efficiency." The comments came as Tesla reported profits of $409 million fo
April 23, 2025 -
Putin says he is open to direct peace talks with Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed on Monday bilateral talks with Ukraine for the first time in years, and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv was prepared for any discussion to halt attacks on civilian targets. Putin and Zelenskyy face pressure from the United States, which has threatened to walk away from its peace efforts unless some progress is achieved. Russia and Ukraine have said they are open to further ceasefires after a 30-hour Easter truce declared by Moscow
April 22, 2025 -
Trump greets people for Easter celebration
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump welcomed tens of thousands of people Monday to the White House Easter egg roll, saying the overcast weather meant no one would have to worry about getting sunburned. He thanked the National Park Service for how "spiffy" everything looked. More than 40,000 people were expected to participate, he said. "Happy Easter to everyone," the president said, flanked on the White House balcony by his wife, first lady Melania Trump, and an Easter bunny mascot. "It was
April 22, 2025 -
Macron vows to step up reconstruction in cyclone-hit Mayotte
MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte (AFP) — French President Emmanuel Macron announced a three-billion-euro package over six years to finance a plan to "rebuild" Mayotte, France's poorest department, which was devastated by a cyclone in December. The most destructive cyclone to hit the Indian Ocean archipelago in 90 years caused colossal damage in mid-December, killing 40 people and causing 3.5 billion euros ($4 billion) in damage. Four months after the disaster, Macron visited Mayotte to "take stock of what is
April 22, 2025 -
Los Angeles mayor proposes slashing over 1,600 jobs
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Monday proposed laying off more than 1,600 government workers in an attempt to close a nearly $1 billion budget gap amid a slumping economy while the city contends with the costly job of rebuilding a seaside neighborhood leveled in a January wildfire. The prospect of chopping hundreds of government jobs comes as the latest unwelcome news for the first-term Democrat, who will stand for reelection next year. In an address to the city council, Bass
April 22, 2025 -
US lawmakers in El Salvador to push for migrant's release
A delegation of Democratic lawmakers visited El Salvador on Monday in a new push to secure the release of a wrongly deported United States resident at the center of a mounting political row. Kilmar Abrego Garcia was sent back to his country and remains imprisoned despite the US Supreme Court ordering President Donald Trump's administration to facilitate his return to the United States. "There is no reason for me to believe that our administration, the Trump administration, is doing anything to f
April 22, 2025 -
Universal Epic Universe is the theme park resort's biggest bang yet in Florida
ORLANDO, Florida (AP) — From Harry Potter to Super Mario Bros. to Frankenstein's monster, Universal Orlando Resort is pulling out all the pop culture stops at its newest and largest theme park in Florida. With five distinctively-themed sections and a 500-room hotel, the multibillion-dollar Universal Epic Universe is slated to open to the public on May 22, just in time for the start of summer, when the Orlando area's theme parks are usually jammed with families and young park-goers fresh out of s
April 22, 2025