World

Three years ago, Germanhigh-end domestic appliances maker Miele began selling refurbished washing machines in the Netherlands alongside its regular products. This involves collecting Miele washing machines that have been returned, including those with scratches or easily repairable faults, fixing them up and reselling them online. The German company chose the Netherlands because Miele products have proven popular in the country and because consumers there are comparatively open to refurbished products. The firm hopes the project will reach new customer groups. Max Wagner, who heads Miele's sustainability team, say the sale of refurbished appliances has not cannibalized his company's sale of new models, as was initially feared. "We have been able to expand our customer base to include you...

Security forces in Syria imposed a curfew on Latakia city, a bastion of the country's Alawite community on its coastline in the west, state media reported on Tuesday. The move follows two days after four people were killed in nighttime protests that spiralled into sectarian violence.  State media also reported that 21 people allegedly linked to the ousted government of former President Bashar Assad. A television report described those arrested as "former regime remnants who are involved in criminal acts, sectarian incitement and targeting internal security forces." Curfew from 5 p.m. to 6 a.m.  Syrian media reported that the curfew would be in force from 5 p.m. local time on Tuesday (1400 UTC/GMT) until 6 a.m. the following morning.  This followed protests on Monday evening during the...

Protests over rising costs of living in Iran spread to several universities on Tuesday, semi-official media reported, as students joined shopkeepers and merchants in expressing dissatisfaction at currency devaluation and the connected costs.  The Fars news agency reported that hundreds of students demonstrated at four universities in the capital Tehran on Tuesday; other outlets said seven sites were involved.  Protests also broke out at the technology university in the central city of Isfahan and institutions in the cities of Yazd and Zanjan, Ilna and state-run IRNA reported. President pledges talks with protest leaders President Masoud Pezeshkian had taken to social media late on Monday after major protests in Tehran to announce that he had asked his interior minister to arrange talks...

Environmental journalist Tatiana Schlossberg, the granddaughter of former US President John F. Kennedy, died on Tuesday at the age of 35, just weeks after announcing her terminal cancer diagnosis. "Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts," the family wrote in a statement posted on the JFK Library Foundation's social media accounts. What do we know about Schlossberg's illness? The late journalist revealed in an essay in The New Yorker in November that she had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a rare and aggressive type of cancer that is mostly common above the age of 60. Doctors were first alerted to her condition after she gave birth to her second child in May 2024. They detected an unusually high white blood cell count, which is cause...

Guinea's military leader Mamdi Doumbouya was declared winner of the presidential election held over the weekend, provisional results showed Tuesday. Doumbouya, who seized power in a coup in 2021, won 86.72% of the vote, according to the General Directorate of Elections. He was widely expected to win election. Major opposition figures were either barred or were in exile, leaving a fragmented field with no strong challengers. Opposition leaders had called for a boycott of the vote. Election widely seen as effort to legitimize Doumbouya's stay in power Ahead of Sunday's vote, analysts said a weakened opposition all but ensured Doumbouya's victory, with the election widely seen as an effort to legitimize his hold on power. The election commission said turnout was 80.95%, a figure dispute...

Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has died aged 80 following a long illness, her Bangladesh Nationalist Party announced on Monday. "The BNP chairperson and former prime minister, the national leader Begum Khaleda Zia, passed away today at 6:00 am (0000 GMT), just after the Fajr (dawn) prayer," the party said in a statement. "We pray for the forgiveness of her soul and request everyone to offer prayers for her departed soul."  In office from 1991 until 1996, and a second stint from 2001 until 2009, Zia was the first female prime minister of Bangladesh and the second female prime minister in the Muslim world. However, she was later imprisoned by her political archrival, Sheikh Hasina, who ruled Bangladesh for  more than a decade before being ousted by a student-led uprising ...

Khaleda Zia, who served as prime minister of Bangladesh for three terms, died on Tuesday morning at the age of 80. Zia and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) were once hailed for playing a crucial role in transitioning the South Asian nation from military rule to democracy. She served as prime minister between 1991 and 1996, and again from 2001 to 2006, becoming the first woman to serve as prime minister of Bangladesh. Zia had been sentenced to several years behind bars prior her death for alleged involvement in corruption charges that her party said were politically motivated. Rise to politics Zia entered politics after her husband, former president Ziaur Rahman, was assassinated in May 1981 during a military coup. Rahman had fought for Bangladesh's independence war from Pakistan...

Russia has reopened a historic theater in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, more than three years after Russian forces pummeled it with an airstrike, killing civilians sheltering inside. The attack on the Mariupol Drama Theater in 2022 killed 12 people, according to Human Rights Watch. Hundreds had been sheltering inside the theater and the world "children" had been written in giant letters on the street outside in order to be visible by fighter pilots. The incident became a symbol of Russia's three-month-long siege of Mariupol in which 90% of the city was destroyed, according to the United Nations, and some 8,000 were killed, according to Human Rights Watch.The Russian word for 'children' was painted outside the theater where civilians were sheltering when it was attacked by Russ...

Hollywood superstar George Clooney and his well-known wife Amal Alamuddin Clooney have acquired French citizenship along with their twin children, according to an official decree published in the French government gazette. Clooney, now a dual US-French citizen, has previously praised France's strict privacy laws, especially when it comes to children. "I love the French culture, your language, even if I'm still bad at it after 400 days of courses," the 64-year-old actor told RTL radio early in December. "Here, they don't take photos of kids. There aren't any paparazzi hidden at the school gates. That's number one for us." Happiest in their home in France, says Clooney The couple lives with their 8-year-old twins on a farm in southern France. Clooney's wife, a British-Lebanese human ri...