World

"Until further notice, there will be no in-person classes at schools nationwide," Iran's Ministry of Education announced last week. Starting April 21, classes will be held online via a dedicated platform and through the state-run television program "Iran TV School." This change affects all types of schools and all grades in the country. It will remain in effect until further notice. Iran is currently in limbo ahead of a possible resumption of airstrikes. After a fragile ceasefire halted six weeks of attacks, the situation remains tense. According to the head of the Organization for School Renovation, Development, and Equipment, more than 640 educational buildings in 17 provinces have been damaged during attacks by the US and Israel. About 250 of them are severely damaged and need to be c...

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said that climate protection policies should not hinder economic and industrial progress. "We want to contribute to a reduction in climate change and Germany will make huge efforts to combat it," he told the international Petersberg Climate Dialogue (PCD) conference in Berlin on Wednesday. However, he insisted on "multilateral, ambitious and effective" climate policies to retain public support and encourage economic growth. "A transition which leads to deindustrialization will not be accepted by the public and will ultimately hinder innovation," he said. "Nevertheless, we will continue to be an important sponsor of public climate action." Since 2010, Germany has hosted the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in addition to the UN climate conferences. Origin...

The United Kingdom and France have agreed on a new three-year deal to curb undocumented migrant crossings in the English Channel. Under the agreement, France will step up patrols along its coast, increasing the number of officers by more than 50% to 1,400 by 2029, while the UK will provide up to €766 million ($897 million) in funding. Almost a quarter of the money will be paid only if the measures prove effective. The UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez were expected to sign the three-year agreement in France on Thursday. What will the UK-France new border security deal cover? The deployment of law enforcement, intelligence and military personnel on beaches ​in northern ‌France A new 50-strong riot police unit, expanded intelligence and judi...

The US government is in talks to send Afghans currently residing at a former US base in Qatar to the Democratic Republic of Congo, AfghanEvac, a group seeking to help the former allies said Tuesday. The Afghans were relocated to Qatar after US-led international forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021 as they had provided assistance to the US military. Some 1,100 Afghans, around 400 of them children, are staying at the As Sayliyah camp in Qatar. The group includes interpreters who worked for the US military, Afghan military commandos and family members of US soldiers, according to the New York Times, who first reported on the plan. What do we know about the plan? Shawn VanDiver, the president of the AfghanEvac, said his organization suspects that Washington seeks to send the former US...

Voters in the US state of Virginia on Tuesday narrowly approved a plan to redraw congressional electoral boundaries. The constiutional amendment could increase the Democrats' chances of winning four currently Republican-held seats in Congress in midterm elections in November. It bypasses a redistricting commission made up of Democrats and Republicans and allows a new map drawn by the state's Democrat-majority General Assembly. Republicans currently hold a slim 217-seat majority in the lower house of Congress, the House of Representatives, while Democrats have 213 seats. "Virginia just changed the trajectory of the 2026 midterms," the speaker of the lower house of the state's legislature, Don Scott, said in a statement. "At a moment when Trump and his allies are trying to lock in power...

Democrats are pushing to remove Donald Trump from office under the 25th Amendment after he threatened that "an entire civilization will die" if Iran didn't back down, a statement many have described as a potential war crime.  The US president's handling of the Epstein files and, in the past week, social media posts and statements lashing out against Pope Leo XIV have only intensified the discussion. What is the 25th Amendment?  The 25th Amendment was added to the US Constitution in 1967 to clarify procedures when a president or vice president is unable to continue in office due to death, resignation or ill health.  Though dealing with presidential incapacities had long been an issue, the amendment's creation was only sped up after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Novem...

France and the United Kingdom have said they are ready to lead a multinational mission to help restore freedom of navigation and trade in the Strait of Hormuz, only to be deployed once peace had been agreed in the region.  But at a meeting of the coalition of nonbelligerent states in Paris on Friday, the mood remained one of caution. A temporary ceasefire has put fighting between Iran and a US-Israeli coalition on hold until April 22. On Thursday, a 10-day ceasefire was also announced between Israel and Lebanon, the stronghold of Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah. And on Friday, both Iran and the US said the Strait of Hormuz was now "open" to commercial shipping, though the US said its blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place until a peace deal with Tehran was reached. Maritime t...

Football fans trying to get to MetLife Stadium from New York City for the World Cup matches this summer will have to pay $150 (€127) for a round-trip, according to local transportation officials. The price is almost 12 times higher than the usual $12.90 fare for the 15-minute trip from Penn Station in Manhattan to the stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. "We are going to charge $150 for our roundtrip ticket on our system. So from New York to MetLife, MetLife back to New York," said Kris Kolluri, the president and CEO of NJ Transit. NJ Transit officials said they planned to spend $62 million on transportation for fans traveling to and from the stadium during the tournament. However, only $14 million of those anticipated expenses had been defrayed by outside grants. A fare increase wa...

Iran's nuclear program has been at the heart of tensions between the US and the Islamic Republic for more than two decades. Washington has said Tehran is working toward developing nuclear weapons, something it wants to prevent at all costs. Iran has denied seeking the bomb, but insists on its right to a civilian nuclear program. US President Donald Trump has said stopping Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon was a key reason behind the US decision to, together with Israel attack Iran on February 28. A ceasefire is now in place, and negotiations between the two sides could soon resume. Back to 2015? More than 10 years ago, Washington and Tehran reached a landmark compromise. The 2015 nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was designed to cu...

The United Kingdom and the European Union have finalized an agreement allowing Britain to take part in the bloc's Erasmus+ student exchange scheme. More than 100,000 people are expected to benefit when they become eligible on January 1, 2027, the British government said in a statement on Wednesday. The agreement is currently only for one year, and Britain will contribute 570 million pounds (€655 million, $774 million) towards the scheme's costs in 2027. What is Erasmus? Erasmus is the EU's flagship student exchange scheme that allows people to study and train across much of Europe for up to a year. It started in 1987 with university exchanges, but now also includes school exchanges, work experience, apprenticeships and sport. Those participating aren't charged tuition at their host s...