Macron skips EU summit to visit cyclone-hit island Mayotte – POLITICO

Macron skips EU summit to visit cyclone-hit island Mayotte – POLITICO

PARIS — Emmanuel Macron will not attend Thursday’s European Council meeting in Brussels as he heads to Mayotte, a French oversea territory in the Indian Ocean coping with the aftermath of a devastating tropical cyclone. Macron will be represented at the council by his German counterpart Olaf Scholz, “in accordance with established practice between France … Read more

Winter weather blast to bring more snow to Northern states making travel hazardous

Winter weather blast to bring more snow to Northern states making travel hazardous

Area residents dig out stranded and buried cars after a record snowfall left over 3 feet on the ground on December 2, 2024 in Erie, Pennsylvania.  Jeff Swensen | Getty Images A new Arctic blast is set to dump more snow onto the Great Lakes and the Northeast, as winter weather caused transport chaos and … Read more

Thanksgiving travel snarled by coast-to-coast storm bringing rain and snow

Thanksgiving travel snarled by coast-to-coast storm bringing rain and snow

People enter LaGuardia Airport (LGA) on one of the busiest travel days of the year on November 26, 2024 in New York City.  Spencer Platt | Getty Images With Thanksgiving holiday travel well underway, many have reached their destinations — but for everyone else, a storm tracking from the Rockies to the Midwest and Northeast … Read more

What makes it a game-changer? – Firstpost

What makes it a game-changer? – Firstpost

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Kyiv, the first by an Indian leader since Ukraine gained independence, is highly symbolic. This visit follows his recent trip to Moscow, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin — a move that was scrutinised by Ukraine and its allies. While India has called for a ceasefire and … Read more

Valencia’s leader apologizes for ‘mistakes’ in handling deadly floods — but won’t resign – POLITICO

Valencia’s leader apologizes for ‘mistakes’ in handling deadly floods — but won’t resign – POLITICO

As the head of the regional government, “I want to apologize,” to the people who had “the feeling that the aid did not arrive or was not enough,” he added on Friday. As Mazón was speaking, around 300 protestors gathered outside Valencia’s parliament chanting slogans demanding his resignation, Spanish newspaper El País reported. Around 130,000 … Read more

Will China’s top legislature give the green light to fiscal stimulus package?

Will China’s top legislature give the green light to fiscal stimulus package?

The National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, China’s top legislative body, will convene in Beijing on Monday to discuss a wide range of issues. A large fiscal stimulus, recommended by several prominent economists and hotly anticipated by investors, is likely to be among them. As markets speculate over the potential size of a fiscal package … Read more

Chinese officials told to stop avoiding media questions about emergencies

Chinese officials told to stop avoiding media questions about emergencies

Chinese government officials will no longer be allowed to avoid commenting on emergencies under new legislative amendments to give journalists better “legal protection”. A commentary published on Friday in Legal Weekly, a newspaper under the supervision of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission – a Communist Party body with a wide range of supervisory … Read more

Spain sends 10,000 more soldiers and police to tackle historic floods

Spain sends 10,000 more soldiers and police to tackle historic floods

The Spanish government will deploy another 5,000 soldiers and 5,000 police officers to assist the flood-wrecked region of Valencia, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Saturday, as the death toll from this week’s natural disaster rose to 211 people. Citing it as the worst flood in Spain’s history, Sánchez acknowledged that current efforts were insufficient, … Read more

Spain’s ‘monster’ floods expose Europe’s unpreparedness for climate change – POLITICO

Spain’s ‘monster’ floods expose Europe’s unpreparedness for climate change – POLITICO

But the intensity of the rainfall that hit areas around Spain’s third-largest city, Valencia — in some places, roughly a year’s worth of rain in a single day — exposed the country’s unreadiness and led the Socialist-led national government to slam the center-right regional authorities for failing to pass on early warnings to people in … Read more

Opinion | When officials in drought-prone Chinese region got just deserts for student-places fraud

Opinion | When officials in drought-prone Chinese region got just deserts for student-places fraud

Last week, I wrote about the conviction of Singapore’s former minister of transport S. Iswaran for improperly obtaining valuables, a case that has shocked Singaporeans, who, like Hongkongers, do not tolerate corruption in the government and civil service. A case involving corruption in China in the late 18th century was so massive in scale that … Read more