UN peacekeepers patrol in Lebanon as truce deadline nears

Marjayoun (Lebanon) (AFP) – UN peacekeepers in Lebanon patrol through rocky hills and olive groves near the border with Israel, ahead of a deadline for a truce in the war with Hezbollah that some residents fear will not hold.

UN peacekeepers patrol in southern Lebanon amid a fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah

Venezuela repression increases ahead of crunch anti

Caracas (AFP) – Opponents of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro condemned a new crackdown on his critics ahead of planned protests Thursday over his inauguration for a highly contested third term later this week.

President Nicolas Maduro has claimed re-election to a third term widely dismissed as illegitemate

'Wicked' tops SAG Awards nominations

Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Hit musical “Wicked” topped the nominations Wednesday for the influential Screen Actors Guild Awards, which are key to Oscars glory, while Golden Globes darling “The Brutalist” only got one nod and “Maria” star Angelina Jolie was shut out.

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards are seen as key to Oscars success

Bangladesh orders banks to assist UK minister graft probe

Dhaka (AFP) – Bangladesh money laundering investigators have ordered the country’s big banks to hand over details of transactions relating to British anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq in an ongoing graft probe, officers told AFP.

Britain's anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq (shown in 2019) is the niece of Bangladesh's ex-PM Sheikh Hasina, whose family is being probed over alleged $5 billion embezzlement

Germans turn to balcony solar panels to save money

Berlin (AFP) – As snowflakes gently settled on his balcony solar panels on a cold winter’s day, Berliner Jens Sax checked his smartphone to see how much electricity they were generating.

More than 800,000 balcony solar kits were installed in Germany in 2024

Theekshana hat

Hamilton (New Zealand) (AFP) – Sri Lanka spinner Maheesh Theekshana took a hat-trick Wednesday as New Zealand posted a competitive 255-9 in a rain-reduced second one-day international in Hamilton.

Sri Lanka’s Maheesh Theekshana celebrates his hat-trick