World

London Mayor's California visit could lead to decriminalization of cannabis in the UK

4:43pm May 12, 2022

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, while he's in California learning about cannabis laws with an eye to studying decriminalization of the substance in his city.

Refugees from war-torn regions of Ukraine board a coach to Warsaw at a coach station on Saturday in Lviv, Ukraine. A U.N. agency estimates that nearly 5 million jobs have been lost in Ukraine since Russia first invaded in late February.

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Among the many losses of the war in Ukraine: nearly 5 million jobs

1:20pm May 12, 2022

by Rachel Treisman

The International Labour Organization says employment losses could increase to seven million if hostilities continue, but that rapid recovery would be possible if fighting were to stop immediately.

Finland's President Sauli Niinisto makes a point during a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, Wednesday, May 11, 2022.

After decades of wartime neutrality, Finland now wants to join NATO without delay

12:58pm May 12, 2022

by Rob Schmitz

The announcement was widely expected and has broad support in the country: A recent poll showed that about three-quarters of all Finns support joining the military alliance.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban gives his an international press conference April 6, days after his FIDESZ party won the parliamentary election, in the Karmelita monastery housing the prime minister's office in Budapest.

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One man stands between Europe and a ban on Russian oil: Hungary's Viktor Orban

12:49pm May 12, 2022

by Christopher Dean Hopkins

The move has to be adopted unanimously, and Hungary — with a state oil company dependent on Russian imports and a populist leader friendlier toward Putin than most — has refused to go along.

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Siemens headquarters in Munich, Germany, pictured in May 2019. The German industrial giant is ending operations in Russia after more than a century.

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German industrial giant Siemens is leaving Russia after nearly 170 years

12:28pm May 12, 2022

by Rachel Treisman

The company first arrived in Russia in 1851 to deliver devices for a major telegraph line. It primarily does maintenance work on high-speed trains these days — though it's now winding down operations.

"It's the dawn of a new era of black hole physics," the Event Horizon Telescope team said as it released the first-ever image of supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way.

This is the first image of the black hole at the heart of the Milky Way

11:23am May 12, 2022

by Bill Chappell

"We finally have the first look at our Milky Way black hole, Sagittarius A*," an international team of astrophysicists and researchers from the Event Horizon Telescope team said.

Paraguay Attorney General Sandra Quiñonez prays to a Virgin Mary statue at the entrance of her office in Asuncion, Paraguay, after she found out about the killing of Paraguayan prosecutor Marcelo Pecci on Tuesday.

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Paraguay's organized crime prosecutor is slain while honeymooning on a Colombia beach

11:06am May 12, 2022

by The Associated Press

Marcelo Pecci was slain Tuesday by gunmen on a Colombian beach. His wife, journalist Claudia Aguilera, said the attackers came on a jet ski or small boat.

North Korea's Kaepoong town is seen from the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, May 12, 2022.

North Korea confirms 1st COVID outbreak as Kim orders lockdown

4:27am May 12, 2022

by The Associated Press

While the scale of the outbreak isn't known, it could have serious consequences because the country has a poor health care system and its 26 million people are believed to be mostly unvaccinated.

Hong Kong's outspoken cardinal Joseph Zen, center, and other religious protesters hold placards with "Respects religious freedom" written on them during a demonstration outside the China Liaison Office in Hong Kong, Wednesday, July 11, 2012.

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A Catholic cardinal and others are arrested on Hong Kong security law

3:50am May 12, 2022

by The Associated Press

The White House and U.S. politicians join others around the world in calling for the release of a retired archbishop, singer and others in the Chinese territory.

India's Supreme Court will soon rule on Muslim headscarves in public schools

11:19pm May 11, 2022

by Lauren Frayer

When her high school banned the hijab, Ayesha Shifa sued — and her case went to India's Supreme Court. A verdict, expected soon, may redefine what secularism means in the world's largest democracy.

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