Author: Elizabeth Jenrola Oso

French celebrities and politicians on the left have condemned Brigitte Macron after she was filmed using a derogatory term to describe feminist protesters at a theatre performance in Paris. The footage, recorded on Sunday, showed France’s first lady backstage at the Folies Bergère theatre speaking with actor and comedian Ary Abittan, who was preparing to go on stage. Abittan, previously accused of rape, told her he was nervous following a protest the night before, when campaigners disrupted his show by shouting: “Abittan, rapist!” In response, Macron referred to the demonstrators as “sales connes” translated as “dirty or stupid bitches” and…

Fewer than 60,000 people, just 0.001% of the world’s population, now control three times as much wealth as the entire bottom half of humanity, according to a major study that warns inequality has reached extremes requiring urgent action. The World Inequality Report 2026, compiled by 200 researchers, found that the richest 10% of income-earners take home more than the other 90% combined, while the poorest half capture less than 10% of global earnings. Wealth, defined as the value of assets, was even more concentrated than income. The richest 10% own 75% of global wealth, while the bottom half hold just…

Caribbean coral reefs have lost nearly half of their hard coral cover since 1980, according to a new study. Scientists report a 48 per cent decrease, driven largely by climate breakdown and increasingly frequent marine heatwaves. The heatwaves disrupt the microalgae that sustain coral, turning them toxic and forcing the coral to expel them. In 2023–24, the region endured what researchers described as “the most destructive thermal stress ever recorded”, resulting in a 16.9 per cent decline in coral cover in just one year. Four decades ago, divers would have encountered colourful, thriving ecosystems supporting hundreds of marine species, including…

David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance has intensified its campaign to acquire Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), launching a hostile bid despite Netflix’s announcement last week that it had agreed to purchase the company’s studio and streaming operations. Netflix’s offer, valued at $82.7bn, covers WBD’s Hollywood film studio and HBO cable network but excludes its traditional television assets, including CNN and the Discovery channel. Paramount’s all‑cash tender offer, sent directly to shareholders on Monday, covers the entire company and places a total enterprise value of $108.4bn on WBD, representing a significant premium on its current stock price. In its pitch to shareholders, Paramount…

A photograph of eight students lying in the shape of a swastika on a high school football field in San Jose, California, has sparked shock and anger within the Bay Area Jewish community. The image was posted to social media on 3 December by a Branham High School student, accompanied by an antisemitic quotation from Adolf Hitler. A screenshot of the post began circulating on Reddit last Thursday, attracting more than 500 comments. Instagram removed the post and the account by Friday morning, according to J., the Jewish News of Northern California. Beth Silbergeld, principal of Branham High School, said…

President Donald Trump has authorised Nvidia to begin selling its advanced H200 artificial intelligence chips to approved customers in China, a move that marks a significant victory for the chipmaker and its chief executive, Jensen Huang. Until Monday’s announcement, US rules had barred sales of Nvidia’s most powerful chips to China on national security grounds. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he had informed President Xi Jinping that the United States would permit Nvidia to ship H200 products to approved customers in China and other countries, under conditions intended to preserve national security. He added that President Xi…

Israel’s chief of the general staff, Eyal Zamir, has described the “yellow line” dividing Gaza under Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan as a new border for Israel. Speaking to soldiers deployed in the territory, Zamir said the army would maintain its current positions, which give Israel control of more than half of Gaza, including most agricultural land and the border crossing with Egypt. “The ‘yellow line’ is a new border line, serving as a forward defensive line for our communities and a line of operational activity,” Zamir told reservists in northern Gaza. He also visited the ruins of Beit Hanoun and…

Hong Kong recorded one of its lowest ever voter turnouts in Sunday’s Legislative Council elections, with fewer than 32% of eligible voters casting their ballots. The figure of 31.9% was only marginally higher than the record low of 30.2% in 2021, though the overall number of voters fell to 1.3 million compared with 1.4 million four years ago. The city’s population is about 7.5 million. The elections were held under the “patriots only” system introduced after an overhaul in 2021, which restricts candidacy to those vetted by a government committee. Of the 90 seats in the legislature, only 20 are…

A United Nations committee has issued its strongest warning yet to New Zealand, cautioning that government policies risk undermining Māori rights and entrenching long‑standing disparities for the Indigenous population. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) released a 14‑page report on 5 December following its eight‑year review of New Zealand’s compliance with the international convention. The findings represent the most critical assessment of the country’s record to date, raising alarm over recent reforms that, it said, could erode protections for Māori. Among the committee’s concerns were the disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority, cuts to funding for…

Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau have confirmed their relationship after the singer shared photographs and videos of the pair during a trip to Japan. The Instagram post, published on Saturday to Perry’s account, which has more than 200 million followers, included a selfie of the couple smiling cheek to cheek and a video of them eating sushi. The carousel of images was captioned “Tokyo Times on tour and more”, accompanied by emojis including a red heart, appearing to confirm months of speculation about a romance between the pop star and Canada’s former prime minister. The announcement followed a post by…