Reuters

Up to 2,000 workers laid off at US Department of Energy, sources say

The layoffs of probationary workers come after three people representing billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency arrived at the agency last week

Taiwan pledges chip talks and investment in bid to ease Trump’s concerns 

Trump spoke critically about Taiwan on Thursday, saying he aimed to restore U.S. manufacturing of semiconductor chips and repeating claims about Taiwan having taken away the industry he wanted back in the United States

Pope Francis taken to hospital for bronchitis treatment

Francis is 88

Kremlin dismisses Ukraine's accusation that Russia attacked Chernobyl nuclear plant

Protective shelter contains the lingering radiation from the world’s worst civil nuclear catastrophe

Russian Vinnik back in Moscow after prisoner swap, news agency says

China's fuel demand may have passed its peak, IEA says

International Energy Agency (IEA) cites data showing that the country's consumption of gasoline, gasoil and jet fuel declined marginally in 2024

Anti-government protest halts air traffic in Belgium

Thousands of Belgians took to the streets in protest over new government's planned pension reforms in the first day of multi-day strike that halted all air traffic in country

China's 2024 coal power construction hits 10-year high, researchers say

China is world's biggest coal consumer and emitter of greenhouse gases

Syrian minister makes first trip to EU as powers look to aid transition

Regional ministers, including from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Lebanon, will be joined with Western partners

North Korea dismantling facility near border for separated families, Seoul says

Seoul's Unification Ministry, which handles affairs between the two Koreas, issued a statement urging North Korea to immediately stop the action at the site near the border

US judge allows Trump to proceed with federal worker deferred retirement

The decision could clear the way for the Republican president's administration to swiftly try to wrap up the program, though the unions could ask another court to halt the program

Trump orders revamp of US diplomatic corps to ensure it follows his agenda

President has repeatedly pledged to 'clean out the deep state' by firing bureaucrats whom he deems disloyal

Lawsuit by US rights group seeks access to migrants sent to Guantanamo Bay

ACLU files complaint on behalf of families of detainees, who say detainees themselves cannot sue because they are being held without ability to communicate with outside world

Audit shows Senegal's previous government misreported debt, other key data

Audit had been ordered by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who took office in April 2024

Pakistan sees economy on long-term recovery path under IMF program

Ahead of the IMF review, the government and central bank have expressed confidence about meeting its targets, even as Pakistan, bolstered by the bailout secured in September, struggles to navigate the recovery

Russia says it rescued all 139 fishermen stranded on ice floe in Western Pacific sea

A video showed fishermen walking on snowy ice away from the rescuers.

New York health department confirms first case of new mpox strain

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were three confirmed cases in the country — in California, Georgia and New Hampshire — caused by the clade Ib strain

First US Navy ships sail through Taiwan Strait since Trump inauguration

Chinese forces had been dispatched to keep watch

Vance tells Europeans that heavy regulation could kill AI 

Vance, setting out the Trump administration's America First agenda, said the United States intended to remain the dominant force in AI and strongly opposed the European Union's far tougher regulatory approach 

EU's AI push to get $50 billion boost, EU's von der Leyen says

Von der Leyen said investments will focus on industrial and mission-critical technologies