A 2018 trip to Martinique led Christa Barfield from healthcare to running a 128-acre farm

'Scourge' of abuse must be rooted out, says Pope, during Lourdes visit

Pope Leo spoke to bishops before leading a service attended by thousands of worshippers in France.

RAF Fairford alert: Several arrested, homes evacuated near US air base - key details

Several men were arrested near RAF Fairford on suspicion of violations under the Explosives Act. Residents of the nearby village of Whelford were evacuated to a leisure center in Cirencester. Police established a cordon around the area while an Army explosive ordnance disposal team assessed several vehicles. Counter-terrorism police are leading the investigation but have not confirmed a link to RAF Fairford.

Powerful storm brings flooding, power cuts across northeastern US, 1 dead in New York

'Xi understands how I feel': Trump says Taiwan not a major point of friction

'Don't go back like this': Pak minister's throat-cut gesture to Afghan journalist backfires - video

Russian, Ukrainian strikes leave 10 dead as Trump calls on Zelenskyy to 'settle with Putin'

KYIV, Ukraine — Russian attacks killed four people across Ukraine, officials said on Saturday, while Ukraine continued to target Russian oil refineries and industrial sites with long-range drones. The intensifying aerial war between Moscow and Kyiv came as U.S. President Donald Trump said he hoped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would “settle” with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia has struck Ukraine with cruise and ballistic missiles, glide bombs and jet-powered drones while front-line progress has slowed, some 4½-years after Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor. “It is essential that our partners not forget: Russia is escalating every single day. If the Russians have chosen to make their strikes even more brutal, the world must choose stronger responses to keep the war from spreading further,” Zelenskyy wrote on Saturday. He listed “numerous strikes on residential homes” in the cities of Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia, and the Odesa, Sumy, and Kharkiv regions. Two women in Zaporizhzhia died when they were trapped beneath the rubble of their home, Za

Iran insists on diplomatic solution after Trump rejects peace plan

WASHINGTON/UNITED NATIONS/CAIRO — Iran on Sunday insisted that only diplomacy can solve its conflict with the United States and Israel after U.S. President Donald Trump said he rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting. "Our conditions are clear, and any move toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz is contingent on these conditions being met," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi posted on social media. "Only a negotiated solution can get them out of this deadlock." Iran announced a peace proposal earlier this week at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, saying it had been transmitted to the Americans via Qatari mediators. Trump on Saturday said he rejected the plan and argued that desperation drives the Iranians’ push for an agreement on the key waterway. "They want to make a deal to open the Hormuz Strait immediately because they're losing so badly," Trump told reporters at the White House. Despite Trump's public statements, mediators facilitating U.S.-Iran talks with the United States have not officially relayed a U.S. rejection of the plan, ac

Why US chip controls took a back seat at Xi-Trump summit

There is little question that Jensen Huang and Lisa Su, the heads of U.S. semiconductor chip giants Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), had secured two of the best seats in the house at the White House state dinner on Thursday evening: at the head table alongside the two presidents and their wives. But what remains unclear is how much progress they were able to make on their primary goal of restoring access to the Chinese market, amid entrenched opposition to that happening in both China and the U.S. That is because U.S. semiconductor chip export controls do not seem to have been a major sticking point during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s historic state visit to Washington this week, despite most of the restrictions still being in place. Early indications suggest that export controls were not a significant topic of debate during the talks, with no direct mention of them in the readouts so far from both Beijing and Washington summarising the achievements of the Xi–Trump summit. “This is especially strange considering that export controls were brought up regularly by Xi during

Pope Leo draws 800,000 people to central Paris for open-air Mass on iconic square

PARIS — Hundreds of thousands of people packed Paris’ iconic Champs-Élysées avenue to attend an open-air Mass with Pope Leo XIV on Saturday, a sign of the Catholic Church’s enduring appeal in the once staunchly Catholic but officially secular country. The Vatican estimated that 800,000 people attended — about 200,000 more than the number who had registered in advance. The turnout testified to the church’s lasting influence in France despite declining attendance and secularizing trends that have emptied churches across Europe. The American pope greeted the flag-waving, cheering throngs from his popemobile during a 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) parade along the grand boulevard leading to the Place de la Concorde for Mass, essentially the heart of Paris and a symbol of the French republic. In his homily, Leo asked the crowds not to keep their faith to themselves, but to instead “let it overflow, so that those you meet may be refreshed and their thirst satisfied.” “From this beautiful city of Paris, I pray fervently that the living water of the Holy Spirit may flow throughout Fran

Separate mass shootings in South Africa townships leave at least 27 people dead

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Two separate mass shootings near South Africa’s two biggest cities killed at least 27 people, police said Sunday. The South African Police Service said 17 people were killed Saturday night when eight suspects armed with AK-47 rifles and pistols opened fire at a bar in Wedela township, southwest of Johannesburg. At least 15 others sustained gunshot injuries in that attack, police said. In a separate statement, police said 10 people were killed in a mass shooting at a store in Lwandle, near Cape Town, around 1 a.m. Sunday. Another 11 were wounded in that shooting. Police said they were searching for multiple suspects in that case also, though they didn't give an exact number. The two shootings come just days after a mass shooting by three gunmen at a house party near the east coast city of Durban killed 11 people, including a pregnant woman. No arrests had been made in the two latest mass shootings, police said. South Africa has struggled with high rates of violent crime for years, but the series of mass shootings this week were shocking even to a country used

‘No one is off the table’: Trump admin denies report of ICE pausing arrests of non-criminal illegal migrants