Author: Olive Metuge

German lawmakers have voted to allow a huge increase in defence and infrastructure spending – a seismic shift for the country that could reshape European defence.A two-thirds majority of Bundestag parliamentarians, required for the change, approved the vote on Tuesday.The law will exempt spending on defence and security from Germany’s strict debt rules, and create a €500bn ($547bn; £420bn) infrastructure fund.This vote is a historic move for traditionally debt-shy Germany, and could be hugely significant for Europe, as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine grinds on, and after US President Donald Trump signalled an uncertain commitment to Nato and Europe’s defence.However,…

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams departed the International Space Station early on Tuesday morning in a SpaceX capsule for a long-awaited trip back to Earth, nine months after their faulty Boeing Starliner craft upended what was to be a roughly week-long test mission.Wilmore and Williams, two veteran NASA astronauts and retired U.S. Navy test pilots, strapped inside their Crew Dragon spacecraft along with two other astronauts and undocked from the orbiting laboratory at 1:05 a.m. ET, embarking on a 17-hour trip to Earth.The four-person crew, formally part of NASA’s Crew-9 astronaut rotation mission, is scheduled for a splashdown…

Home Daily News Third federal appeals court rejects Trump… Constitutional Law Third federal appeals court rejects Trump administration bid on birthright citizenship By Debra Cassens Weiss March 12, 2025, 12:05 pm CDT The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Boston on Tuesday refused to allow President Donald Trump’s order on birthright citizenship to take effect, joining two other federal appeals courts that also ruled against the administration on the issue. (Image from Shutterstock) The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Boston on Tuesday refused to allow President Donald Trump’s order on birthright citizenship to take effect, joining two…

Ramadan is a time of spirituality, togetherness and time to reflect. Sometimes some self care is needed over the Holy Month and we have rounded up some spa deals in Dubai this Ramadan, for you to take some time for yourself, or with a loved one.Ramadan Spa Offers 2025Coya SpaCreate your own spa ritual at Coya Spa and elevate your self-care that caters to your every need. Begin with a deeply soothing 60-minute massage of your choice, designed to melt away stress and tension. Then, choose between a refreshing express body scrub or an express facial to revitalise your skin.…

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. In 2008, as the Great Recession was starting to take hold, my travels reporting on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign took me to one American city after another that was reeling from major layoffs. I visited places such as Kokomo, Indiana, which was losing so many jobs at its Chrysler and Delphi plants that by year’s end it was labeled one of America’s fastest-dying towns, and Lorain, Ohio, where Obama visited a National Gypsum plant that closed four months…

Alison FrancisSenior Science JournalistNASAButch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been on the ISS since June 2024After an epic nine months in space, Nasa astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are finally getting ready to head home.Their stay on the International Space Station (ISS) was only supposed to last eight days, but their mission was dramatically extended after the spacecraft that they arrived on suffered technical problems.The pair are travelling back to Earth in a SpaceX capsule along with Nasa astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.They are expected to undock from the ISS at 05:05 GMT (01:05 EDT) on…

A U.S. federal judge on Monday pressed the Trump administration to provide details about hundreds of Venezuelans it deported despite a court order barring it from doing so, and gave the government until Tuesday to explain why officials believed they had complied with his order.U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration deported more than 200 Venezuelans it claims were members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that has been linked to kidnapping, extortion and contract killings, to El Salvador over the weekend, even as Judge James Boasberg temporarily blocked it from using a wartime law to carry out the deportations.Boasberg had earlier…

Home Daily News Former George Mason University law prof says… Verdicts & Settlements Former George Mason University law prof says he’s ‘fully vindicated’ after ‘relatively modest’ defamation suit settlement By Debra Cassens Weiss March 12, 2025, 2:59 pm CDT A former professor at the George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School has reached a settlement in his defamation lawsuit against two former students. (Photo from Shutterstock) A former professor at the George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School has reached a settlement in his defamation lawsuit against two former students who alleged that he abused his power to initiate sexual…

Dubai, the city of convenience…There are about 9 million apps in the world, however we’ve narrowed the best apps you need in Dubai to make your life easier. These apply to you if you’re living or visiting Dubai. From navigating the roads to getting a massage to your home, there’s literally an app for everything.Click through the gallery to see… 3 of 12 WhatsAppIf you haven’t worked it out already, the city runs on WhatsApp, you can do just about anything once you click on that little green icon. Book restaurants, track your parcels on Aramex and find out where…

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. In mid-February, Trump administration leaders received a desperate warning from their diplomats posted in Vietnam, one of the most important American partners in Asia. Workers were in the middle of cleaning up the site of an enormous chemical spill, the Bien Hoa air base, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio abruptly halted all foreign aid funding. The shutdown left exposed open pits of soil contaminated with dioxin, the deadly byproduct of Agent Orange, which the American military sprayed…