FreshWorldNews

A Syrian court on Sunday held a preparatory session for a trial of several former officials in President Bashar Assad's deposed government, with only one of the defendants physically present in court.  Assad's government was ousted, after more than a decade of civil war, in December 2024. He, his brother and other senior officials face trial

Pensions have been a hot-button issue in Germany for many years, but this week, Chancellor Friedrich Merz himself reignited the controversy. "Statutory pension insurance alone will, at best, still provide only basic coverage for old age. It will no longer be sufficient to secure one's standard of living in the long term," Merz said at

Cristian Retamal, Chile's former negotiator at the annual UN climate talks, hopes this week's conference in Colombia will lead to the start of a new global political movement. Retamal is in Colombia's northern coastal city of Santa Marta, where representatives from more than 50 countries are meeting for the first-ever conference on transitioning away from

In autumn 2024, Russia launched massive aerial assaults on Ukraine, pounding its energy system and raising fears about the safety of its nuclear power plants. Several reactors were disconnected from the grid. One shut down entirely. "It wasn't that we were scared," says Shaun Burnie, recalling that night. "It was that we were terrified." For

Running a cozy little bookshop where readers can meet and connect over their favorite authors is a dream shared by many book nerds. But beyond the romanticized idea, the independent bookstore business is renowned for being risky, which is why most people never get to follow that dream. There is a creative and popular alternative, however: The Open

Children who do not reach the age of 18 before January 1, 2027 will never be permitted to buy cigarettes or tobacco products in the UK, once a new law that has now completely cleared parliament gets royal assent from King Charles III.  The Tobacco and Vapes Bill cleared its final parliamentary hurdle on Monday, when the

Data centers need vast amounts of energy to fuel servers and process the information that keeps our websites, applications and generative AI models running.  The United States has more data centers than anywhere else in the world and the extra energy demand is straining transmission grids and driving up the cost of electricity. Struggling grid operators are turning to polluting fossil

This handout photo released by the Iranian foreign ministry shows Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar (L) greeting his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi upon his arrival in Islamabad on April 24, 2026. /Iranian Foreign Ministry/AFP via Getty Images/AFP hide caption toggle caption /Iranian Foreign Ministry/AFP via Getty Images/AFP Iran's foreign minister arrived in Russia on Monday

The average salary for a public school teacher in the U.S. rose to $74,495 in the last school year, up 3.5% from the year before. But adjusted for inflation, today's teachers are estimated to be earning less, not more, than they were in 2017. That's according to a new review of school-related data from the

Secret Service agents responded to a shooting at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton on Saturday evening. President Trump and other administration officials were rushed out, and a suspect was arrested. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Andrew Harnik/Getty Images Stay up to date with our Politics newsletter, sent