Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France’s far-right National Front who was known for fiery rhetoric against immigration and multiculturalism that earned him both staunch supporters and widespread condemnation, has died. He was 96. Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally as the party is now known, confirmed Le Pen’s death in a post on social media platform X on Tuesday. A polarizing figure in French politics, Le Pen's controversial statements, including Holocaust denial, led to multiple convictions and strained his political alliances. Le Pen, who once reached the second round of

The third case of the Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV), similar to the coronavirus, has been reported in India. On Monday, a 2-month-old child from a Rajasthani family was confirmed positive in Ahmedabad, where the child is undergoing treatment. Earlier, two cases were detected in Karnataka: a 3-month-old girl and an 8-month-old boy, both treated in a Bengaluru hospital. HMPV infection causes symptoms resembling a cold or COVID-19 and predominantly affects young children. Following reports of HMPV cases, fear gripped the Indian stock market, leading to a significant drop. The Sensex closed 1,258

A judge has set January 10 as the date for sentencing former U.S. President Donald Trump on charges related to a hush money case involving a porn star. All eyes are on the court's decision, which will come 10 days before Trump is set to be sworn in as president for a second term. However, Manhattan Judge Juan Marchon has indicated that Trump will not be sent to prison. Regardless of the final decision, it is certain that Trump will become the first president to reach the White House with a criminal conviction. Donald Trump was convicted in May of 34 serious counts of tampering with business r

Pope Francis on Monday named the first woman to head a major Vatican office, appointing an Italian nun, Sister Simona Brambilla, to become prefect of the department responsible for all the Catholic Church's religious orders. The appointment marks a major step in Francis’ aim to givewomen more leadership rolesin governing the church. While women have been named to No. 2 spots in some Vatican offices, never before has a woman been named prefect of a dicastery or congregation of the Holy See Curia, the central governing organ of the Catholic Church. The historic nature of Brambilla’s appointm

A Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday, killing the driver and injuring seven others. Jeremy Schwartz, the FBI's Las Vegas agent, stated that authorities are investigating potential links between the Las Vegas explosion and a similar incident in New Orleans. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department reported being called to the scene around 8:40 a.m. Authorities revealed that the truck had been rented in Colorado through Turo, the same car rental app involved in the New Orleans incident. Both explosions occurred just hours apart on New Year's

Jimmy Carter,the peanut farmer who tried to restore virtue to the White House after the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, then rebounded from a landslide defeat to become a global advocate of human rights and democracy, has died.He was 100 years old. The Carter Center said the 39th president died Sunday,more than a year after entering hospice care, at his home in Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife,Rosalynn,who died in November 2023, lived most of their lives. A moderate Democrat,Carter ran for president in 1976as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad grin, effusive Baptist faith an

Pakistan’s airstrikes on eastern Afghanistan killed 46 people, mostly women and children, a Taliban government official said Wednesday. Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesman for the Afghan government, said that six people were also wounded in the Paktika province bordering Pakistan. This comes a day after Pakistani security officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with regulations, told The Associated Press that Tuesday’s operation was to dismantle a training facility and kill insurgents in the province of Paktika in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, in a statement, Mohammad Khuras

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday ordered parliament dissolved and set new elections for Feb. 23 in the wake of the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's governing coalition. Scholzlost a confidence voteon Dec. 16 and leads a minority government after his unpopular and notoriously rancorous three-party coalitioncollapsed on Nov. 6when he fired his finance minister in a dispute over how to revitalizeGermany’s stagnant economy. Leaders of several major parties then agreed that a parliamentary election should be held on Feb. 23, seven months earlier than originally planned. Sinc

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif ruled out any possibility of compromise on the country's nuclear program. Addressing a cabinet meeting in Islamabad on Tuesday, he emphasized that American sanctions hold no significance for Pakistan and reaffirmed the country's commitment to its nuclear program. Sharif's remarks followed sanctions imposed by President Joe Biden's administration on four companies allegedly linked to Pakistan's ballistic missile program last week. The US had expressed concerns that Pakistan was developing long-range missiles capable of reaching the US. In response, Pakist