Authorities in the southwest German town of Walldorf have ordered some cat owners to keep their pets indoors until the end of August, to protect a rare bird during its breeding season. The decree is designed to help save the crested lark, which makes its nest on the ground and is therefore easy prey for feline hunters. The bird's population in Western Europe has declined sharply in recent decades. Authorities in Walldorf wrote that “among other things the survival of the species depends on every single chick.” The decree, which applies to all cats in the southern part of the town and will

Finland’s Parliament has overwhelmingly endorsed a bid from the Nordic country’s government to join NATO. Lawmakers at the 200-seat Eduskunta legislature voted 188-8 Tuesday to approve Finland seeking membership in the 30-member Western military alliance. The vote was seen a formality as Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced the intention on Sunday, and lawmakers’ approval wasn’t necessarily required. However, both Niniisto and Marin stressed that it was important for the Parliament to weigh in on the NATO bid, described by the Finnish head of state

Buffalo's police commissioner says the white gunman accused of a racist rampage at a supermarket planned to keep killing people if he had escaped the scene. Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia spoke to CNN on Monday, while authorities investigated the massacre of 10 Black shoppers and workers as a potential federal hate crime or act of domestic terrorism. Gramiglia says the gunman even talked about shooting up another store. The accused gunman, 18-year-old Payton Gendron, ultimately surrendered to police who confronted him in the supermarket's vestibule. He has been charged with murder. The

President Joe Biden on Monday signed an order to deploy U.S. troops to Somalia amid heightened concerns about the country's Islamic extremist rebels, known asal-Shabab. The move is a reversal of President Donald Trump's late-term decision to remove nearly all 700 Special Operator forces that had been operating there. Biden's decision, confirmed by a senior administration official, comes after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin requested the deployment “to reestablish a persistent U.S. military presence in Somalia to enable a more effective fight against al-Shabaab, which has increased in strengt

Elisabeth Borne was appointed France's new prime minister on Monday to become the second woman to hold the post in the country. Borne, 61, succeeds Jean Castex, whose resignation was expected after President Emmanuel Macron’s reelection last month. Macron and Borne are expected to appoint the full government in the coming days. Borne is the second woman to hold the position after Edith Cresson, who was prime minister in 1991-1992 under Socialist President Francois Mitterrand. She has served as Labor Minister in Macron’s previous government since 2020. Before that, she was transport ministe

The United Arab Emirates' long-ailing ruler, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nayhan, died Friday, the government's state-run news agency announced in a brief statement. He was 73. The UAE’s Ministry of Presidential Affairs announced a 40-day period of mourning and a three-day suspension of work in all ministries and the private sector beginning Friday, including flags to be flown at half-staff. He had long seized having involvement in day-to-day affairs, with his brother, Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, seen as the de-factor ruler. There was no immediate announcement about the succe

HONG KONG - Reports say Canadian singer and activist Denise Ho is one of at least four people who have been arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces to endanger China's national security. The U.K.-based human rights group Hong Kong Watch says Ho was detained by Hong Kong's National Security Police along with Cardinal Joseph Zen, lawyer Margaret Ng and scholar Hui Po-keung. The group says the arrests are apparently related to their rolesas trustees of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which provided legal aid to people who took part in 2019 pro-democracy protests that

Christie's auction house says an egg-sized white diamond known as ``The Rock'' has sold for the equivalent of 28.2-million dollars Canadian. The 228-carat pear-shaped stone is billed as the largest of its kind to go up for auction. The 228-carat pear-shaped stone, with its platinum pendant mounting, has a gross weight 61.3 grams (2.2 ounces) and dimensions of 5.4 centimeters by 3.1 centimeters (2.1 inches by 1.2 inches), making it about the size of a medium hen's egg. Also sold was the ``Red Cross'' diamond, a more than 205-carat fancy yellow stone, which fetched nearly 18.5-million dollars.

Elon Musk said he will reverse Twitter’s permanent ban of former President Donald Trump if the Tesla CEO follows through with his plan to buy the social media company. Musk, speaking virtually at a Future of the Car summit hosted by the Financial Times, said Twitter’s Trump ban was a “morally bad decision” and “foolish in the extreme.” He said permanent bans of Twitter accounts should be rare and reserved for accounts that are scams or automated bots. Twitter banned Trump's account in January 2021 for “incitement of violence” following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capito