France’s Aix-Marseille University offered a program for scientists “threatened in their research” in America. Europe is sensing an opportunity to attract talent as the Trump administration cuts funding to colleges.A group of US-based researchers is due to start work at a French university in June, as scientists and academics scramble to deal with massive cuts introduced by President Donald Trump’s administration. France’s Aix-Marseille University said its “Safe Place for Science” scheme, which in March became available to US scientists threatened by cuts to higher education in America, was flooded with applicants. What did the French university say? The “Safe Space for Science” scheme aims to attract US workers from fields such as health, queer studies, medicine, epidemiology and climate change. Aix-Marseille said it received 298 applications for the program, of which 242 were deemed eligible, and their applications were under consideration since there were only 20 available posts. The applicants included 135
Author: Desk
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has sought to end conflict with armed groups in the country since taking office in 2022. But the suspension of a ceasefire agreement with former FARC dissidents makes peace tricky.Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Thursday suspended a ceasefire with a faction that once belonged to the armed Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group. The faction broke with FARC when it signed a peace pact in 2016 with the government to bring an end to five decades of fighting. FARC fighters laid down their arms as part of the pact, but some older rebel groups, as well as new ones that emerged later, didn’t demobilize. Peace talks to continue despite suspension of ceasefire with FARC dissident faction The ceasefire between the government and the FARC dissident group expired earlier this week. An extension was expected to be agreed upon, but could not be closed in time. Petro said in a statement he did “not extend the bilateral and temporary ceasefire with respect to the c
France heralded positive momentum after talks that brought together US, Ukraine and European officials in Paris. Further meetings could help Ukraine’s European allies shape the course of peace negotiations with Russia.Top US, French and Ukrainian met in Paris on Thursday for talks that could see sidelined European officials reinsert themselves into the sluggish US-led negotiations to end the Ukraine war. French President Emmanuel Macron personally received US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, who recently met personally with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the Trump administration tries to thrash out a deal to bring the three-year war to a close. A French government source described the talks as “positive and constructive” and announced there would be further discussions involving key European, Ukrainian and US officials in London next week. “I believe the Americans see the interest in working in this format,” the source told reporters after a day of back-to-back talks o
A report by DW and other German media outlets put the spotlight on a kidney trafficking operation based in Kenya. Now the government is launching an investigation.Kenya’s government confirmed on Thursday that it would shut down a kidney transplant operations at a clinic that had been in the spotlight for organ trafficking. The announcement came just days after the release of a report by DW and German media outlets Der Spiegel, ZDF on the “Mediheal” clinic in Kenya. What was in the report? The report traced the paths of organ sellers and buyers, analyzed documents, spoke with whistleblowers and medical professionals. It uncovered an international network that exploited young Kenyans who were desperate for money, as well as old patients who were desperate for a life-saving kidney. DW correspondent in Nairobi, Felix Maringa, reported that the Kenyan government response was swift, starting with the shutting down of the organ transplant operation at the hospital. “A new committee has been put in place that will in
Polish activists gave food and clothes to a group of refugees before trying to smuggle them to safety. Now they are on trial and could face years in prison.About 100 demonstrators gathered outside the Bialystok courthouse in northern Poland on a recent April morning to show support for five Poles on trial here. Four of the five appeared for the trial, and the fifth failed to appear. Demonstrators held up signs reading “Freedom for the five,” “Helping is not a crime,” or “Laws can’t smother the truth.” A group of drum-banging young people approached. Others yelled words of encouragement to the defendants, shouting, “You’ll never walk alone!” Cheers erupted when the four appeared in court. In March 2022, the five gave water, food and clothing to a desperate Iraqi couple, their seven children and an elderly Egyptian man who was with them. The refugees had illegally crossed the Belarus-Polish border and had spent several days living in the woods. The five Poles then decided to drive the group to the next closest
A scientific analysis of samples collected on the surface of Mars shows the Red Planet has evolved its own version of a carbon cycle. The cycle helps create life on Earth, but why not on Mars?What you need to know Evidence of carbon deposits in the crust of Mars has been found, suggesting the presence of a carbon cycle. Mars once had a far warmer climate with liquid water and a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere. A broken cycle may have contributed to Mars becoming uninhabitable. Scientists studying soil samples from NASA’s Curiosity rover have discovered that a carbon cycle similar to the one that sustains life on Earth once played out on the Red Planet. While it’s unclear whether Marsever supported life, its current harsh environment may be due to an “imbalanced” carbon cycle. “Mars seems to have been habitable for its first billion years and that waned very quickly,” Ben Tutolo, a space researcher at the University of Calgary, Canada, told DW. Mars once had a thick atmosphere full of carbon dioxide capable of
Protesters in Berlin occupied a university lecture hall over attempts to deport pro-Palestinian activists. Police said protesters defaced the classroom and threw fireworks at them.Following an occupation of part of Berlin’s Humboldt University in protest over the threatened deportation of pro-Palestinian protesters, German police on Thursday said they had launched around 100 criminal investigations. Some 89 protesters occupied a lecture hall at the university for several hours on Wednesday before police were able to get into the barricaded room. The police have begun probing a litany of suspected offenses, including aggravated trespassing, serious breach of the peace and the use of symbols linked to unconstitutional or terrorist organizations. Police also said protesters threw an unknown liquid, which they suggested may have been urine, and fireworks at officers. Why did pro-Palestinian protesters occupy a Berlin university? The German capital has been a hotspot of protest against Israel’s offensives in Gaza
Thousands in Germany will join traditional Easter peace marches this weekend — but the heyday of the peace movement seems long gone, as the government prepares to re-arm the country.Tens of thousands of people in Germany are expected to join around 120 peace protests across the country this weekend as Germany’s peace movement prepares for its traditional Easter peace marches — even as the presumptive next German government under likely-Chancellor Friedrich Merz is getting ready to spend billions on rearming the country and is seeking to boost the number of Bundeswehr recruits from the current 83,000 to 203,000 by 2031 with a voluntary program. German public opinion on war and peace are currently complex: Surveys by the Forsa research institute (carried out in March and April for media outlets RTL and NTV) found that while a majority of Germans (54%) now fear that the country could get dragged into the Ukraine war, only one in six of the population would be prepared to fight for the country. The Easter marches
Deep beneath the Pacific Ocean, scientists have uncovered something they never expected—oxygen forming in complete darkness. Hidden in a stretch of seabed eyed by mining giants, this phenomenon defies long-held scientific beliefs.
Faysal Quraishi’s performance in Raaja Rani is facing backlash from viewers. The actor plays a man grappling with mental health issues and emotional immaturity. However, many fans believe the character doesn’t suit him, with criticism centring around his age, performance style, and even his makeup.