Willow oil: US government approves Alaska oil and gas drilling project
US President Joe Biden has approved a major oil and gas drilling project in Alaska that faced strong opposition from environmental activists.
The company behind the Willow project, ConocoPhillips, says it will create local investment and thousands of jobs.
But the $8bn (£6.6bn) proposal faced a torrent of online activism in recent weeks, particularly among youth activists on TikTok.
Opponents argue it should be halted over its climate and wildlife impacts.
Located on Alaska's remote North Slope, it is the largest oil project in the region for decades.
It is slated to produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day.
After years of isolation, Xi’s China looks to dominate world stage
President expected to visit Iran and to meet Vladimir Putin soon as he aims to build ties abroad
In Xi Jinping’s closing speech at China’s annual parliamentary meeting on Monday, his message was clear: China is back. Speaking to nearly 3,000 delegates in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi, newly anointed as president for a precedent-busting third term, said: “After a century of struggle, our national humiliation has been erased … the Chinese nation’s great revival is on an irreversible path.”
SIPRI: US arms exports skyrocket, while China's nosedive
While the rest of the world is slowly disarming, Europe is quickly doing the opposite, according to the latest report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The institute examines and compares the global arms trade in four-year periods, to better reflect overall trends rather than looking at the weapons business over only 12 months.
Among the two most important trends in the latest report, SIPRI researcher Pieter Wezeman told DW, are that arms transfers to European states have significantly increased" and that "the role of the US as an arms supplier in the world has increased significantly, too."
Nicaragua considers suspending ties with Vatican following Pope’s ‘dictatorship’ comment
Nicaragua on Sunday said it was considering suspending diplomatic ties with the Vatican, after Pope Francis days earlier called the Central American country's government a "crude dictatorship."
"Between the Republic of Nicaragua and the Vatican, we propose a suspension of diplomatic relations," a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, "given the information that has been divulged by sources apparently close to the Catholic Church."
The ministry statement did not directly reference Francis' comments in the Friday interview with Argentine news outlet Infobae, during which the pontiff also called Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega "unbalanced."
The interview came days after the government last week shuttered two universities with ties to the Roman Catholic Church.
Japanese largely keep wearing masks on first day of ‘freedom’
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
March 13, 2023 at 18:31 JST
Most Japanese commuters continued wearing face masks on March 13, the day the central government ended its three-year request for protective measure against COVID-19.
At JR Shinagawa Station in Tokyo at 8 a.m., only about one in 50 commuters was maskless.
A 26-year-old Tokyo resident said he took off his mask when he got off a train “because I wanted to change the depressing mood.”
He said he was surprised to see “so many people still wearing mask and wasting a new day of freedom.”
A company employee in his 50s who lives in Saitama Prefecture decided not to wear a mask.
BBC reinstates star soccer host Gary Lineker after impartiality storm
Gary Lineker will resume his duties on the BBC’s flagship soccer show after an impartiality storm over his criticism of the government’s asylum policy that plunged Britain’s public broadcaster into scheduling chaos over the weekend.
In a statement on Monday, the BBC’s Director General Tim Davie said he recognized it had been a “difficult period for staff” but that he was looking forward to Lineker’s reinstatement.
He also announced a review of the BBC’s social media guidance would be led by an independent expert, acknowledging the existing guidance had caused “potential confusion.”
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