Author: Editorial Team

TOKYO — People who litter on streets or in parks and other places in central Tokyo will now face an on-the-spot fine of 2,000 Japanese yen ($13) as part of its campaign to clean up the area. The fine collection system kicked in on Monday in Shibuya Ward, a commercial and entertainment center that is home to the famed Shibuya Crossing amid the country’s tourism boom. In certain districts, authorities are also handing out fines for food and beverage shop operators who do not install waste bins. Japan welcomed a record 42.7 million foreign visitors in 2025, and its government…

TABUK — The first birth of onager (Equus hemionus) on Saudi soil in more than 100 years was recorded at Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve, thanks to the intensive Saudi wildlife conservation efforts. These efforts mark the return of a species that had disappeared from the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula for over a century. The reserve noted that the male onager was born in June 2025 as part of the Arabian rewilding program launched to reintroduce 23 native species to their former natural habitats. The birth has only now been announced after the onager successfully completed its first…

While the world counts down to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, another football celebration is already taking shape thousands of miles away — in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. On May 16, the 2026 Xinjiang Football Super League officially kicked off, bringing together 14 local teams from across the region for a season that runs through the summer and into autumn.  But this league means far more than competition. In Xinjiang, football has become part of everyday life. A League Built by Ordinary People The players stepping onto the pitch are not…

Anthropic recently raised $65 billion in its latest funding round, which took its valuation to $965 billion as investor money continues to pour into AI companies. Financial Times reported Anthropic’s valuation overtook OpenAI’s following the round. Anthropic plans to use the latest funds to advance “safety and interpretability research, expand compute to meet growing demand” for AI assistant Claude “and scale the products and partnerships our customers rely on”. The financing was led by Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks and Sequoia Capital. Other investors include private equity funds and the company’s partners. The $65 billion includes $15 billion in previously-committed cash…

LONDON — Britain will not have to pay Rwanda tens of ‌millions of pounds over a canceled asylum agreement, an international court ruled on Monday. The Hague-based the Permanent Court of Arbitration said it had rejected all financial claims made by Rwanda, which had argued Britain still needed to honor the terms of the deal that Prime Minister Keir Starmer ⁠canceled in 2024. Shortly after he took office, Starmer scrapped the Conservative government’s asylum plan, under which Rwanda would have been paid to take in migrants who had illegally arrived in Britain. Lawyers representing Britain during the three-day hearing in…

PARIS — France has intercepted a sanctioned oil tanker suspected of being part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet in the Atlantic with UK support, President Emmanuel Macron has said. Officers boarded the Tagor, which maritime authorities said had been flying a false flag, on Sunday morning in international waters more than 400 nautical miles (740km) west of Brittany with the help of the UK and other partners, said the French president. According to French authorities, the vessel was on its way from Murmansk in north-west Russia when it was seized. Macron said the French navy boarded an oil tanker that…

 As this year’s pilgrims have departed the holy sites, the General Directorate of Civil Defense has already launched early preparations for the 1448 AH (2027) Hajj season by evaluating services provided to pilgrims throughout their journey, from arrival at entry points to the completion of rituals. The directorate, working alongside other sectors of the Ministry of Interior and government entities, conducted thousands of inspection visits to pilgrim accommodations and facilities over the past year to ensure compliance with safety and security requirements. Violations were addressed in accordance with applicable regulations and instructions. In past eras, pilgrims faced arduous land and sea journeys…

Telefonica recently highlighted the benefits of operator sustainability efforts by cutting costs through reduced network energy consumption efforts. The operator noted use in 2025 was 12% lower than in 2015 and was achieved in the face of a 1,200% rise in data traffic over the period. Telefonica credited a focus on improving network efficiency through more advanced energy management techniques, which it stated resulted in consumption of 29MWh per petabyte of traffic by 2025, 92% lower than in 2015. It officially focused more on the service implications of the sustainability drive than the financial savings made, preferring to talk-up how…

MAKKAH — Iranian pilgrims started returning from Saudi Arabia on Monday after performing the annual pilgrimage of Hajj. They performed the Hajj rituals amidst a comprehensive system of services provided by the Saudi government for the pilgrims. Iranian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dr. Alireza Enayati said that approximately 30,000 pilgrims from Iran performed Hajj this year. “The departure of Iranian pilgrims by air began on Monday and is expected to continue until the end of this month. The process of transporting Iranian pilgrims by air began today, allowing them to return to their country after performing the Hajj rituals with…

TEHRAN — Iran said on Monday it would halt indirect exchanges and text-sharing with the US through mediators in protest at Israel’s expanded ground assault in Lebanon, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. According to the agency, the decision was taken in response to what it described as ongoing Israeli violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon, which Iran considers one of the conditions underpinning broader ceasefire arrangements in the region. Tasnim said the Iranian negotiating team would halt “talks and exchanges of texts through mediators” until its demands regarding Gaza and Lebanon are met. “Given the continuing crimes of the…