Haiti’s inmates are thirsty and starving in severely overcrowded jails, many forced to sleep standing up

Megan Rapinoe’s role is changing as the United States prepares for the Women’s World Cup

Volodymyr Zelensky visited a hospital in Dnipro on Thursday 27 July, to present state awards to medical workers. The president of Ukraine thanked the staff on a trip that coincided with Medical Worker’s Day. “On your frontline, you are the same heroes as the military. Thank you for saving our boys and girls. Thank you for giving all your time and energy to restore the health of our warriors,” the video, shared on Mr Zelensky’s Facebook page, was captioned. “We highly respect you and are proud that we have such doctors. I wish you and all Ukrainians victory, good health to you and your families.”

By Raphael Satter WASHINGTON Microsoft Corp is expanding its suite of free security tools for customers, the software

Ireland's victory over defending champions South Africa two weeks ago has been hailed as one of the great Rugby World Cup performances and they will not wish to spoil that...

Pope Francis has urged critical Catholic leaders to set aside internal politics and focus on making the church more welcoming, as he opened an influencial gathering of bishops that critics have claimed will “poison” the faith. Disagreement between progressive and traditional Catholic figureheads has been rife in the run up to the Synod, the global gathering of church leaders held every four years in the Vatican City. Two days before the synod started, five of the church's 242 cardinals revealed they had sent a letter to the pope calling for clarifications on the potential of blessings for same-sex couples, the role of women in the church and other issues, such as the acceptance of LGBTQ+ Catholics. These are all subjects on the table at the gathering – including aims to elevate more women to decision-making roles, including as deacons, and for ordinary Catholic faithful to have more of a say in church governance. Also under consideration are ways to better welcome those who have been marginalised by the church, and for new accountability measures to check how bishops exercise their authority to prevent abuses. While the more progressive pope has said the Church must be “open to all”, his critics have accused him of pushing for modernising changes that “risk the very identity of the church”. Both sides of the divide have accused one another of politicising the Catholic establishment. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a Rome-based American traditionalist, accused the pope on the eve of the Synod of “bringing forward an agenda that is more political and human than ecclesial and divine”. He added that the push to modernise amounted to introducing the “poison of confusion, error and division”. In an opening speech today in St Peter’s Square for the gathering, the pope reacted by calling on his critics to avoid “human strategies, political calculations or ideological battles”. “We are not here to carry out a parliamentary meeting or a plan of reformation,” he said in the homily of the Mass, which the Vatican said was attended by a crowd of 25,000. Church leaders have been preparing for the month-long synod for the past two years, asking Catholics around the world to share their vision for the future of the church. Discussions will take place throughout this month and resume next October. A papal document will follow in 2025 that could mean changes to church teaching. The pope has decided to include about 70 lay people, half of whom are women, among 365 “members” permitted to vote at the synod on catholic principles. The empowerment answered long-made calls from progressives Catholics to lend women a more influential voice in the church. Conservatives derided the move as undermining the very concept of this synod, arguing that any discussions on doctrinal issues should come from those who have been ordained. This requirement precludes female voting, as women cannot be ordained in the Catholic Church. Before the opening Mass got under way, advocates for women priests unfurled a giant purple banner reading: “Ordain Women.” The pope was also joined in celebrating Wednesday's Mass by most of the 21 new cardinals he promoted to the high rank on Saturday, a move that further cements his legacy. He has now appointed nearly three-quarters of the electors who will have the right to vote for his eventual successor. Pope Francis has also issued a stark warning on rich nations to commit to real action on the climate crisis, in an update to his landmark 2015 encyclical on the environment released ahead of the COP28 conference starting next month in Dubai,. “The world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point,” he said. “It is indubitable that the impact of climate change will increasingly prejudice the lives and families of many persons.” The pontiff called for an abandonment of "short-term interests of certain countries or businesses," and political forces, saying it was high time to rise to the occasion. "In this way, may they demonstrate the nobility of politics and not its shame". Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report Read More Point of no return: Pope challenges leaders at UN talks to slow global warming before it's too late Pope will open a big Vatican meeting as battle lines are drawn on his reform project Pope Francis suggests same sex couples could receive blessings Things to know about the Vatican's big meeting on the future of the Catholic Church Clergy abuse survivors propose new 'zero tolerance' law following outcry over Vatican appointment 5 conservative cardinals challenge pope to affirm church teaching on gays and women ahead of meeting

Olivia Dunne has learned to brush aside meaningless social media noise and wants to inspire young girls to follow their passion

VATICAN CITY U.S. climate envoy John Kerry met Pope Francis on Monday, the first official to have a

Sir Keir Starmer will meet French president Emmanuel Macron as experts say he risks “demanding more than the EU is willing to give” with his insistence on seeking closer ties with Brussels. The Labour leader will hold talks in Paris on Tuesday, during which post-Brexit relations are expected to feature prominently, against a backdrop of debate over what any renegotiations with the bloc might involve. It comes as the UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE) research group publishes a new report that finds using the existing Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) to reduce trade barriers will be “very challenging”. Sir Keir indicated in an interview with the Financial Times that he would seek to use a reassessment of the agreement in two years time to try to get “a much better deal” for the UK. The trade deal signed by Boris Johnson faces its first five-yearly review in 2025, though the extent of the talks are uncertain. UKICE says the onus will be on Britain to give the EU an incentive to shift its position, given the bloc is “relatively happy” with the existing partnership. Closer alignment on veterinary standards in order to ease trade, which Labour has cited as a priority, is highlighted in its report as one of the potential changes which would benefit the UK. But it adds that any new negotiations would potentially be lengthy and complex, and that time-consuming domestic issues like the economy and the NHS are likely to leave “limited bandwidth” for a major reassessment. Experts also warn that a review could even “inflame tensions” over implementation issues and that the EU is likely to prefer a lighter, technical re-evaluation. Anand Menon, director of UKICE, said: “Keir Starmer’s desire to secure a ‘much better’ Brexit deal for the UK is all well and good. “However, he failed to explain how tinkering with the Trade and Cooperation Agreement will make a meaningful economic difference. Moreover, he runs the risk of demanding more than the European Union is willing to give. “The UK is not a priority for the EU, which remains relatively happy with the TCA. The key for a Labour government will be figuring out a way to provide the EU with an incentive to restart negotiations over Brexit.” In its report, UKICE says Labour would need to set out a “much more detailed plan to demonstrate it is a serious negotiating partner with a realistic grasp of the issues at hand” and refine its “long list of ideas” into a more coherent set of goals. Sir Keir’s visit to Paris is the latest in a flurry of international engagements undertaken by Labour as the party seeks to raise its profile on the global stage ahead of a likely general election next year. Coinciding with his trip will be an appearance from shadow defence secretary John Healey in Washington DC, where he will make a speech calling on the US and UK to “work together” to defend democracy. Speaking at the American Enterprise Institute alongside Democratic Congressman Dean Phillips, Mr Healey will propose the countries jointly establish and lead a new “democratic resilience centre” to protect shared values and collectively monitor threats. The centre would be open to other Nato allies to join and could be a forerunner for a fully-fledged Nato body, he will say. Mr Healey and shadow foreign secretary David Lammy will meet officials from the White House, the US Department of Defence and the US Department of State during their visit. He will say: “For Labour, the US is the UK’s most essential ally, especially on defence and security. “Our countries should be on high alert ahead of the UK general election and US presidential election in 2024. This is the time to launch democratic resilience work together to better protect our democratic values and systems. “Democracy and freedom is hardwired into Nato’s founding treaties, alongside collective defence. Our deep conviction in democracy means we must also act to defend our democracies when under attack.” It comes amid a series of overseas engagements before party conference season, with Sir Keir having spent last week meeting fellow centre-left leaders in Montreal, Canada, including the country’s prime minister Justin Trudeau. That visit followed a trip to The Hague to hold talks with Europol officials on the shared challenge of people-smuggling gangs profiting from small boat crossings in the Channel. Read More UK Labour leader Keir Starmer says he'll seek closer ties with the EU if he wins the next election Sir Keir Starmer says he speaks to Barack Obama ‘frequently’ Starmer: Tory claims that Labour will join EU migrant quota scheme are ‘garbage’ Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

NEW YORK Equity hedge funds ended July with gains of 7.83% so far this year, helped by technology,

Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, many controversial users who were previously banned from the platform have been allowed back on and are flourishing. Users such as Andrew Tate have regained a platform to spout his harmful views to millions of users. But, while it may feel satisfying to troll such users, engaging with their tweets actually earns them money. Here’s why: Twitter recently announced it was paying out thousands of dollars in advertising revenue to users to “benefit” from their high engagement on tweets, earning more money the higher their engagement is. As part of Twitter’s Ad Revenue sharing program, users require “5M+ Tweet impressions in each month for the last 3 months”. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter On Thursday (13 July), some eligible users began receiving notifications of how much money they would receive. The highest earner, Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus, known online as Shibetoshi Nakamoto, earned $37,050. Tate also revealed in a tweet that he earned $20,379 from ad revenue generated in the reply threads under his posts. The money comes from the ad revenue generated in their replies below the content they post on the platform, and is paid out via the Stripe account that the user registered for creator subscriptions with. Twitter staffer, Patrick Traughber, said: “Excited to start sending our first payments to creators for ads revenue sharing today. “Creators are the lifeblood of this platform, and it's great to see so many creators I follow getting paid today. The program will be expanding soon—more to come!” The cash payouts come just a week after Meta launched its rival text-based platform, Threads. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Kelsey Chang and her friend Eva Liu were on a hike near the Neuschwanstein Castle in Schwangau when a 30-year-old man attacked them