Ravi was held in a labour camp run by Chinese-speaking gangsters, forced to run romance scams.

Sydney — Australian researchers have built an electrical generator that consumes carbon dioxide, generates electricity and admits no exhausts.  They say the technology could create a new industrial-scale carbon capture method.   Scientists say too much carbon dioxide, or CO2, in the atmosphere is main driver of warming temperatures.   Researchers at the University of Queensland have created a generator that consumes carbon dioxide and produces electricity. The carbon-negative “nano-… Read Full Article

Washington — Republican Mike Johnson came out of nowhere six months ago to become speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, before emerging as an ardent defender of military aid to Ukraine, which the chamber approved Saturday.   The evolution of this 52-year-old Southerner with carefully coiffed hair has been stunning.   An arch-conservative Christian from Louisiana, he shot to the top leadership position in the House in October after the unprecedented ouster of then-speaker Kevin… Read Full Article

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Male, Maldives — The Maldives votes Sunday in a parliamentary election likely to test President Mohamed Muizzu's tilt toward China and away from India, the luxury tourism hotspot's traditional benefactor. Primarily known as one of the most expensive holiday destinations in South Asia, with pristine white beaches and secluded resorts, the strategic Indian Ocean island nation has also become a geopolitical hotspot. Global east-west shipping lanes pass the nation's chain of 1,192 tiny coral… Read Full Article

Cap-Haitian, Haiti — They call it Okap, home to Haiti's kings, emancipated slaves and revolutionaries. Sitting on the shimmering north coast, the city of Cap-Haitien was abandoned as a capital during the waning years of the French colonial era and again when the Kingdom of Haiti fell after its king died by suicide and his teenage son was slain. It was once known as the Paris of the Antilles, and now it is on the brink of becoming what some say is Haiti's de facto capital as Port-au-Prince… Read Full Article

Tokyo — Two Japanese navy helicopters carrying eight crewmembers were believed to have crashed in the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo during a night-time training exercise, and rescuers were searching for the missing, Japan’s defense minister said. The two SH-60K choppers belonging to the Maritime Self Defense Force and carrying four crew each, lost contact late Saturday near Torishima island in the Pacific about 600 kilometers (370 miles) south of Tokyo, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told… Read Full Article

A technology company has been testing autonomous buses on the streets of the South Korean capital.

A technology company has been testing autonomous buses on the streets of the South Korean capital.

Tel Aviv, Israel — Thousands of Israeli demonstrators took to the streets Saturday to call for new elections and demand more action from the government to bring the hostages held in Gaza home, in the latest round of protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The protests have continued as the war in Gaza moves through its seventh month and amid growing anger over the government's approach to the 133 Israeli hostages still held by the Islamist movement Hamas. Surveys indicate that… Read Full Article