The Japanese police have requested the Singapore Embassy to bring a diplomat back to Japan for questioning over photos he took of undressed males at public bathhouses in Tokyo, local media reported. The request made by the Metropolitan Police Department had been made through the Japan's Foreign Ministry, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported on May 14. The 55-year-old was a counsellor at the Singapore Embassy in Japan when he admitted in February to secretly filming a boy at a public bath in Tokyo, among other acts of voyeurism. He was later suspended from duty to assist in investigations, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on May 2. Local media had reported that he was caught using a smartphone to film an undressed male teenager in the men's changing room of a public bath on Feb 27. Investigators who searched the man's phone found footage of the boy in the nude, as well as footage of multiple male customers that appeared to have been taken in the bath's communal changing room.

It ruined his Mother's Day. A man was upset to see a woman eating with two dogs at her table in Bukit Panjang Hawker Centre and Market on the night of May 12. Stomp contributor Raven shared a video and photos of the diner eating hotpot as her two canine companions sat quietly next to her. «It really pissed me off and spoiled my day to see that someone had brought her dogs along,» said the Stomp contributor. «The two puppies sitting on the chairs were at the table and the person was having a hotpot at 8.40pm.» The Stomp contributor also shared a photo of a sign sign that said: «Strictly no pets allowed except guide dogs.» He said: «The signage clearly shows that no pets are allowed in the hawker centre. »Please do be considerate. Some people may be sensitive or allergic.« The Stomp contributor added that he had reported the incident to the relevant authorities. »I hope more enforcement action can be taken," he said. Under Environmental Public Health (Food Hygiene) Regulations, live animals such as pets are not permitted into food establishments.

The British action star Jason Statham will play the lead in a new action thriller directed by the Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur. No name has been given for the movie yet, but it is produced by Black Bear.

The trial involves men being texted daily tips including 'walk a different route home to avoid the kebab shop' and 'don't treat your body like a skip'. It could now be rolled out across the NHS.

The actress, who takes a starring role in the new release, was supported by a host of stars as the worlds of film, music and fashion descended on the resort town for two weeks of red carpet celebrations.

A group of 30 mainly educated men in Baidoa, southern Somalia, are making a successful living buying up livestock in poor condition and selling them on for a profit after fattening them up.

Nearly two dozen Bangladeshi cargo ship crew taken hostage by Somali pirates returned home Tuesday to a rapturous welcome from family members after weeks in captivity.

Mogadishu (HOL) - United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed James Swan as the Acting Special Representative for Somalia and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM).

This in-depth analysis (IDA) examines the environmental determinants of health and their consequences, especially on the health of disadvantaged communities. It also assesses the impacts of European Union (EU) policies on the environment insofar as they affect human health, and provides recommendations on how the One Health and the Health in All Policies approaches can be better implemented in EU policy-making. This document was provided by the Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies at the request of the Subcommittee on Public Health (SANT). Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Great-grandfather Julian Pryer, 84, was in constant agony after the procedure and was desperate to alleviate the pain.

[allAfrica]

[allAfrica] As South Africa's general elections on May 29th draw near, anti-immigrant rhetoric is intensifying across social media platforms, according to a new report from the Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC).

A private jet belonging to ex-US President Donald Trump struck another jet with its wing after landing at Palm Beach International Airport Read Full Article at RT.com

The terrifying attack, at a motorway toll station in north-west France , sparked a massive manhunt. Dramatic footage showed the moments the prison van was rammed by a SUV.

Kate Moss linked arms with a male companion as she headed home from the Gucci Cruise 2025 show on Monday.

Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, party president Mallikarjun Kharge, MP Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are among the star campaigners named by the party for the Lok Sabha poll campaigning in Uttar Pradesh. The other prominent leaders on the list include Salman Khurshid, former chief ministers Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, and Congress working committee member Sachin Pilot.

Le docteur Pierre Catteau, radiologue, est décédé à l'âge de 84 ans. Il a longtemps été vice-président de la ligue contre le cancer.

Encore une nuit d'affrontements et d'incendies à Nouméa et dans le Grand Nouméa. Les blocages et pillages ont continué dans la nuit du 14 au 15 mai. De grandes enseignes du territoire ont pris feu. 130 personnes ont été interpellées. C'est le troisième jour de violences en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Trois blessés, un mort victime de tir à balle réelle annonce le haut-commissaire de la Nouvelle-Calédonie. Suivez le direct de Nouvelle-Calédonie la 1ère.

La situation en Nouvelle-Calédonie ne s’est pas améliorée, bien au contraire. Après la deuxième nuit d’émeutes, le bilan officiel à la mi-journée faisait état de 130 interpellations et une soixantaine de blessés parmi les forces de l’ordre. Un climat de guerre civile, avec plus d’une soixantaine de commerces et d’entreprises incendiés. La communauté calédonienne du fenua ainsi que les politiques suivent avec attention les évènements.

Energy efficiency measures aim to achieve a sustainable energy supply, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve security of supply, lower import bills, and promote European competitiveness. In 2023, the co-legislators decided to decrease EU final energy consumption by at least 11.7% by 2030, compared to projections made in 2020. Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

The European Union’s action in the field of culture supplements the cultural policy of the Member States in various areas, such as the preservation of European cultural heritage, cooperation between various countries’ cultural institutions and the promotion of mobility among creative workers. The cultural sector is also affected by provisions of the Treaties that do not explicitly pertain to culture. Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and hydroelectric power, ocean and geothermal energy, biomass and biofuels offer cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels. They reduce pollution, broaden our energy options and decrease our dependence on volatile fossil fuel prices. In 2022, renewable energy accounted for 23% of the European Union’s energy consumption. In 2023, lawmakers increased the Union’s target for the share of renewable sources of energy in gross energy consumption from 32% to 42.5% by 2030, aiming for 45%. Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

WESTERN BUREAU: The St James Parish Court has granted bail in the sum of $600,000 to a St James man accused of the March 17 shooting death of security officer Nastacia Smith, while his son has been remanded until June 12, when the case will be...

WESTERN BUREAU: Montego Bay Mayor Richard Vernon is confident that the long-standing Bogue lands saga will soon end, with the timeline for that resolution now dependent on how swiftly the current Public Investment Appraisal Branch [PIAB] process...

Farmer Andrew Martin of Coolshade district near Linstead, St Catherine, has fallen on hard times since he lost two of his toes to diabetes. He says he used to plant cassava, plantain and banana to make a living but, because of his illness, he...

CARLEIGH FRANKLIN was beside herself when her name was called as the grand prize winner of a trip for two to Jamaica in the Union of Jamaican Alumni Associations (UJAA) essay competition last year while a student at The Westminster Schools in...

MANY YOUNG people learn from their own mistakes, but it takes a particular youngster to recognise the destructive behaviours of others and avoid following their examples. This is even more challenging in an underserved, crime-prone community like...

The United States will back Ukraine until its security is «guaranteed», US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed on a trip to Kyiv on Tuesday, after Russian forces claimed further advances in the northeastern Kharkiv region. Blinken's visit came just weeks after the US Congress finally approved a $61-billion financial aid package for Ukraine following months of political wrangling, unlocking much-needed arms for the country's outgunned troops. «We're with you today. And we will stay by your side, until Ukraine's security, sovereignty, and ability to choose its own path is guaranteed,» Blinken said in a speech. «The assistance is now on its way. Some of it has already arrived. More will be arriving,» he had told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting earlier. «That's going to make a real difference against the ongoing Russian aggression on the battlefield,» he said. Zelensky thanked Washington for the aid, which he said was «crucial» -- but stressed it was «important to get it as quickly as possible». «We need a noticeable acceleration of supplies. Now too much time passes between the announcement of packages and the actual appearance of weapons on the frontline,» he said in an evening address. Zelensky said air defence was the «biggest problem» for Ukraine and requested two Patriot batteries for the Kharkiv region, where Russian forces have been advancing and pounding villages along the border since Friday. Blinken was on his fourth visit to Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. After meeting Zelensky, he met Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Veterano, a pizzeria set up by a military veteran in the city centre. Driving his point home at a visit to an underground Kyiv bar, the Barman Dictat, later on Tuesday, Blinken picked up a guitar and sang the Neil Young classic «Rockin' in the Free World», accompanied by Ukrainian musicians. - 'Minimal human losses' - Russia's surprise ground offensive in the Kharkiv region has forced thousands to evacuate and pushed Kyiv to mobilise troop reinforcements. Ukraine said several civilians have been killed by Russian fire in the region, including on Tuesday two people aged 80 and 83. Officials in the region's main municipality, also called Kharkiv -- Ukraine's second-biggest city -- said Russian strikes hit the centre, injuring 20 people. One civilian, a 47-year-old man, was also reported killed in the city of Nikopol in southern Ukraine. Russia's defence ministry meanwhile said its forces had captured another village in the Kharkiv region. «Units of the North group of troops liberated the village of Bugruvatka in the Kharkiv region and advanced deep into the enemy defences,» the ministry said. The advance is the latest in a string of tactical successes for Russia on the battlefield this year after initial setbacks in a conflict that Moscow hoped would be wrapped up in days. Russia's incoming defence minister, economist Andrei Belousov, said the priority was to secure victory on the battlefield while minimising human losses. «The key task, of course, remains achieving victory and ensuring the military-political goals of the special military operation, set by the president, are achieved,» Belousov told a session of the Russian parliament on Tuesday. «In this respect, I want to especially emphasise 'with minimal human losses'.» - 'Firing on everything' - The Ukrainian army has acknowledged Russian successes in Kharkiv but Zelensky has stressed that reinforcements have been sent there and Ukrainian «counterattacks are ongoing». At a checkpoint outside the city of Kharkiv, a Ukrainian official said Russian forces had entered Ukraine through «villages on the very border that were complicated for us to defend». Russian forces «are on high ground and are shelling us from there», added Volodymyr Usov, head of the Kharkiv district military administration. The head of Ukraine's security council, Oleksandr Lytvynenko, said Moscow had massively upped its troop deployment for the new offensive in the Kharkiv region. In an interview this week with AFP, he said Russia had sent more than 30,000 troops over the border, but insisted there was no threat of an assault on Kharkiv city. Usov, the Kharkiv district head, estimated there were still around 300 residents left in Lyptsi, a border village under Russian bombardment. «They are shelling the villages, firing on everything they can,» Sergiy Kryvetchenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian military administration in Lyptsi, told AFP. State power operator Ukrenergo said it was forced to introduce emergency blackouts in all regions of the country on Tuesday after weeks of Russian strikes on power plants left the country unable to meet demand during a cold snap. © Agence France-Presse

The International Energy Agency announced on Tuesday that $2.2 billion had been pledged by governments and companies to improve access to less deadly and polluting cooking methods in Africa. More than two billion people cook on basic stoves or over open fires and exposure to this smoke is a leading cause of early death around the world. These cooking methods also harm the planet, with carbon-absorbing forests stripped for firewood and emissions from burning these dirty fuels a major contributor to global warming. Only around one-third of the money needed to drive the global switch to cleaner cooking methods like LPG or electric stoves is raised every year, according to the IEA. At a world-first summit, representatives from 60 nations and leaders from business and development sectors pledged $2.2 billion to help African households combat the scourge. «This summit has delivered an emphatic commitment to an issue that has been ignored by too many people, for too long,» said IEA executive director Fatih Birol, whose agency co-hosted the Paris gathering with the African Development Bank. «We still have a long way to go,» he added. A little over half of the money pledged came from the private sector, with around 30 percent in the form of favourable loans from public funds and the rest in carbon credits. It is still modest: the IEA says around $8 billion is needed annually to address the problem, half of that in Africa, but only around $2.5 billion is raised worldwide. Progress has been made in Asia but in sub-Saharan Africa, four out of five households still reply on highly polluting cooking fuels like wood, charcoal, coal, animal dung and agricultural waste. Burning these pollute indoor and outdoor air with fine particles that penetrate the lungs and cause respiratory and cardiovascular problems, including cancer and strokes. The threat is particularly acute for women and children, who are also prevented from accessing education or earning a wage as they spend hours looking for fuel. Switching to clean cooking methods would save 1.5 billion tonnes of CO2 a year by 2030 -- roughly the amount emitted by ships and planes last year, according to the IEA. «Successfully advancing the clean cooking agenda in Africa would contribute towards protecting the environment, climate, health, and ensuring gender equality,» said Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who attended the summit. Birol said the IEA would «rigorously track the commitments announced today to make sure they’re met on time and in full». © Agence France-Presse