Showing 1 - 10 of 195
Sumo diplomacy: Japan's heavyweight 'soft power' ambassadors
AFP, Published on 30/01/2026
» TOKYO - Two giants stare each other down before colliding with a dull thud. After years on the sidelines, sumo is back centrestage as part of Japan's soft power arsenal overseas.
Canada's Marineland gets 'conditional approval' to sell whales to US
AFP, Published on 27/01/2026
» TORONTO (CANADA) - Canada's federal government on Monday gave Marineland conditional approval to sell its 30 imperilled beluga whales to parks in the United States, after rejecting an export request to China.
African penguins ‘starved en masse’ off South Africa
AFP, Published on 05/12/2025
» JOHANNESBURG - Endangered penguins living off South Africa’s coast have likely starved en masse due to food shortages, a study said on Friday, with some populations dropping by 95% in just eight years.
20 rescued from giant Ferris wheel in Osaka after lightning strike
Kyodo News, Published on 26/11/2025
» About 20 people were rescued from a giant Ferris wheel in Osaka prefecture hours after lightning caused the 123-metre-tall structure to stop moving late Tuesday afternoon, the operator and a local fire department said.
Canada's captive whales face euthanasia threat
AFP, Published on 26/11/2025
» NIAGARA FALLS — The remaining 30 captive belugas at Canada's Marineland have nothing to do but wait.
Franco captivates young Spaniards 50 years after death
AFP, Published on 06/11/2025
» MADRID - Young people in Spain are increasingly seduced by General Francisco Franco 50 years after the dictator’s death, often unaware of his harsh rule and influenced by propaganda permeating social media, experts say.
Munich's surfers stunned after famed river wave vanishes
AFP, Published on 05/11/2025
» BERLIN - A standing wave in a Munich stream that has been a surfing magnet for more than four decades has vanished, leaving urban surfers high and dry.
Canada blocks theme park from sending whales to China
AFP, Published on 02/10/2025
» TORONTO - Canada on Wednesday denied a request from a controversial theme park to export 30 beluga whales to China, saying the refusal was necessary to protect the mammals from exploitation.
Historic Spanish mosque-cathedral reopens after blaze
AFP, Published on 09/08/2025
» MADRID - A fire at a historic mosque-turned-cathedral in Cordoba in southern Spain caused only “very localised damage”, the city’s mayor said Saturday as the site reopened to the public.
Fire extinguished, historic mosque-cathedral in southern Spain 'saved'
AFP, Published on 09/08/2025
» MADRID - A fire broke out in the historic mosque-turned-cathedral in Cordoba on Friday but the monument was saved as firefighters quickly contained and then extinguished it, the Spanish city's mayor said.