Medicare to Cover Weight-Loss Drugs for First Time From July 1

WASHINGTON — Medicare will begin covering weight-loss drugs for the first time in its history on 1 July through a temporary pilot programme called Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, potentially making medications such as Wegovy and Zepbound available to millions of older Americans at a fraction of their current cost. Eligible enrollees will pay $50 for a […]

WhatsApp to Let Users Chat With Usernames Instead of Phone Numbers

WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature that will allow its three billion users to connect with each other using unique usernames rather than phone numbers, the Meta-owned messaging platform has announced. The feature will be introduced globally over the coming months, with users able to reserve a name through the app starting this week. […]

How Deschamps’ Half-Time Tweaks Transformed France’s World Cup

Didier Deschamps has once again demonstrated his ability to reshape his France team mid-tournament, making a series of tactical adjustments since half-time of their opening match against Senegal that have transformed the World Cup favourites into a more cohesive attacking and defensive unit. The most significant change saw Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembélé swap positions—the […]

Supreme Court Rules Trump Can Fire Independent Agency Heads

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has overturned a 1935 precedent that protected the heads of independent federal agencies from being dismissed by the president, handing Donald Trump a landmark victory that he called “The Greatest Increase in Presidential Power in the last 100 years.” Monday’s ruling means the president can fire commissioners at the Federal […]

Dame Penelope Keith Dies Aged 86, Tributes Paid to Good Life Star

LONDON — Dame Penelope Keith, the award-winning actress best known for her roles as Margo Leadbetter in the classic 1970s sitcom The Good Life and Audrey Forbes-Hamilton in To the Manor Born, has died at the age of 86. Her family said in a statement on Monday that she “died peacefully whilst living with cancer […]

DR Congo Bans Mass Gatherings in Kinshasa Over Ebola Fears

KINSHASA — The Democratic Republic of Congo has banned mass gatherings in the capital, Kinshasa, and three other provinces to prevent the spread of Ebola, Interior Minister Jacquemain Shabani announced on Saturday. The current outbreak has infected 1,274 people and killed 360, concentrated almost entirely in three eastern provinces—Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu—some 1,800 […]

Jon Ossoff’s Georgia Rallies Draw Crowds and 2028 Speculation

SAVANNAH, Georgia — More than a thousand people gathered under the tin roof of a converted ironworks on Saturday to hear Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff deliver a half-hour speech attacking corruption and the Trump administration, the latest in a series of rallies that have drawn growing crowds and turned the 39-year-old Democrat into an online […]

GTA 6 Physical Edition Contains Download Code, No Disc

Rockstar Games has confirmed that the physical edition of Grand Theft Auto 6 will not include a game disc, instead containing a single-use download code. The announcement came as pre-orders for the game went live on Thursday. Customers who purchase the boxed version will receive a code that grants access to a digital download of […]

Ford Rehires Human Engineers After AI Quality Checks Fall Short

DETROIT — Ford has rehired more than 300 veteran quality inspectors after its artificial intelligence systems failed to match the expertise of experienced human engineers, the company disclosed on Wednesday. The US automaker had deployed 900 AI-powered cameras across its plants to detect defects, with chief operating officer Kumar Galhotra telling investors in October that […]

Africa Sends 9 Teams to World Cup Knockouts as Asia Falls Behind

NORTH AMERICA — Nine of Africa’s ten teams have advanced to the knockout stage of the 2026 World Cup, marking the continent’s most successful group-stage performance in tournament history. Cape Verde, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Morocco, and South Africa finished second in their groups, while Algeria, DR Congo, Ghana, and Senegal progressed as third-placed teams. Only […]