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Lebanon's fractured parliament broke through more than two years of stalemate on Thursday to choose a new president, a key step toward stability for a country trying to recover from economic catastrophe and a devastating war.Lawmakers elected General Joseph Aoun, commander of the Lebanese army, with an overwhelming majority in the second round of voting, after he failed to reach the necessary majority in the initial vote. It marked a turning point towards the formation of a government with the mandate to lead the country after the stalemate characterized by a weak caretaker government.The vote was seen as a crucial milestone for Lebanon, which has suffered a series of disasters in recent years, including an economic collapse and a war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbolla...

President-elect Donald J. Trump has threatened tariffs on many countries for many different reasons.On Monday, he found a new purpose for his favorite economic tool. Trump said he would “tariff Denmark at a very high level” if it refused to allow Greenland – a North American island that is a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark – to become part of the United States.“They should give it up, because we need it for national security,” Trump said of Greenland. Denmark, which has a smaller population than New York City, is not a large trading partner for the United States. The country — a U.S. ally and NATO member — sent more than $11 billion worth of goods to the United States in 2023, just a small slice of more than $3 trillion in imports. The United States, in turn, sends D...

San Francisco artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic is in talks to raise a new round of funding that could value the company at $60 billion, down from about $16 billion a year ago, according to two people aware of the discussions.Led by venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners, the new round could inject another $2 billion into the company, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Since its founding in 2021, Anthropic has raised more than $11.3 billion from venture capital firms like Menlo Ventures and tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Salesforce.The talks come amid a new wave of funding for the industry's top AI startups. Last month, Elon Musk's xAI raised $6 billion in a deal that valued the company at between $35 billion and $45 billion. In October, OpenAI, ...

Reports of a surge in respiratory virus cases in China have evoked dark echoes of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic almost exactly five years ago.But despite the superficial similarities, medical experts say this situation is very different and much less worrisome.The Chinese cases are believed to be infections with human metapneumovirus, known to doctors as HMPV. Here's what we know so far:What is HMPV?It is one of several pathogens that circulate around the world every year, causing respiratory diseases. HMPV is common, so common that most people become infected as children and may get several infections over the course of their lives. In countries with cold months HMPV may have an annual season, much like influenza, while in places closer to the Equator it circulates at lower levels th...

President-elect Donald J. Trump said Tuesday that "all hell will break loose in the Middle East" if hostages held by Hamas are not released by Inauguration Day, repeating the threat four times during a wide-ranging news conference at his headquarters. Mar-a-Lago Estate in Florida.“If they don't come back when I take office, all hell will break loose in the Middle East,” he told reporters. “And it won't be good for Hamas, and frankly it won't be good for anyone. All hell will break loose. I don't have to say anything else, but that's how it is."Trump has not said what actions he might take if the hostages are not released before he takes office. And he declined to provide details about what he or his advisers are doing in the days leading up to the inauguration. Officials say about 100 host...

Over the past month, President-elect Donald J. Trump has repeatedly discussed his desire for the United States to acquire Greenland, and during a lengthy press conference Tuesday he refused to rule out using military force to achieve that goal.In a much more subtle geopolitical act that preceded Trump's remarks, Denmark's newly proclaimed king, Frederik X, implemented changes to the Danish royal coat of arms that reaffirm his kingdom's commitment to Greenland, a sovereign territory.The Danish royal coat of arms – a more elaborate symbol of the kingdom's national coat of arms – had previously featured a panel with three crowns representing the Kalmar Union between Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Those crowns have now been removed, with separate panels dedicated to Greenland (represented by a po...

Jan. 6, 2025, 6:35 pm ETDana White, left, CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship, and Mark Zuckerberg bonded over their passion for professional fighting. Credit...Jeff Bottari/Zuffa, via Getty ImagesMark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post Monday that Meta has added Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White and two other executives to its board.Meta is adding White, a longtime friend of President-elect Donald J. Trump, to the social media company's leadership amid a series of moves to strengthen its ties with the incoming administration. Last week, the company shook up its top policy team, naming a longtime executive known for his Republican ties to head global policy. Meta also donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund.In recent years, Mr. White and Mr. Zuckerberg, Meta's chief exec...

When Stephane Castel first met with a group of Maori and other Pacific Islanders in New Zealand to talk about his pharmaceutical company's plans for genetic research, locals feared he might be trying to profit from community members' genes without thinking too much.Instead, Dr. Castel and his colleagues explained, the goal was to strike an unconventional deal: in exchange for trusting them with their genetic heritage, participating communities would receive a share of the company's revenues. Dr. Castel also promised not to patent any genes – as many other companies had done – but rather the drugs his company would develop from the partnership.“Many people told us it was a crazy idea and that it wouldn't work,” Dr. Castel said. But five years after that first conversation at an Indigenous h...

A top U.S. envoy who helped broker the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah reassured Monday that Israel will fully withdraw from southern Lebanon, as called for in the fragile 60-day truce deal that put the bloodiest war on hold between the two sides in recent decades. .Speaking to reporters in Beirut, the Lebanese capital, envoy Amos Hochstein said Israeli troops had withdrawn from the southern city of Naqoura on Monday. In a statement, the Lebanese army said it had redeployed to the city following the Israeli withdrawal.“These withdrawals will continue until Israeli forces are completely out of Lebanon,” Hochstein said after meeting with senior Lebanese officials. “There has been a lot of progress in the last few days and I expect to see more progress in the days to come.”While the tr...

Austria's president on Monday tasked Herbert Kickl, the outspoken leader of the Alpine country's far-right Freedom Party, with the task of trying to form a governing coalition, three months after the party won the most votes in the general elections."Mr. Kickl is confident that he can find workable solutions in the context of government negotiations and wants this responsibility," President Alexander Van der Bellen said during a five-minute speech after meeting with Kickl.The president's request sets in motion a process that could make Kickl, an anti-immigrant firebrand who has vowed to make the country a "fortress," Austria's first far-right chancellor by the end of the year.What led to this?The Freedom Party came first in the September 29 elections, with almost 30% of the vote, but was w...