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Madonna, the pop icon and legend, has postponed her career-spanning Celebration tour due to a serious bacterial infection that landed her in the intensive care unit for several days, her manager announced on Wednesday. The tour, which was set to kick off on July 15 in Vancouver, Canada, and continue through North America, Europe and Mexico until March 2024, was meant to mark Madonna’s 40th…

Thousands of prisoners across the United States are getting a second chance at higher education, thanks to the expansion of the federal Pell Grant program, which provides tuition aid to needy undergraduates. Starting from next month, about 30,000 more prisoners per year will be eligible for some $130 million in financial aid, which they can use to enroll in college programs offered by…

South Koreans have become a year or two younger as a new law aligns the nation’s age-counting system with international standards. The law scraps a centuries-old system that deems South Koreans one year old at birth, counting time in the womb. Another system that counted everyone as ageing by a year every first day of January instead of on their birthdays has also been abolished. The change is…

Australia, one of the world’s biggest online gambling markets, is set to ban all gambling advertising on all media platforms within three years, following a parliamentary inquiry that recommended a comprehensive crackdown on the industry. The inquiry, chaired by Labor MP Peta Murphy, found that online gambling was causing “havoc” in the communities, especially among young people who view…

The internet is full of surprises, but few are as delightful as the discovery of a massive stash of vintage computers in a barn in Massachusetts. The computers, which date back to the early 1980s, are part of a forgotten project called the NABU Network, which was one of the first attempts to deliver online services and content to homes via cable TV. The NABU Network was an obscure, forgotten…

Starting Tuesday, millions of pregnant and postpartum workers across the country will have the right to request and receive reasonable accommodations from their employers, thanks to a new federal law that aims to prevent discrimination and promote health and safety. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which was signed by President Biden on December 29, 2022, requires employers with at…

South Korean lawmaker introduces bill to ban dog meat for humansSouth Korea is considering a ban on the breeding and slaughtering of dogs for human consumption, a practice that has been declining in recent years amid growing public and political pressure. A bill to phase out the industry over five years was introduced in parliament on Wednesday by a lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Party, Han…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has faced a serious challenge to his authority after a former ally and mercenary leader staged a mutiny against him last week. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner, a private military company, led a rebel force of tanks and fighters to near Moscow, after accusing the Russian Defense Ministry of incompetence and betrayal in the war in Ukraine. Prigozhin, who was…

Puberty blockers are medications that can temporarily stop or delay the physical changes of puberty in transgender and gender-diverse youth who have gender dysphoria, a feeling of distress that can happen when their gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth. Photo by Afta Putta Gunawan on Pexels.com But the science behind this treatment is far from settled, according to a recent…

Catalonia, a region in northeastern Spain known for its pro-independence movement, has taken a stand for another cause: women’s right to go topless in public swimming pools. Women have the right to go topless at public pools in Catalonia/ Getty Image The regional government, led by the Catalan Republican Left (ERC), has reminded local councils that they must allow women to bare their breasts…

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a $100 million lawsuit filed by an American chess prodigy who accused a former world champion and an online chess platform of defaming him and excluding him from major tournaments over cheating allegations. American chess grandmaster Hans Moke Niemann’s $100 million lawsuit alleging antitrust violations /AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES Hans Niemann, 20, sued Magnus…

The man accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death last year could be executed by firing squad if he is convicted and sentenced to death, prosecutors said on Monday. Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com Bryan Kohberger, 28, a former criminology student at Washington State University, faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in the killings of Kaylee…

A tourist who carved his name and that of his apparent girlfriend into the wall of the Colosseum, the nearly 2,000-year-old landmark in Rome, has sparked outrage and a manhunt in Italy. Photo by Davi Pimentel on Pexels.com The tourist, who engraved “Ivan+Haley 23” onto the ancient structure using a set of keys, was filmed by another visitor. The video went viral on social media, drawing…

A 31-year-old mother from Cleveland, Ohio, was indicted on murder charges last week for leaving her 16-month-old daughter alone and unattended at home for 10 days while she went on vacation to Detroit and Puerto Rico, prosecutors said on Monday. Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com The mother, Kristel Candelario, returned home on June 16 and found her daughter, Jailyn, unresponsive in a playpen…

Bulgaria has accused Russia of being behind a series of explosions at arms factories and depots in the country, amid rising tensions over Ukraine. Following this weekend’s incident Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov ordered a review of all arms factories in the country | Nikolay Doychinov/AFP via Getty Images The latest blast occurred on June 26, 2023, at a warehouse near the town of…

Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko has claimed that he talked Russian President Vladimir Putin out of assassinating Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of a private military company that works for the Russian government. Prigozhin, who heads the Wagner Group, had tried to stage an armed uprising against the Russian defense ministry in Moscow last week, but failed and was allowed to flee to…

The Supreme Court on Tuesday delivered a blow to Republicans in North Carolina who sought to limit the role of state courts in reviewing election laws passed by the state legislature. In a 6-3 ruling, the justices affirmed the authority of state courts to interpret state constitutions and strike down state laws that violate them, even when those laws affect federal elections. The ruling rejected…