Who's learning Mandarin? 210 million learners, celebrity kids and more

France's Macron vows order, calls foreign criticism of unrest 'stupid'

PARIS — President Emmanuel Macron vowed on Wednesday to prevent a repeat of last weekend's violence at protests planned in the coming days, and dismissed as "stupid" and "unacceptable" comments from some foreign leaders about the unrest. France's main student union, UNEF, has called for further rallies on Saturday, while the Yellow Vest group, which emerged as a potent anti-establishment movement in 2018, has filed plans for a march through central Paris the same day. Efforts to ease social tensions showed little sign of progress, as unions pledged to press ahead with a general strike on November 5 to denounce the high cost of living and cuts to public services after government talks ended inconclusively. France was hit by some of the worst urban tumult in years on October 17 on the fringe of nationwide protests, shocking the nation both because of its scale and the apparent inability of police to contain it. Macron said he would meet intelligence officials and senior ministers on Thursday to discuss the crisis. "Those who want to cause disorder in city centres next Saturday will be pre

OpenAI says its AI agents disabled their own safety monitors

WASHINGTON — OpenAI has revealed that two of its artificial intelligence agents disabled or weakened systems built to catch them misbehaving, with one later denying it had done so. The cases are the latest in a string of safety scares at the world's top AI developers involving agents, AI programs that carry out tasks without human involvement. In a report released Tuesday, the ChatGPT maker said that during two internal coding jobs, its agents switched off or undermined tools for detecting incidents of AI models acting against human wishes. On October 3, an agent running on OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Sol model, which had been told not to send any messages on the workplace chat app, took that as license to switch off safety alerts meant for the company's security team while fixing a testing system. Three days later, a GPT-6 Astra agent stripped out its own monitor while copying code from another project, then told the human programmer it had done no such thing. The company said it had also seen several cases of agents launching software with monitoring switched off, exposing a gap in its oversight

Lee meets with WHO chief to discuss cooperation in healthcare

President Lee Jae Myung met with World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday to discuss ways to enhance cooperation in healthcare, Lee's office said. The meeting at Cheong Wa Dae came as Tedros is visiting Seoul to attend the World Bio Summit 2026, which WHO is hosting in partnership with South Korea on Wednesday and Thursday. During the meeting, Lee stressed the need for South Korea to expand its role and contributions to the international community, presidential spokesperson Kim Sung-wan said in a written briefing. Lee also expressed hope that Seoul would continue to expand its cooperation with WHO in health security. The president asked Tedros to help ensure that more highly skilled South Koreans could contribute to the WHO, noting that South Korea has transformed itself from a recipient of international assistance into a major contributor. Tedros thanked South Korea for its efforts to strengthen cooperation with WHO and promote global health, saying he was well aware of the country's development experience. Stressing the importance of equita

Pope Leo needs no further treatment for lung cancer: Vatican

Pope Leo, 71, had the lower lobe of his right lung removed last week in the first major health event of his 17-month pontificate, which confirmed he had lung cancer.

US Orders Non-Essential Embassy Staff, Families To Leave Saudi Arabia Amid Houthi Attacks

The decision comes as Saudi Arabia faces repeated attacks on airports and energy infrastructure, raising security concerns across the Gulf region.

Carney appoints astronaut Jeremy Hansen to advise government on new space strategy

Prime Minister Mark Carney has appointed Jeremy Hansen as a special adviser on space — just as the United States takes note of Canada's efforts to shift its space partnerships toward Europe.

B.C.’s newest multi-millionaire waited 10 months to claim lottery prize

Richard did not disclose why he waited so long to claim his prize, but he said he and his wife have plans to travel and "move forward slowly."

NFL stars brush off security concerns for Paris game after France protests

The New Orleans Saint are scheduled to play the Pittsburgh Steelers in Paris on Sunday

I fell in love with the food scene in this Asian city – these are the places you should eat at

Listening bars, coffee shops and Korean rotisserie chicken: the South Korean capital city’s food scene is one of the world’s most exciting – Hayley Spencer finds the best spots to eat and drink

Trump reacts to envoy Steve Witkoff calling Putin a ‘humanitarian’

Musk's SpaceX results lift global stock markets

Trump team asks Supreme Court to lift pause on Big Bend border wall construction

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to let it resume building a border wall through Texas's Big Bend region