World Top News

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Kenyans vote Tuesday to choose a successor to President Uhuru Kenyatta. The race is close and could go to a runoff for the first time. One top candidate is Raila Odinga, an opposition leader in his fifth run for the presidency who is being supported by former rival Kenyatta. The other is William Ruto, Kenyatta’s deputy who fell out with the president earlier in their decade in power. Both tend to focus far more on domestic issues, raising the question of how either will follow up on Kenyatta's diplomatic efforts for calm in neighboring Ethiopia or in the tensions between Rwanda and Congo. WHAT’S AT STAKE? Kenya is East Africa’s economic hub and home to about 56 million people. The country has a recent history of turbulent elections. Even then, it stands out for its re...

SLOVIANSK, Ukraine -- Ukrainian military personnel are fortifying their positions around the eastern city of Sloviansk in expectation of a fresh Russian attempt to seize the strategic point in the fiercely fought-over Donetsk region. As heavy ground fighting continues on the front line only miles to the east, southeast and north of Sloviansk, members of the Dnipro-1 Regiment are digging in after a week of relative calm. The last Russian strike on the city occurred on July 30. While the lull provided Sloviansk's remaining residents a reprieve after regular shellings between April and July, some unit members say it could be a prelude to renewed attacks. “I think it won’t be calm for long. Eventually, there will be an assault,” Col. Yurii Bereza, the head of the volunteer national guard re...

Beyoncé has updated her latest album, Renaissance, in response to criticism from fans and the pop star Kelis. The song Heated has received a lyrical update, removing a slur that is often used to demean people with spastic cerebral palsy. In place of the so-called "s-word", Beyoncé now sings "blast". Meanwhile, a reference to Kelis's hit Milkshake has also disappeared from the album, after the singer complained she had not given permission for its use. The "la la la" hook from Milkshake was originally used in the background of Beyoncé's song Energy. Those vocals have now been erased from the mix. A drum sample - based either on Milkshake or an earlier Kelis track called Get Along With You - remains integral to the song. ...

Dev Patel successfully broke up a knife fight in Adelaide earlier this week, his representatives have confirmed. The actor, who has starred in Slumdog Millionaire, witnessed the fight in Adelaide on Monday (1 August). A man and a woman were reportedly fighting in the street and in a convenience store when the man was stabbed in the chest. Patel's spokesman said the star "acted on his natural instinct". The man who was stabbed is expected to survive. "We can confirm that last night, in Adelaide, Dev Patel and Taos Shoes Canada his friends witnessed a violent altercation that was already in progress outside of a convenience store," representatives for Patel told BBC News. "Dev acted on his natural instinct to try and de-escalate the ...

The new Batgirl movie has been scrapped by Warner Bros Discovery months before its planned release. Reportedly budgeted at more than $70m (£58m), it was due to be shown in cinemas and on the streaming service HBO Max later this year. The New York Post reported that the decision had followed a poor reaction to test screenings. However, Warner Bros said the move reflected its "leadership's strategic shift". The production was filmed entirely in Glasgow and the local council said it had brought a significant economic benefit to the city. The film was based on the DC Comics character Barbara Gordon - or Batgirl - played by Leslie Grace. She appeared alongside Michael Keaton as Batman, Brendan Fraser as villain Firefly and ...

Critics mostly wanted to get off the Bullet Train, with many saying Brad Pitt's new movie goes off the rails. The film, directed by David Leitch (Deadpool 2), is a westernised big screen re-working of a bestselling 2010 novel by Japanese author Kōtarō Isaka. Pitt plays a returning hitman taking on a series of assassins, under instruction from his handler (Sandra Bullock), en route from Tokyo to Kyoto. The Guardian described it as "weirdly exhausting and overwhelmingly unfunny". "It rattles strenuously on and on and on with unexciting and uninterestingly choreographed fights, cameos which briefly pep up the interest and Keen Canada placeholder non-lines where the funny material should have gone," wrote Peter Bradshaw, in his two-star review. ...