5 Texas A&M players Alabama fans must know ahead of Week 6 matchup

AFP
Leftist surge pushes Ecuador presidential vote toward run-off
Incumbent President Daniel Noboa clutched onto a razor-thin lead in violence-hit Ecuador's election Sunday, after a stronger-than-expected challenge from a leftist rival who looked set to force a second-round run-off. Both Noboa and Gonzalez were shadowed at public events by a phalanx of special forces, hoping to avoid a repeat of the 2023 election, when a leading candidate was assassinated.
Associated Press
High-stakes AI summit in Paris: World leaders, tech titans and challenging diplomatic talks
Major world political leaders are meeting for an AI summit in Paris, where challenging diplomatic talks are expected while tech titans fight for dominance in the fast-moving technology industry. Heads of state, top government officials, CEOs and scientists from around 100 countries are participating in the two-day international summit starting Monday. High-profile attendees include U.S. Vice President JD Vance, on his first overseas trip since taking office, and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing.
CNN
Fewer people than ever before are marrying in China. But divorces are up
The number of new marriages recorded in China fell to a record low last year, despite sweeping government efforts to encourage young people to tie the knot and have babies to halt demographic decline in the world’s second-largest economy.
Reuters
India opens air show with eye on boosting defence manufacturing and exports
India is committed to boosting manufacturing and exports of defence equipment in the coming years, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday at the opening of the country's biggest air show, where its military ambitions will be in focus. India, the world's largest arms importer, has stressed the need to modernise its military and boost domestic defence production to counter rival China's growing military strength and influence in South Asia. India's domestic defence manufacturing value will reach more than 1.25 trillion rupees ($14.24 billion) in the fiscal year ending in March, while its defence exports will cross a record 210 billion rupees for the first time over the same period, Singh said.
Associated Press
Australia holds its nose for the 3rd rancid bloom of a rare corpse plant in 3 months
A rare bloom with a pungent odor like decaying flesh has opened in the Australian capital in the nation’s third such extraordinary flowering in as many months. The corpse flower, also known by its scientific name amorphophallus titanium, bloomed for the first time in its 15 years at Canberra’s Australian National Botanic Gardens on Saturday and was closing on Monday, staff said. Another flowered briefly in the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens in late January, attracting 20,000 admirers.
CNN
A US ally is reconsidering aid to a strategic Pacific nation. Will China move in?
A rare dispute between New Zealand and Kiribati has renewed focus on the Pacific island nation, highlighting the existential threat it faces from the climate crisis – against the backdrop of a tussle between the world’s biggest powers for regional dominance.
AFP
Australian PM urges action on Indigenous welfare
Australia must act to improve Indigenous people's lives, the government said Monday, as an annual report highlighted their shorter lifespans, poorer health and higher incarceration rates.Among the disparities, official data show Indigenous people's life expectancy is about eight years shorter than that of other Australians, incarceration rates are more than 10 times higher, and more children are living in care.
Associated Press
After the ceasefire in Gaza, West Bank Palestinians face more Israeli barriers, traffic and misery
Abdullah Fauzi, a banker from the northern West Bank city of Nablus, leaves home at 4 a.m. to reach his job by 8, and he's often late. The Israeli military also ramped up raids against Palestinian militants in the northern West Bank, and diverted its residents through seven new checkpoints, doubling Fauzi's time on the road.
Reuters
Paris AI summit draws world leaders and CEOs eager for technology wave
World leaders and technology executives are convening in Paris on Monday to discuss how to safely embrace artificial intelligence at a time of mounting resistance to heavy-handed red tape that businesses say stifles innovation. Eagerness to rein in AI has waned since previous AI summits in Britain and South Korea that focused world powers' attention on technology's risks after ChatGPT's viral launch in 2022. As U.S. President Donald Trump tears up his predecessor's AI guardrails to promote U.S. competitiveness, pressure has built on EU policymakers to pursue a lighter-touch approach to AI to help keep European firms in the tech race.
Associated Press
Mexican long-nosed bats are no strangers to southeastern Arizona. The proof is in the saliva
Scientists have long suspected that Mexican long-nosed bats migrate through southeastern Arizona, but without capturing and measuring the night-flying creatures, proof has been elusive. Researchers say they now have a way to tell the endangered species apart from other bats by analyzing saliva the nocturnal mammals leave behind when sipping nectar from plants and residential hummingbird feeders. Bat Conservation International, a nonprofit group working to end the extinction of bat species worldwide, teamed up with residents from southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico and west Texas for the saliva swabbing campaign.
Associated Press
AP PHOTOS: Syrians returning to the town of Tel Rifaat find homes in ruins and underground tunnels
The long anticipated return home for residents of the Syrian town of Tel Rifaat, displaced since 2014, has collided with a painful reality — scars of war, streets lined with rubble and ruins standing in place of their homes. Years of fighting and military fortifications have left an unmistakable mark on the town, a key flashpoint in the conflict between Syrian Kurdish forces and Turkish-backed armed groups in northern Syria. During Syria's civil war, Tel Rifaat became part of the repeated cycles of fighting and displacement that have played out since 2011.
Associated Press
Supreme Court that Trump helped shape could have the last word on his aggressive executive orders
President Donald Trump will need the Supreme Court, with three justices he appointed, to enable the most aggressive of the many actions he has taken in just the first few weeks of his second White House term. The court gave Trump major victories last year that helped clear away potential obstacles to his reelection, postponing his criminal trial in Washington, D.C., then affording immunity from prosecution for official actions. "It will be an extraordinary test for the Roberts Court whether it’s willing to stand up for constitutional principles it has long embraced,” said Michael Waldman, the president of New York University's Brennan Center and the author of a book that is critical of the court.
CNN
Holocaust becomes political bludgeon as Netanyahu returns to a country at crossroads
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returns from a week-long trip to Washington, toting a fantastical and radical Gaza plan from the American president, he finds a country at a crossroads.
CNN
Musk charges on with new targets in sight and Trump’s blessing
The vast and opaque power of Elon Musk is only growing as he seeks new targets for his federal government shredding machine.
Associated Press
Ecuador's conservative incumbent and a leftist lawyer advance to presidential runoff
Ecuador will choose its next president in a runoff election after conservative incumbent Daniel Noboa and leftist lawyer Luisa González garnered enough votes Sunday to beat 14 other candidates. The contest, set for April 13, will be a repeat of the October 2023 snap election that earned Noboa a 16-month presidency. Noboa and González are now vying for a full four-year term, promising voters to reduce the widespread criminal activity that upended their lives four years ago.
CNN
Ecuador set for run-off vote as leftist candidate pushes president close in tight election
Ecuador’s center-right President Daniel Noboa is likely to fall short of securing an outright majority in the country’s general election, according to preliminary results Sunday, setting the stage for a run-off vote against his nearest leftist rival.
CNN
Court grants request to block detained Venezuelan immigrants from being sent to Guantanamo
Court grants request to block detained Venezuelan immigrants, allegedly connected to Tren de Aragua, from being sent to Guantanamo
AFP
Afghan wedding halls light up sombre Kabul nights
As night settles over Afghanistan's capital, only a few small lights and neon signs pierce the darkness and thick blanket of winter pollution. he told AFP. - 'Weddings are a necessity' - Bunches of plastic flowers, throne-style sofas, gilded trimming and neon lights fill the complex's four halls, some of which can accommodate up to 7,000 guests.
Reuters
Chinese marriages slid by a fifth in 2024, fanning birthrate concerns
HONG KONG (Reuters) -Marriages in China dropped by a fifth last year, the biggest drop on record, despite manifold efforts by authorities to encourage young couples to wed and have children to boost the country's declining population. More than 6.1 million couples registered for marriage last year, down from 7.68 million a year earlier, figures from the Ministry of Civil Affairs showed. Declining interest in getting married and starting a family has long been blamed on the high cost of childcare and education in China.
CNN
New series of winter storms lining up to bring more snow and ice to the nation’s midsection
As the Midwest and Northeast dig out from back-to-back winter storms, new systems are building and are expected to dump more snow from the middle of the country to the East Coast this week. Plenty of cold air remains is in place to the north, helping to bring set the stage for a wide band of wintry mix and snow, according to the Weather Prediction Center.

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