business 
Kevin Sharkey BBC News NI Dublin reporter Getty Images Thousands of Irish students take part in the annual J1 visa programme. Irish students have been warned to be cautious about “activism” while on a popular work and travel visit to the United States this summer. The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has issued the … Read more
Emma Saunders Culture reporter Getty Images Actress Cate Blanchett has said she wants to quit acting to do other things, joining a long line of big Hollywood stars who gave up the red carpets for a different lifestyle. The 55-year-old is seen as one of the most talented and bankable actresses in film, but she … Read more
The Vatican has put Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí on the path to sainthood in recognition of his “heroic virtues”. Gaudí – who has been dubbed by some as “God’s architect” – is the designer of one of Spain’s most famous religious sites and tourist attractions, the unfinished Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona. On Monday, the … Read more
AFP Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee a camp in Darfur in the wake of the most recent attacks A high-level international conference is due to get under way in London to find “a pathway to peace” in Sudan, hosted by the UK’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy. Sudan’s civil war began … Read more
Several prisons in France have been hit by a wave of attacks overnight, the justice minister has said. Gérald Darmanin said prisons had faced “intimidation attempts” ranging from vehicle burning to automatic weapon fire. La Parisien reports that vehicles were set on fire in several prison car parks, while a prison in Toulon was targeted … Read more
Annabelle Liang Business reporter Getty Images Xi started his South East Asia trip in Vietnam China’s President Xi Jinping has called on Vietnam to oppose “unilateral bullying” to upkeep a global system of free trade – though he stopped short of naming the US. It comes as Xi is on a so called “charm offensive” … Read more
Singapore will head to the polls on 3 May, in what will be the first electoral test for its new prime minister Lawrence Wong. The election campaign, which lasts just nine days, is expected to be the campaign dominated by the rising cost of living, housing needs, jobs, and a growing demand for healthcare amid … Read more
Ashraf Padanna Thiruvananthapuram Nikita Yadav BBC News, Delhi Vivek Nair Devotees pull ornate wooden chariots bearing temple idols along a 2km-stretch of the airport’s runway For a few hours on a warm April day, jets paused and silence reclaimed the skies above the international airport in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the southern Indian state of … Read more
Heba Bitar BBC Eye Investigations, el-Geneina Hafiza Hafiza and her brother lost their mother in August 2024 when a shell hit the market where she was working “She left no last words. She was dead when she was carried away,” says Hafiza quietly, as she describes how her mother was killed in a city under … Read more
Mahjooba Nowrouzi BBC Afghan Service BBC Carpet weaving is one of few professions open to women since the Taliban government took power in 2021 At a workshop in Kabul where carpets are made, hundreds of women and girls work in a cramped space, the air thick and stifling. Among them is 19-year-old Salehe Hassani. “We … Read more