World

The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help former President Donald Trump, a chain of events documented in detail by former special counsel Robert Mueller's report. Now, eight years later, Vladimir Putin and his strategists are just as eager for the former president to retake office in order to realize their geopolitical goals.

According to Vanity Fair, "From the moment Trump was elected, the word Yalta became one of the most popular among Kremlin officials" — a reference to how Joseph Stalin was able to convince his then-American and British allies in World War II to legitimize his sphere of influence. "They were confident that Trump was the right person to agree to such a spectacle. This did not mean that Russian authorities considered Trump 'their puppet' — the Kremlin never had any means to influence him. Putin simply believed that Trump was morally close and understandable to him: a fellow cynic who also thought that money solved everything."

Once seen as a "celebration of manly virtue" without women athletes, the modern Olympics will reach gender parity for the first time during this year's Paris Games, 128 years since its first edition.

When the ancient Greek event was revived by French aristocrat Pierre de Coubertin in the late 19th century, he saw it as a celebration of gentlemanly athleticism "with female applause as its reward."

Though cocoa prices on the financial markets have soared, the rise is benefiting cocoa growers, bean processors, speculators and chocolatiers in unequal measure.

In March, prices rocketed to more than $10,000 a tonne in New York after a poor harvest in West Africa due to a combination of bad weather conditions and disease devastating aging plantations.

The waves of the Aegean Sea lap gently at the tables and chairs of two beach restaurants on Greece's Halkidiki peninsula.

It is an idyllic scene, but one that is totally illegal.

Oscar-winning director Pedro Almodovar's decades-long love affair with Madrid is the focus of a new exhibition in the Spanish capital which has appeared in all of his feature films to varying degrees.

"Madrid, Almodovar Girl", which runs until October 20 at the Conde Duque cultural centre, features 200 photos from his 23 movies, as well as notebooks, movie props and the first camera Almodovar bought, a hand-held Super-8.

Paris is putting on its game face to welcome the world for an Olympics it hopes will transform the look and feel of the event and burnish its image in the eyes of the world.

"We are going to the heart of the city and leaving the stadiums," Pierre Rabadan, Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of Sport and the Olympic and Paralympic Games told AFP.

David Pressman, the openly gay U.S. ambassador to Hungary had harsh words for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at a Pride event. The speech came after the cancellation of an event about human rights scheduled to take place at the parliament building.

On Saturday, the ambassador to Hungary held a family Pride event at his home. During his speech, Pressman slammed Orbán and his government for using a "machinery of fear" as an apparatus to crush the LGBTQ community, according to the Guardian. He shared a story of how the country's state-run media implied that he was a danger to children.

For those who believe that the British royals are just like everyday citizens, actor and writer David Duchovny has a different story about an encounter he had with now-King Charles.

The "X-Files" and "Californication" star appeared on "The View" on Monday to discuss his book "Bucky F---ing Dent," which has now been made into a film.

Twenty-two people were killed in a massive fire at a South Korean lithium battery plant on Monday, most of them Chinese nationals, in one of the country's worst factory disasters in years.

Over 100 people were working in the factory when workers heard a series of explosions from the second floor, where lithium-ion batteries were being inspected and packaged, firefighter Kim Jin-young told media.

Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama arrived Sunday in New York to undergo knee treatment, drawing a warm and festive welcome from thousands of followers.

His office in the Indian hill town of Dharamsala, his adopted home, announced earlier this month that the 88-year-old Buddhist spiritual leader would travel to the United States to undergo "medical treatment" on his knees, but no further details have been released.

A day after Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the "intense phase" of the Gaza war is winding down, the army bombed Hamas on Monday as the Palestinian militant group again demanded a permanent end to the fighting.

The right-wing premier spoke in a TV interview Sunday evening as his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant travelled to Washington for what Gallant called "critical" talks with Israel's top ally and arms supplier.

Taylor Swift got the London-leg of her Eras tour off to a good start, with the UK's Prince William posting a backstage picture of them posted on social media Saturday.

After celebrating his 42nd birthday at Swift's Wembley Stadium concert with his children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, William posted their backstage selfie.

Paris's Moulin Rouge cabaret club, whose landmark windmill sails fell down in April, received new blades on Monday just 10 days before the Paris Olympic torch is due to pass the venue.

One of the most visited tourist attractions in the French capital, Moulin Rouge plans to install the four new temporary sails for a special ceremony on July 5.