World

Chinese filmmaker Wang Bing got incredible access to the inner workings of his country's textile industry by spending five years with its employees, but he fears it may be more difficult for him to work there in future.

Wang, who has delivered some of the most important and immersive documentaries about China, made "Youth (Spring)" from 2,600 hours of footage.

Nations around the world are looking on with a mixture of alarm and bafflement as the United States hurtles toward an economy-wrecking default, with the Republican Party refusing to raise the country's globally unique debt limit without massive, harmful spending cuts.

The possibility of a U.S. default—a failure to pay the government's obligations—has already rattled global markets and prompted grave warnings from major institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, which said last week that a default would have "severe repercussions" for a world economy already facing the prospect of a central bank-induced recession.

In her column for the Wall Street Journal, longtime Washington D.C. insider and presidential speechwriter Peggy Noonan claimed the long-awaited report finally submitted by special counsel John Durham cleared up some mysteries surrounding the relationship between Donald Trump and Russia, but greater and more important questions still remain.

According to Noonan, she felt the Durham report made some valid criticisms about how the FBI conducted it's investigation into the relationship between the 2016 Trump presidential campaign and Russian interference in the election.

Far-right party Vox has shaken up Castilla y Leon since it entered the government of the Spanish region last year, attacking unions and pushing polarizing positions on social issues.

It is now poised to spread its influence beyond the sparsely populated region near Madrid, with the party set to make gains in regional and local elections on May 28.

Iran on Friday executed three men convicted of killing security force members during protests triggered by Mahsa Amini's death last year, the judiciary said, drawing condemnation from rights groups.

Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi were found guilty of "moharebeh" -- or waging "war against God" -- for shooting dead three members of the security forces at a demonstration in the central city of Isfahan on November 16, the judiciary's Mizan Online news website said.

The Smiths bassist Andy Rourke, whose pounding rhythms underscored some of the most influential albums in British music history, has died at the age of 59, band-mate Johnny Marr announced Friday.

Rourke died "after a lengthy illness with pancreatic cancer", the Smiths lead guitarist and co-founder said.

The death toll from Cyclone Mocha has reached 145 in Myanmar, its junta said Friday, with most of the dead from the persecuted Rohingya minority.

Mocha brought lashing rain and winds of 195 kilometers per hour (120 miles per hour) to Myanmar and neighboring Bangladesh on Sunday, collapsing buildings and turning streets into rivers.