Author: DispatchTimes News Desk

France is preparing for another day of protests, with more than 70,000 police officers and gendarmes due to be deployed as authorities seek to prevent a repeat of last weekend’s violence. Demonstrations over deteriorating school conditions and the rising cost of living are planned in several cities, although authorities have banned a number of marches and imposed restrictions on others. The heightened security operation follows unrest on October 17, when largely peaceful protests were followed by looting, vandalism and clashes. Official figures showed that more than 2,000 people were taken into police custody, while thousands of businesses were damaged or…

America has experienced strong economic growth while becoming less satisfied with its political system, social prospects and ability to shape its own lives, according to a study led by economist Carol Graham. The United States is described as the most extreme example of what the researchers call the “paradox of unhappy growth”. Graham, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, said her work had increasingly shifted from measuring happiness to examining despair. “I used to work on happiness and I seem to work more on despair now,” she said.…

Aston Villa will face Manchester City in the Premier League at Villa Park on Saturday 24 October 2026. The fixture is scheduled to begin at 12.30pm, with the two clubs meeting at Aston Villa’s home ground.

Helen Haines’s condition has improved from critical to serious but stable, five days after the independent MP was allegedly struck repeatedly by a car outside her office in Wangaratta, north-east Victoria. The 65-year-old remains at The Alfred hospital in Melbourne after surgeons amputated both her legs following the alleged attack on Monday afternoon. Haines was retrieving items from the boot of her car on Murphy Street when witnesses saw a white Toyota LandCruiser make a sharp U-turn and ram her against her vehicle. The driver allegedly reversed before striking her again. Police allege the incident was targeted. Brendan Nugent, 43,…

Residents in South Warnborough, Hampshire, say they have been left feeling unsafe after an alleged illegal travellers’ encampment was established on an eight-acre field over the August Bank Holiday weekend. Hart District Council has served an injunction against the development at Hares Farm, but people are understood to be continuing to live in caravans and mobile homes on the land. Locals said heavy machinery was brought on to the former farmland at about 5.30pm on Friday, August 28, as council offices were closing for the three-day break. Aerial images show parts of the field covered in tarmac, with several caravans…

Ukraine says its military Starlink service has been restored following a 10-day disruption. The announcement concerns the satellite communications service used by Ukraine’s military, but no further details about the outage or restoration were provided.

Anneli Maley delivered a dominant double-double to guide Perth Lynx to victory over Adelaide Lightning, just days after returning from America. The Perth forward underlined her class with an outstanding performance as the Lynx secured the win against Adelaide.

Brazil’s presidential run-off debate ended with Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Flavio Bolsonaro trading attacks over spending, the economy and public security as polls suggested the candidates were level ahead of Sunday’s vote. The televised encounter in Rio de Janeiro, broadcast by TV Globo on Friday, was the final debate before the election. The candidates also challenged each other on infrastructure and regional development. Lula criticised Bolsonaro’s proposal to make deep cuts to public spending, comparing it with the approach of Argentina’s libertarian president, Javier Milei. “I’ll have the same job here [as Milei in Argentina] because you’re leaving…

Sudden wealth syndrome is returning among technology workers and founders who have made fortunes from the artificial intelligence boom, therapists in the San Francisco Bay Area have said. Joan DiFuria and Stephen Goldbart, who founded the Money, Meaning & Choices Institute during the dot-com boom of the 1990s, said a new generation of wealthy people was struggling with isolation, anxiety and a loss of purpose. “It’s sudden wealth syndrome 2.0,” Ms DiFuria said. “All these people coming out of the AI boom are experiencing wealth on a different level, and having more complex emotions about it, too.” Their comments come…

Australian researchers are using genetically modified zebrafish to investigate how psychiatric disorders develop, after finding striking similarities between the fish and people with schizophrenia and autism. Dr Jean Giacomotto and his team have created zebrafish carrying the same gene alterations associated with the conditions in humans. The researchers say the animals develop behavioural changes that mirror some seen in people with psychiatric disorders. “The structure of the brain is so profoundly similar to humans that manipulating those genes, these tiny fish, lead to the exact, very similar trait that we see in humans,” Dr Giacomotto said. Genetically modified zebrafish show…