Star Metro - News from Calgary, Canada, USA and around the world

Completely stupid but terribly endearing, the Minions have become one of the most profitable bunch of characters in animation.

Ukrainian vet Nataliya Mazur cradles Murzik, a big green-eyed tabby, in her arms at a makeshift animal rescue shelter in Kyiv.

Russian forces on Tuesday stepped up efforts to cut off Ukrainian troops in the key industrial city of Severodonetsk in the east of the country despite Ukrainians insisting they were holding on.

England need 263 more runs to beat New Zealand in the second Test and clinch the series after reaching 36-1 at lunch on a dramatic final day at Trent Bridge.

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell on Tuesday included five uncapped players in an extended 40-man squad for the coming tour of New Zealand.

Tunisia stepped up their World Cup preparations with a 3-0 win over Japan in Osaka on Tuesday to finish first in the four-team Kirin Cup tournament.

Serena Williams is set to make her comeback at Wimbledon a year after her last match in any competition, writing on Instagram on Tuesday: "See you there."

US President Joe Biden will make history next month with a direct flight between Israel and Saudi Arabia where he will meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, abandoning efforts to ostracize the oil kingdom's de facto leader over the murder of a dissident.

Bloomberg News said Tuesday it was "encouraged" to learn that Chinese authorities had apparently released its employee Haze Fan on bail, more than a year after she was detained on suspected national security violations.

England need 299 runs to win the second Test against New Zealand and seal the three-match series after dismissing the visitors for 284 in their second innings at Trent Bridge on Tuesday.

The French government announced 500 million euros on Tuesday to encourage urban vegetation projects to tackle high temperatures in towns and cities as a heatwave began to strike in the south and southwest.

Former Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany has been appointed as the new manager of Burnley, the Championship club announced on Tuesday.

Stock markets across Europe and Asia on Tuesday mostly extended recent sharp losses on lingering worries about possible recession for major economies.

Russian forces on Tuesday stepped up efforts to cut off Ukrainian troops in the key industrial city of Severodonetsk in the east of the country despite Ukrainians insisting they were holding on.

The UK government on Tuesday defended its controversial policy to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, even as the entire senior leadership of the Church of England branded it shameful and immoral.

Human remains have been found in the search for a British journalist and Brazilian indigenous expert who disappeared deep in the Amazon after receiving threats, Brazil's president confirmed Monday.

Sevilla defender Jules Kounde will undergo surgery on his left groin on Tuesday, although the club are optimistic the Frenchman will be available for the start of next season.

The European Union wants to strengthen its energy cooperation with Israel in light of Russia's use of gas supplies to "blackmail" its members over the Ukraine conflict, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday.

A US court charged Britney Spears' ex-husband with a felony count of stalking on Monday after he attempted to gatecrash the pop princess' wedding in southern California, which he had live-streamed on Instagram.

Britain on Tuesday remembered its fallen troops on the 40th anniversary of the end of the Falklands War with Argentina, as London reasserted its territorial claim to the islands.

Asian equities mostly fell Tuesday after the previous day's global rout but dip-buying helped pare early losses, while Europe saw gains, with attention turning to the Federal Reserve as it prepares to ramp up interest rates to fight runaway inflation.

Italian Renaissance painter Titian was known for his portraits, but a new exhibition opening in Rome on Tuesday asks visitors to examine the role nature played in the 16th-century Venetian master's works.

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka is asking civil servants to take an extra day off each week to grow crops in their backyards in a bid to forestall a looming food shortage.

Asian equities mostly fell Tuesday after the previous day's global rout but dip-buying helped pare early losses, while Europe saw gains, with attention turning to the Federal Reserve as it prepares to ramp up interest rates to fight runaway inflation.

Microscopic air pollution caused mostly by burning fossil fuels shortens lives worldwide by more than two years, researchers reported Tuesday.

Hong Kong's Jumbo Floating Restaurant, a famed but ageing tourist attraction that featured in multiple Cantonese and Hollywood films, was towed out of the city Tuesday after years of revitalisation efforts went nowhere.

In one of Uganda's poorest and most lawless regions, anxious mothers clutch bone-thin infants in a malnutrition ward, terrified their child could be next to succumb to starvation in Karamoja.

A Phnom Penh court convicted around 60 opposition figures including an outspoken US-Cambodian activist in a mass trial Tuesday as long-serving leader Hun Sen cracks down on dissent ahead of national elections next year.

High-flying skipper Babar Azam hopes that his extraordinary run-scoring can fire Pakistan to World Cup glory -- and in the process fulfil a childhood dream.

For 40 years, gynaecologist Michele Mariano has been the only person performing abortions in Italy's conservative Molise region.

Petrit Halilaj knows something about how art can help pull children out of the horror of war -- but also the dangers of them being used as a propaganda tool.

Families of teens who died after overdosing on drugs they bought through Snapchat and other social media platforms called Monday for tech firms to do more to address the problem.