Moody's Ratings cuts U.S. credit rating citing budgetary burden

Moody's Ratings on Friday slashed U.S. long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings to Aa1 from Aaa citing rising government debt and interest payment ratios.

Meanwhile, Moody's Ratings changed the outlook of U.S. sovereign rating from negative to stable.

"This one-notch downgrade on our 21-notch rating scale reflects the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns," said a release by Moody's Ratings.

Moody's Ratings changed the outlook of U.S. sovereign rating from stable to negative in November 2023.

"Successive U.S. administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs," the release said.

U.S. museum returns to China ancient silk manuscripts from Warring States period

The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art on Friday officially returned the Zidanku Silk Manuscript volumes II and III: Wuxing Ling and Gongshou Zhan from the Warring States period to China's National Cultural Heritage Administration.

The handover ceremony took place at the Chinese Embassy in the United States in Washington, D.C.

The silk manuscripts were unearthed in 1942 from the Zidanku site in Changsha, Hunan Province, and were illegally taken to the United States in 1946. The silk manuscripts are currently the only known silk manuscripts from the Warring States period (475-221 BC).

The Zidanku Silk Manuscripts are divided into three volumes. The returning texts, Wuxing Ling and Gongshou Zhan, are the second and third volumes, respectively.

As the only known silk manuscripts from the Warring States period unearthed in China, the Zidanku Silk Manuscripts -- over 2,000 years old -- are the earliest silk text discovered to date, representing the earliest known example of a classical Chinese book in the true sense. It is of foundational significance for the study of ancient Chinese script and literature, as well as for the history of Chinese scholarship and thought.

Gaza offensive expanded with airstrikes, ground troop deployment: Israeli military

The Israeli military said on Friday it had stepped up its operations in the Gaza Strip, launching a wave of airstrikes and deploying additional ground forces in an effort to establish operational control in parts of the enclave.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the intensified assault marked the start of a new operation codenamed "Gideon's Chariots," which aims to expand the scope of fighting and advance key war objectives, including the release of hostages and the dismantling of Hamas.

"IDF troops will continue to operate in order to protect Israeli civilians and achieve the objectives of the war," the military said in a statement.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces would enter Gaza "with full force" in the coming days as part of efforts to defeat Hamas.

Protest erupts in Libya's Tripoli, senior officials resign

A massive protest against the Government of National Unity (GNU) erupted here on Friday amid the resignation of several senior government officials, local media reported.

Local TV Alwasat reported that the protesters demand the GNU headed by Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah to step down, following the recent violent clashes in Tripoli.

According to the report, the GNU's senior officials, including deputy prime minister, and ministers of local governance, trade and industry, higher education, housing, and water resources, have officially announced their resignation. But the GNU denied the resignation, saying all senior government officials are "working normally."

The GNU called for peaceful protests "with complete freedom within legal frameworks and with respect for state institutions," said the report.

Global hunger worsened in 2024, affecting 295 mln people: UN report

Global food insecurity and malnutrition continued to worsen in 2024, with 295 million people suffering from acute hunger across 53 countries, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and its partners said in a report released on Friday.

The figure represents an increase of 13.7 million compared to 2023, marking the sixth consecutive annual rise in acute food insecurity in the world's most fragile regions. The findings were published in the 2025 Global Report on Food Crises by the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC), an international alliance comprising the FAO, the UN World Food Programme (WFP), and various governmental and non-governmental organizations.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the figures as "another unflinching indictment of a world dangerously off course." In the report's foreword, he warned that "hunger and malnutrition are spreading faster than our ability to respond, yet globally, a third of all food produced is lost or wasted." He added that long-standing crises are now being compounded by a more recent one: a dramatic reduction in lifesaving humanitarian funding.

While acute food insecurity typically stems from a combination of factors - such as poverty, economic shocks, and extreme weather, the report emphasized that conflicts remained the primary driver in many of the worst-hit regions. Some populations faced conditions beyond acute hunger. Famine was confirmed in parts of Sudan in 2024, while catastrophic levels of food insecurity were recorded in the Gaza Strip, South Sudan, Haiti, and Mali. In the Gaza Strip, famine was narrowly averted thanks to stepped-up humanitarian aid, but the report warned that the risk could return between May and September 2025 if the large-scale military operation and blockade continue.

The report also highlighted the severe impact of forced displacement. Of the 128 million people forcibly displaced in 2024, nearly 95 million - including internally displaced persons, asylum seekers, and refugees - were living in countries already grappling with food crises.