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Majority of the world's population breathes dirty air, report says

Most of the world has dirty air, with just 17% of cities globally meeting air pollution guidelines, a report Tuesday found.

Switzerland-based air quality monitoring database IQAir analyzed data from 40,000 air quality monitoring stations in 138 countries and found that Chad, Congo, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India had the dirtiest air. India had six of the nine most polluted cities with the industrial town of Byrnihat in northeastern India the worst.

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New storm could spawn tornadoes in South US, whip up blizzard in northern states

A potent storm system is expected to pour heavy rain on western states later this week before rumbling into the central United States, where it could spawn tornadoes in the South and dump heavy snow across the parts of the Great Plains and Upper Midwest, creating blizzard conditions.

The ominous forecast comes as temperatures hit record highs in parts of the central U.S. after an active few days of weather across the nation. A possible tornado touched down in central Florida on Monday morning, tearing past a local television news station as its meteorologists were live on the air. No injuries were reported.

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China ends annual Congress with questions over how to revive slowing economy

China wrapped up its biggest political event of the year on Tuesday leaving one question unanswered: How far will it go to try to revive economic growth in 2025?

A recurring theme throughout the weeklong meeting of the nearly 3,000-member National People's Congress was the need to boost investment and consumer spending.

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Japan's trade minister fails to win US assurances on tariff exemptions

Japan's trade minister said this week that he has failed to win assurances from U.S. officials that the key U.S. ally will be exempt from tariffs, some of which take effect on Wednesday.

Yoji Muto was in Washington for last ditch negotiations over the tariffs on a range of Japanese exports including cars, steel and aluminum.

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Japan's economy grew at 2.2% annual rate in Oct-Dec

Japan's has cut its estimate for its economic growth in the last quarter of the year to a 2.2% annual pace from 2.8% as consumer spending hit demand.

The Cabinet Office said Tuesday that Japan's real gross domestic product, which measures the sum value of a nation's goods and services, also was lower due to higher private inventories than earlier reported.

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Polls open in Greenland as Trump seeks control of strategic island

Polls opened in Greenland for early parliamentary elections Tuesday as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks control of the strategic Arctic island.

The self-governing region of Denmark is home to 56,000 people, most from Indigenous Inuit backgrounds, and occupies a strategic North Atlantic location. It also contains rare earth minerals key to driving the global economy.

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Secretary of State Rubio says purge of USAID programs is complete

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the Trump administration has finished its six-week purge of programs of the six-decade-old U.S. Agency for International Development, cutting 83% of them, and said he would move the remaining aid programs under the State Department.

Meanwhile, Republicans face a critical test of their unity when a spending bill that would avoid a partial government shutdown and keep federal agencies funded through September comes up for a vote. Speaker Mike Johnson is teeing up the bill for a vote as soon as Tuesday despite the lack of buy-in from Democrats, essentially daring them to oppose it and risk a shutdown that would begin Saturday if lawmakers fail to act.

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Can green holder card be deported? Arrest of Palestinian activist draws criticism

The arrest of a Palestinian activist who helped organize campus protests of the war in Gaza has sparked questions about whether foreign students and green card holders are protected against being deported from the U.S.

Mahmoud Khalil was arrested Saturday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Homeland Security officials and President Donald Trump have indicated that the arrest was directly tied to his role in the protests last spring at Columbia University in New York City.

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Israeli fire kills 4 in Gaza Strip, 3 in the occupied West Bank

Israeli fire has killed four people and wounded 14 in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, Palestinian officials said, even as a fragile ceasefire with Hamas has largely held.

Israeli strikes have killed dozens of Palestinians who the army says had approached its troops or entered unauthorized areas in violation of the January truce.

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Ukraine says wants 'peace' as US talks start in KSA

High-stakes talks between senior delegations from Ukraine and the United States on how to end Kyiv's three-year war with Moscow opened in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, hours after Russian air defenses shot down 337 Ukrainian drones over 10 regions in Russia.

Two people were killed and 18 were injured in the massive drone attack, including three children, officials said. No large-scale damage was reported.

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