World

German duo set season best to seize lead in pairs short program at Milan-Cortina

MILAN, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin led the pairs figure skating after posting a season-best 80.01 points in the short program on Sunday at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.

World

Day 9 Roundup: Klaebo makes Winter Olympic history while Brignone, Weston complete golden doubles

LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Norway's Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo became the first athlete in Winter Olympic history to win nine gold medals, while host nation Italy witnessed another golden moment from alpine veteran Federica Brignone on a record-filled Sunday at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Winter Games.

World

Ecuador celebrates carnival holiday under tightened security measures

QUITO, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador began its four-day national holiday on Saturday with vibrant carnival celebrations and a surge in tourism.

World

FBI confirms DNA recovered from glove found near Nancy Guthrie's home

(Adds dropped word 'of' in paragraph 4)

World

Switzerland, Sweden extend winning streaks in Olympic curling round robin

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Switzerland and Sweden extended their winning streaks in the men's and women's curling round-robin competitions respectively at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Winter Games here on Sunday.

World

Medal table at Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on February 15

MILAN, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Following is the medal table at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games after the competitions on Sunday, February 15 (tabulated under delegations, gold, silver, bronze and total medals):

World

Dutch skater Kok claims women's 500m speed skating gold in Olympic record at Milan-Cortina (updated)

MILAN, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Dutch skater Femke Kok won her first Olympic gold in the women's 500m speed skating on Sunday, setting a new Olympic record of 36.49 seconds.

World

Severe weather triggers landslides, flooding across Greece

ATHENS, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Heavy rainfall and strong winds struck multiple parts of Greece in recent days, triggering landslides, flooding and extensive damage to infrastructure, Greek national broadcaster ERT reported on Sunday.

World

Norway ski jumper Stroem wins second gold at Milan-Cortina in women's large hill

PREDAZZO, Italy, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Anna Odine Stroem clinched her second gold medal of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Sunday, winning the women's individual large hill ski jumping event ahead of teammate Eirin Maria Kvandal.

World

"Wuthering Heights" tops North American box office in opening weekend

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Warner Bros. Pictures' "Wuthering Heights" took the top spot at the North American box office with an estimated three-day cume of 34.8 million U.S. dollars in its opening weekend, according to figures released by Comscore on Sunday.

World

Israel's annual inflation falls to lowest level since June 2021

JERUSALEM, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Israel's 12-month inflation rate fell to 1.8 percent in January, down 0.8 percentage points from December and the lowest level in more than four and a half years, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported Sunday.

World

Weston completes golden double as Britain topples Germany in Olympic skeleton mixed team

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Britain's Tabitha Stoecker and Matt Weston mounted a late charge to deny two German pairs and secure the skeleton mixed team gold at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Winter Games here on Sunday.

World

Roundup: Portugal joins growing EU push to tighten social media age limits

by Billion Temesghen

World

Egypt launches 858-mln-USD social aid package ahead of Ramadan

CAIRO, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced Sunday a social protection package worth 40 billion Egyptian pounds (about 858 million U.S. dollars) to support vulnerable groups ahead of Ramadan, as improving economic indicators allow for expanded state assistance.

World

South African teenager Markthaler celebrates Olympic milestone on birthday

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Nineteen-year-old South African alpine skier Lara Markthaler marked a career-defining moment in memorable fashion, celebrating her birthday by officially becoming an Olympian on Sunday at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games.

World

1st LD Writethru: 1 killed, over 30 injured in shopping mall fire in Yemen's Marib

ADEN, Yemen, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- At least one person was killed and more than 30 others injured in a fire that broke out at a shopping mall in Yemen's oil-rich province of Marib on Sunday, a government official told Xinhua.

World

Strike hits Israel's national shipping company over planned sale

JERUSALEM, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Workers at Israel's national shipping company, Zim Integrated Shipping Services, launched an indefinite strike on Sunday to protest plans to sell the firm to German shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd, warning the move could threaten national emergency preparedness.

World

Dutch skater Kok claims women's 500m speed skating gold in Olympic record at Milan-Cortina

MILAN, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Dutch skater Femke Kok won her first Olympic gold in the women's 500m speed skating on Sunday, setting a new Olympic record of 36.49 seconds.

World

Vittozzi wins Italy's first-ever Olympic biathlon gold

ANTERSELVA, Italy, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Italy's Lisa Vittozzi won the women's 10km pursuit at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Sunday, clocking 30 minutes 11.8 seconds and securing the host nation's first-ever Olympic gold medal in biathlon.

World

Italy's Brignone wins women's giant slalom gold, completes Olympic double at Milan-Cortina

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Italy's veteran alpine skier Federica Brignone thrilled home fans by claiming her second gold medal at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Winter Games in the women's giant slalom on Sunday.