(BEIRUT) — A U.S.-backed force and two Syrian activist groups say Islamic State militants have carried out an attack in the city of Raqqa in northern Syria.

The early Wednesday attack targeted a post of the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Raqqa, which was once the extremists’ de facto capital.

The attack comes as Turkey is expected to launch an offensive against the Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria.

The Kurdish fighters say IS launched three suicide attacks against its positions in Raqqa. There was no word on casualties.

Raqqa is being Silently Slaughtered, an activist collective, reported an exchange of fire and a blast.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group, says the attack involved two IS fighters who engaged in a shootout before blowing themselves up.

It was supposed to be a week celebrating basketball in Asia, with some of the sport’s top stars due to play preseason games and host charity events in Japan and China. But the escalating showdown between the NBA and Beijing over free speech is fast becoming the latest hot potato in deteriorating Sino-U.S. relations.

On Tuesday, China’s state television CCTV and streaming service Tencent suspended all broadcasts of preseason NBA games following a tweet by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey in support of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. That same day, a Brooklyn Nets community event in Shanghai was abruptly canceled, while Rockets memorabilia has been stripped from Chinese online retailers.

That Morey’s tweet received a furious backlash in China is hardly surprising. But it’s the muddled and inconsistent response by the NBA, its teams and owners that threatens to cast the spat as an inflection point undermining sport’s time-honored apolitical, and thus unifying, role.

“Th..

(STOCKHOLM) — Three scientists on Wednesday were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their contributions to the development of lithium-ion batteries, which have reshaped energy storage and transformed cars, mobile phones and many other devices in an increasingly portable and electronic world.

The prize went to John B. Goodenough of the University of Texas; M. Stanley Whittingham of the State University of New York at Binghamton; and Akira Yoshino of Asahi Kasei Corporation and Meijo University in Japan.

Goran Hansson, secretary general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said the prize was about “a rechargeable world.” In a statement, the committee said lithium-ion batteries “have revolutionized our lives” — and the laureates “laid the foundation of a wireless, fossil fuel-free society.”

The Nobel committee said the lithium-ion battery has its roots in the oil crisis in the 1970s, when Whittingham was working to develop methods aimed at leading to fossil fuel-free energy ..

(LONDON) — Hundreds of climate change activists camped out in central London on Tuesday during a second day of world protests by the Extinction Rebellion movement to demand more urgent actions to counter global warming.

Determined activists glued themselves to the British government’s Department of Transport building as police working to keep streets clear appealed to protesters to move to Trafalgar Square.

Cities in Australia, elsewhere in Europe and other parts of the world also had climate change protests for a second day.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson appealed Monday to the protesters to stop blocking London’s streets. He called the activists “uncooperative crusties” who should abandon their “hemp-smelling bivouacs.”

Mike Gumn, 33, a National Health Service manager with two children, said he used a day of annual leave so he could attend the demonstration. Gumn, of Bristol, took umbrage at Johnson’s characterization of climate change activists as “hippies.”

“I want to ma..

President Donald Trump’s impromptu endorsement of a Turkish incursion into northeast Syria has prompted accusations that Trump had betrayed America’s Kurdish allies in Syria. But his handing Turkey responsibility for thousands of ISIS prisoners has also rung alarm bells among former top officials in Ankara.

Shortly after Trump spoke on the phone with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday, the White House issued a statement saying Turkey would soon be moving ahead with its “long-planned operation in Northern Syria” and that U.S. forces would “no longer be in the immediate area.” The statement added that Turkey would now “be responsible for all ISIS fighters in the area captured over the past two years.”

Taking responsibility for ISIS will be a “nightmare” for Turkey, said Yaşar Yakış, who served as the country’s foreign minister under prime minister Abdullah Gul between 2002 and 2003. “There are already dormant ISIS cells in Turkey. They may wake up and wreak havoc in..

(GENEVA) — The United States is less competitive than it was a year ago and the global economy remains hobbled by low productivity despite a decade of cheap money from central banks, the World Economic Forum said Wednesday.

In its latest assessment of the factors behind productivity and long-term economic growth, the organization best-known for its annual gathering of the elites in the Swiss ski resort of Davos found Singapore overtaking the United States as the most competitive country, aided in no small part by its state-of-the-art infrastructure and strong cooperation between labor and management.

The Global Competitiveness Report, which is now in its 40th year, said the U.S. is losing ground in measures such as “healthy life expectancy” and preparedness for the future skills needed in the 21st century.

Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Switzerland rounded out the top five places in the rankings.

The report’s index maps out the competitive landscape of 141 economies based on more t..