UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, on Sunday mourned the death of Nobel Peace Prize laureate and retired Archbishop of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu, who died at the age of 90. In a statement issued by his spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, the secretary-general said that he was saddened by Tutu’s death. He...
WORLD
A bird flu outbreak has killed more than 2,000 wild cranes on a reserve in northern Israel, an unusually high toll for the seasonal flu, the parks authority said Sunday. In addition to the 2,000 dead, another 10,000 are believed to be infected, Ohad Hatsofe, a specialist at the...
Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities said Sunday that women seeking to travel anything other than short distances should not be offered transport unless they are accompanied by a close male relative. The guidance, issued by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, also called on all vehicle...
Sudanese security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters in the capital Khartoum on Saturday as thousands of Sudanese protesters marched across the country to denounce the October military coup. It is the 10th day of major demonstrations with protests continuing even after Abdallah Hamdok was reinstated as prime...
Lebanon needs “six to seven years” to emerge from the crisis it is currently in, the country’s president has said. In a televised interview on Friday, Michel Aoun said Lebanon had reached this point as a result of “misdeeds, theft, corruption, and failures by the system” and that a...
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth has paid tribute to the late Prince Philip during her first Christmas television broadcast since the death of her husband of 73 years. The 95-year-old monarch has said that although Christmas was “a time of great happiness and good cheer for many,” it “can be hard...
Russia announced Saturday that more than 10,000 troops had finished month-long drills near Ukraine, amid Western accusations that Moscow was plotting an invasion of its ex-Soviet neighbour. The defence ministry said in a statement that the drills for Southern Military District forces had taken place in a host of...
A male surfer was killed in a shark attack in Morro Bay, California, on Christmas Eve, the Morro Bay Harbor Department confirmed to CNN. “Harbor, Police and Fire Departments responded to a report of a male victim unresponsive on the beach after he was pulled from the water suffering...
At least 16 people died when their boat overturned off the Greek island of Paros in the central Aegean Sea on Friday, in the third maritime disaster involving migrants this week, the country’s coastguard said. Authorities scrambled a search and rescue operation overnight northwest of Paros. Air and sea...
The South Korean government has pardoned former President Park Geun-hye, who was serving 22 years in prison for corruption, the country’s Justice Ministry said on Friday. Park Kyung-mi, a spokesperson for the Blue House — South Korea’s presidential office — said President Moon Jae-in considered former President Park’s worsening...
UN envoy, Ms Stephanie Williams, on Thursday said Libya’s presidential election had been postponed with a new date expected to be announced within 30 days. Williams, the deputy head of the UN Support Mission in Libya for political affairs, said this after her 10 days visit to the county...
U.S. has contributed 10 million dollars to assist the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in its work on COVID-19 response and addressing threats to human, animal and environmental health, including future pandemics. The funding, announced on Thursday, would support the UN agency’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme, part...
An unprecedented fossil of a baby dinosaur curled up perfectly inside its egg is shedding more light on the links between dinosaurs and birds. The 70-million-year-old fossil preserves the embryonic skeleton of an oviraptorid dinosaur, which has been nicknamed Baby Yingliang after the name of the Chinese museum which...
The death toll from a shipwreck off Madagascar’s northeastern coast has risen to at least 64 after 25 more bodies were discovered, maritime authorities said Wednesday. A wooden vessel, believed to be a cargo ship carrying passengers illegally, sank in the Indian Ocean on Monday with 130 people on...
Turkish authorities arrested an American diplomat working at the U.S. consulate in Beirut, for allegedly helping a Syrian national fly to Germany on a fake diplomatic passport. The state media reports, citing the police on Wednesday, said the diplomat, identified by the initials DJK was accused of “forgery of...
The ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum has been ordered to pay his ex-wife Princess Haya bint al-Hussein more than $728 million (£500 million), in one of the largest divorce settlements ever handed down by a UK court. The figure will be used to cover Princess Haya’s...
A Madagascan minister was one of two survivors to have swum some 12 hours to shore Tuesday after their helicopter crashed off the island’s northeastern coast, authorities said. A search was still ongoing for two other passengers after the crash Monday, whose cause was not immediately clear, police and...
The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Tuesday expressed concern over the unfolding security situation in the capital, Tripoli, where forces affiliated with different armed groups have been deploying. The development came as Libyans awaited news about the postponement of long-promised landmark elections, due to take place on...