World

A mystery that has shaken the literary world for years -- the theft of hundreds of unpublished manuscripts from distinguished authors -- may finally be about to be solved.

In New York this week, the FBI arrested Filippo Bernardini, a 29-year-old Italian employee of major publisher Simon & Schuster.

The Indian government renewed permission for late Catholic nun Mother Teresa's charity to receive foreign funds, weeks after rejecting it, the organization said Saturday.

On Christmas Day the Narendra Modi government moved to cut off foreign funding to the Missionaries of Charity and refused to renew its license under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).

A British court ruling this week clearing four people of criminal damage for pulling down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol has sparked heated debate over how controversial historical figures should be remembered. The statue has since been exhibited in a local museum and is said to be worth up to 50 times its original value.

As a surrounding crowd cheered, four protesters – three men and one woman – pulled down the statue of Edward Colston with ropes during a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol city centre on June 7, 2020. The crowd then dragged the statue through the city to Pero’s Bridge – named after Pero Jones, an enslaved man who lived in the city in the 18^th century – before being dumped into the harbor.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that he fully stands by controversial remarks earlier in the week in which he vowed to "piss off" people not vaccinated against Covid-19 until they accept shots.

The earthy language and harsh approach provoked uproar in French media and from opponents, while the controversy also delayed debate over the draft law on the "vaccine pass" in parliament's lower house.

Novak Djokovic is battling the Australian authorities over permitting him into the country due to failing to meet their stringent entry rules regarding Covid-19 but he is not the only high-profile athlete to have been skeptical about the vaccine.

AFP Sport picks out five others:

Almost every country on Earth could experience extremely hot years every other year by 2030, according to new research Thursday highlighting the outsized contribution of emissions from the world's major polluters.

The modeling study combined data on historical emissions and pledges made before the COP26 climate summit for cuts from the top five emitters -- China, the US, the European Union, India and Russia -- to make regional warming predictions by 2030.

North Korea fired a "hypersonic missile" this week that successfully hit a target, state news agency KCNA reported on Thursday, its second such test as the country pursues new military capabilities amid stalled denuclearization talks.

The launch on Wednesday was the first by North Korea since October and was detected by several militaries in the region, drawing criticism from governments in the United States, South Korea, and Japan.