World

Mexico on Tuesday passed 40,000 deaths from the novel coronavirus pandemic as the country, which has the fourth-highest Covid-19 death toll in the world, struggles to contain the disease.

The United States has ordered China to close its Houston consulate, Beijing said Wednesday, marking a dramatic escalation in diplomatic tensions between the feuding superpowers.

South African anti-apartheid figure Andrew Mlangeni, who stood trial alongside Nelson Mandela in the 1963-64 Rivonia Trial, has died at the age of 95, the presidency announced on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump was harshly criticized on Tuesday after a bombshell new report in The New York Times.

Magdeburg (Germany) (AFP) - A German man went on trial on Tuesday for a deadly shooting targeting Jews in the eastern city of Halle last year, one of the worst acts of anti-Semitic violence in Germany's postwar history.Stephan Balliet, 28, who is accused of shooting dead two people in October after he tried and failed to storm a synagogue, said he would address the court as the hearing opened.He has been charged with two counts of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder.Dressed in all black, Balliet was brought handcuffed into the courtroom by three armed guards. Unflinching and void of...

London (AFP) - A Russian tech entrepreneur on Monday began a defamation claim against the British author of a controversial report at the heart of 2016 US election meddling allegations first leaked to BuzzFeed.Alexej Gubarev said in documents released in London's High Court that former UK intelligence officer Christopher Steele was responsible for the US news site's January 2017 publication of his dossier.Some of its findings were used by special counsel Robert Mueller to conduct his own investigation that found evidence of Russian interference but no collusion with Donald Trump's team.Both Gu...

Russia meddled in the 2014 Scottish referendum and the British government failed to ask for a deep assessment of possible Kremlin-directed interference in the Brexit vote as it was slow to recognise the existence of the threat, said a long-awaited British parliamentary report released Tuesday.

Bangkok (AFP) - Thailand's premier said Tuesday he was "worried" about a burgeoning student movement calling for the dissolution of his government, as pro-democracy protesters plot rallies and other creative displays of dissent across the kingdom.His comments come days after thousands of mostly young, black-clad protesters amassed at Bangkok's Democracy Monument in one of the city's largest shows of defiance in years, shouting vitriolic chants directed at the pro-military establishment.The students displayed an organisational savvy inspired by pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, and more th...

Ghazni (Afghanistan) (AFP) - An Afghan girl shot dead two Taliban fighters and wounded several more after they dragged her parents from their home and killed them for supporting the government, officials said.The incident happened last week when insurgents stormed the home of Qamar Gul, a teenager from a village in the central province of Ghor. The fighters were looking for her father, the village chief, local police head Habiburahman Malekzada told AFP.Her father was a government supporter, which is why the Taliban fighters went to his house and dragged him out, Malekzada said.When his wife r...

Kathmandu (AFP) - Nepal said Tuesday it will resume international commercial flights in mid-August, in a boost for its coronavirus-hit tourism sector.The Himalayan nation shut its airports in late March to combat the spread of the virus, which has so far infected 17,844 people and claimed 40 lives in the country.The shutdown hit just before the peak of the tourism season, when hundreds of mountaineers and trekkers visit Nepal, costing the industry -- a key part of the economy -- millions of dollars.The decision to restart commercial domestic and international flights from August 17 was taken i...

Baghdad (AFP) - Browse through Arabic-language social media pages and you could walk away thinking COVID-19 is an American hoax, isn't deadly and can be swiftly cured with a garlic clove.Arabic pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are brimming with fake news stories on the novel coronavirus, from benign inaccuracies to full-throated conspiracy theories. As authorities work to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, civic platforms across the Middle East are stepping up to combat the Arabic "infodemic" they say is as dangerous as the infection itself."We correct the news and save lives," ...

European leaders on Tuesday agreed on a massive aid package for their pandemic-ravaged economies, as President Donald Trump changed his tune in favour of face masks as a tool against the coronavirus in the United States.

Hopes for a virus vaccine helped push Asian equities higher Tuesday after promising results from two clinical trials, while traders were also cheered by news that EU leaders have finally hammered out a stimulus package for the bloc.