World

Killer mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro may have been captured this week after 30 years on the run, but his shadow still looms large over his Sicilian hometown.

While some in Castelvetrano are relieved the barbarous 60-year-old is finally behind bars, many in the Cosa Nostra heartland where he grew up refuse to speak about him.

The Archbishop of Canterbury said he was "extremely joyful" about plans to allow church blessings for same-sex couples, but warned deep divisions existed within the world's Anglican community over the issue.

"I will be extremely, joyfully celebratory of these new (prayers of blessing)," he told a news conference.

Shaking and delirious, Rina ambles half-dressed beside a dump in Ecuador's port city of Guayaquil.

She is under the psychotropic effects of "H," a cheap and addictive drug that is ravaging the poorest sectors of Ecuadoran society.

Australian rangers have killed an invasive "monster" cane toad discovered in the wilds of a coastal park -- a warty brown specimen as long as a human arm and weighing 2.7 kilograms (6 pounds).

The toad was spotted after a snake slithering across a track forced wildlife workers to stop as they were driving in Queensland's Conway National Park, the state government said.

As he stitches together the final threads of his latest Paris Fashion Week collection, acclaimed Indian fashion designer Rahul Mishra is taking inspiration from France -- and a fellow master from another era.

"I want to achieve the impossible, I want to paint air," he told AFP, quoting the 19th-century impressionist painter Claude Monet.

She caused a riot when she kissed her lesbian lover on stage and dared to talk about faking orgasms and domestic violence.

French novelist Colette is an icon of transgression and liberated womanhood whose work still remains bracingly relevant 150 years after her birth.

Rescuers in Vietnam have pulled the body of a 10-year-old boy from a hollow concrete pillar at a construction site, weeks after he became trapped, state media said Friday.

Thai Ly Hao Nam fell into the 25-centimetre-wide (12-inch) shaft of the pillar -- sunk 35 metres (115 feet) as part of a new bridge -- apparently while looking for scrap metal on December 31.

China's prolific and big-spending tourists have been stuck at home, unable to travel for almost three years, and their looming return has industry professionals abuzz at a major Madrid tourism congress this week.

China was the world's largest outbound tourist market before the pandemic, with 154 million international travellers in 2019, according to the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Jacinda Ardern's shock resignation sparked a push on Friday for New Zealand to choose its first Maori prime minister, as a small pack of candidates emerged for the top job.

Ardern, a global figurehead for progressive politics, stunned New Zealand on Thursday by announcing her abrupt exit from office, less than three years after securing a second term in a landslide election win.

Thousands of Indigenous and other Peruvians descended on the capital Lima on Wednesday to demand the resignation of unelected President Dina Boluarte, show support for imprisoned former leftist leader Pedro Castillo, and condemn government forces for killing dozens of protesters over the past six weeks.

The demonstrators—who include Aymara and Quecha people from Andean regions, trade unionists, and other activists—traveled to the coastal capital in caravans during the second week of a general strike as part of a new "March from the Four Corners." The first such march took place in 2000 against then-President Alberto Fujimori, a U.S.-backed right-wing autocrat.

Former beauty queen turned anti-LGBTQ activist Carrie Prejean is back, and declaring that the Miss Universe Pageant now being owned by a transgender women is a declaration of "war."

In 2009, Miss California, Carrie Prejean, gained national attention for her response to a question by a gay blogger at the Miss USA Pageant about same-sex marriage.

The streets of France filled with outraged workers on Thursday as rail employees, teachers, and others walked off the job to protest President Emmanuel Macron's deeply unpopular plan to overhaul the nation's pension system by raising the official retirement age from 62 to 64.

The union-led demonstrations—which ground significant portions of the country, including many schools and transportation systems, to a halt—come as Macron is attempting to steamroll far-reaching opposition to his pension overhaul, declaring that "we must work longer."