Live News
The Al-Shabab extremist group remains the greatest immediate threat to peace and stability in Somalia and the region, especially Kenya, UN experts said in a report released Wednesday. Despite ongoing efforts by Somali and international forces to curb operations by Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab, “the group’s ability to carry out complex,
News
Bangladesh Nationalist Party acting chairman Tarique Rahman returned to Dhaka on Thursday after nearly 17 years in exile, a homecoming the party hopes will energise supporters with Rahman poised to be the top contender for prime minister in the February 12 elections. Hundreds of thousands of supporters lined the route
Politics
Residents of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu will vote on Thursday in municipal elections meant to pave the way for the East African country’s first direct national polls in more than half a century. With the exception of votes in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland and the breakaway region of
Live News
A grand jury has declined to indict the father of two Kentucky State University students who was charged with murder in an on-campus shooting that killed one student and critically injured another. In a social media post after the Tuesday hearing, defense attorney Scott Danks said grand jurors decided not
News
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would be willing to withdraw troops from the country’s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end Russia’s war, if Moscow also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces. The proposal offered another potential
News
President Donald Trump marked Christmas Eve by quizzing children calling in about what presents they were excited about receiving, while promising to not let a “bad Santa” infiltrate the country and even suggesting that a stocking full of coal may not be so bad. Vacationing at his Mar-a-Lago estate in
Live News
Nigeria police said Thursday that they suspected a suicide bomber was behind the blast that killed several worshippers in a mosque on Christmas eve in the country’s northeastern Borno state. A police spokesman put the death toll at five, with 35 wounded. A witness on Wednesday told AFP that
Live News
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the test-firing on Wednesday of a long-range surface-to-air missile at a launch site near its east coast, state media KCNA reported on Thursday. The test, aimed at assessing the country’s strategic technology for developing a new type of high-altitude missile, destroyed targets
Live News
Some 115 alleged members of the Daesh group suspected of planning attacks during the end of year holidays have been arrested in Turkiye, Istanbul’s prosecutor general said Thursday. “Following intelligence indicating that the Daesh terrorist organization was planning attacks during Christmas and New Year celebrations,” the prosecutor’s office
Live News
India launched its heaviest communication satellite on Wednesday, marking the latest feat in the country’s efforts to establish itself in the global space industry. The Indian Space Research Organization launched a LVM-3 rocket carrying the BlueBird Block-2 satellite, which weighs over 6 tonnes, from the Satish Dhawan Space Center
Live News
South Korea’s liberal-led legislature on Wednesday passed a bill allowing heavy punitive damages against traditional news and Internet media for publishing “false or fabricated information,” brushing aside concerns the legislation could lead to greater censorship. Journalist groups and civil liberty advocates urged President Lee Jae Myung to veto the
Politics
The State Department announced Tuesday it was barring five Europeans it accused of leading efforts to pressure US tech firms to censor or suppress American viewpoints. The Europeans, characterized by Secretary of State Marco Rubio as “radical” activists and “weaponized” nongovernmental organizations, fell afoul of a new visa policy announced
News
Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday called for a global truce on Christmas Day, expressing “great sadness” that “apparently Russia rejected a request” for one. “I am renewing my request to all people of good will to respect a day of peace — at least on the feast of the birth of
News
The French government condemned on Wednesday a visa ban imposed by the Trump administration on Thierry Breton, a former European Union commissioner who helped drive the EU’s Digital Services Act, which has recently targeted top US tech companies. “France strongly condemns the visa restriction imposed by the United States
News
Russia plans to put a nuclear power plant on the moon in the next decade to supply its lunar space program and a joint Russian-Chinese research station as major powers rush to explore the earth’s only natural satellite. Ever since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to
reports
At a church in Syria where a suicide attack killed 25 people in June, hundreds of worshippers gathered before Christmas to remember those they lost and reaffirm their faith. With a small detail of security forces standing guard outside, members of Mar Elias Church held Mass on Tuesday evening and