Browsing: World News

Pope Francis on Friday paid tribute to anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela for “forging a new South Africa” and said he hoped his example would inspire the nation to strive for “justice and the common good”. Francis praised the “steadfast commitment…

India on Friday declared five days of national mourning for South Africa’s anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela who was hailed as a “true Gandhian” and a “great friend” by the country’s leaders. The Indian flag will be flown at half mast across the country…

President Obama addressed the nation on the death of Nelson Mandela.

A ship, two portable treatment plants and less than 90 days: that’s the plan the Pentagon unveiled Thursday to destroy “hundreds of tons” of Syria’s most dangerous chemical weapons. After Albania refused to destroy the lethal “priority 1” chemical agents…

Ho/Framingham Police Department/AFPThis undated booking photo courtesy of the Framingham, Massachussetts Police Department shows Onyango Obama. The uncle of US President Barack Obama was arrested last week near Boston on a charge of drunk driving, police…

America’s first black president Barack Obama Thursday mourned Nelson Mandela as a “profoundly good” man who “took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice.” Obama — who met the former South African president briefly…

Barcelona boasts the world’s most successful bike share program, according to a report Thursday that lays out the secrets of getting more people out and about on two wheels. The Spanish Mediterranean city’s Bicing system averages 10.8 trips per bike…

Great news for innovation: the United States House of Representatives has approved a bill to curb the abusive actions of patent trolls. According to Reuters, the bill had no trouble passing at 325 votes to 91, and the Senate will look into the issue…

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Friday hailed Nelson Mandela as “a truly great man” after the anti-apartheid hero died in South Africa aged 95. “Nelson Mandela was one of the great figures of Africa, arguably one of the great figures of the…

The United States has charged 49 current and former Russian diplomats and their wives over a $1.5 million fraud, accusing them of stealing medical benefits for a decade, prosecutors said Thursday. The alleged scam took place between 2004 and August…

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday said “a great light had gone out” following Nelson Mandela’s death, revealing that flags would be flown at half-mast at his Downing Street Office. “A great light has gone out in the world,” Cameron wrote…

Broad US sanctions aimed at keeping certain technologies out of the hands of repressive regimes can often backfire by hurting democracy movements, a think tank report said Thursday. The New America Foundation study said US sanctions policies “remain…

A French report ruling out poisoning in Yasser Arafat’s 2004 death has a glaring inconsistency, the co-author of a Swiss probe said Thursday, sticking by his team’s conclusion that the Palestinian leader was likely killed. “Our data lean more towards…

Jose Maria del Nido, president of Sevilla football club, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for embezzlement and breaching the course of justice, the club said on Thursday. A lawyer by trade, Del Nido was accused of charging the local authority…

Pope Francis on Thursday formed a committee to fight child sex abuse in the Catholic Church in a landmark initiative after thousands of abuses and cover-ups, but campaigners said the new body would be “toothless”. While the composition and precise tasks…

Fighters linked to Al-Qaeda executed an Iraqi freelance cameraman as he was leaving Syria after a 10-day assignment in rebel-held territory, watchdogs said on Thursday. Yasser Faysal al-Joumaili was shot dead after being stopped at a checkpoint in mainly…

OTTAWA, Canada, December 5, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Following ongoing reports of violence in the Central African Republic, including…

Hezbollah on Wednesday blamed Israel for murdering one of its top leaders near Beirut at a time of soaring tensions in Lebanon linked to the war in neighbouring Syria. The dead man, identified as Hassan Hawlo al-Lakiss, was the group’s most senior figure…

Pope Francis on Wednesday called for prayers for a group of nuns seized from their convent in Syria and for all hostages held in the war-torn country. “I invite you all to pray for the nuns of the Greek Orthodox convent of St Takla of Maalula in Syria…

The widow of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said on Wednesday she was still convinced he was poisoned, after French experts ruled out the theory that he had been assassinated. “I’m still completely convinced that the martyr Arafat did not die…