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Billionaire software baron turned philanthropist Bill Gates has warned that violence in Nigeria and Pakistan could set back his goal of eradicating polio by 2018. Last year, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — a charity that funds medical research…

Prince Harry became a master in toilet-building during his expedition to the South Pole, a fellow trekker said Tuesday as he lifted the lid on the royal’s hidden skills. Last month Harry became the first British royal to reach the pole after a three…

Two people have died from the H7N9 strain of bird flu in China’s commercial hub Shanghai, including a medical doctor, the local government said Monday, the city’s first fatalities from the virus this year. The victims included a 31-year-old surgeon…

Oil prices fell on Monday as China’s economic growth data fuelled concerns over energy demand in the world’s second largest economy, traders said. New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in February, dropped 67 cents to $…

China’s working-age population continued to decline last year, the government said Monday, as Beijing grapples with a demographic time bomb that is one of its biggest challenges. The country introduced its controversial one-child policy in the late…

Hollywood actor Johnny Depp and the actress Amber Heard are engaged to be married, People magazine reported. “They couldn’t be happier to be engaged and excited to share the rest of their lives together. Amber has really taken well to the kids and really…

The communications teams of Queen Elizabeth II and her heir, Prince Charles, are to merge, royal sources said Monday, which should help smooth his eventual transition to the throne. The Sunday Telegraph newspaper called the latest move “the clearest…

Nigeria’s top military officer on Monday called for a swift end to the Islamist insurgency gripping the country’s north, as he was sworn in as the new chief of defence staff. “The security situation in the northeast must be brought to a complete stop…

Nigeria’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday chose a new chairman, days after his predecessor was forced out following months of bitter in-fighting. Members of the party’s national executive council unanimously chose Ahmadu Adamu Mu’Azu…

ThA Ne small number of surviving giraffes in western Africa is on the rise again, after 366 were counted in southwest Niger in 2012, up from 311 the previous year, official figures published Tuesday showed. The latest figure includes 177 males and 189…

The risk of dying from cancer in the United States has declined 20 percent over the past two decades, according to the American Cancer Society’s annual report out Tuesday. However, cancer, a complex disease that has largely eluded attempts at a cure…