World

This handout photo taken and released on November 4, 2020, by the Vatican Media, shows Pope Francis (C) speaking during a private and restricted weekly general audience in the library of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican as part of precautionary measures against the spread of the Covid-19 caused by the novel coronavirus. (Photo by – / VATICAN MEDIA / AFP) Pope Francis will be unable to celebrate New Year’s masses Thursday evening and Friday morning at St Peter’s Basilica because he is suffering from sciatica, the Vatican announced. The chronic nerve condition that causes hip pain for the 84-year-old…

People react during an anti-abortion rally after Argentina’s Senate voted to legalize abortion, in Buenos Aires, Argentina December 30, 2020. The poster reads: “Abortion is social failure.” REUTERS/Martin Villar  Pro-choice activists celebrated on the streets on Wednesday as Argentina joined a handful of South American nations to legalize abortion, a landmark decision in a country where the Catholic Church has long held sway. Senate president Cristina Kirchner confirmed the vote after more than twelve hours of debate that began Tuesday, sparking scenes of jubilation in the capital Buenos Aires. “Safe, legal and free abortion is law … Now we’re a…

Customers are pictured inside the Apple shop in Hong Kong on October 30, 2019, a day before the city’s third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figures are released. (Photo by Anthony WALLACE / AFP)A federal judge Tuesday dismissed Apple’s copyright infringement lawsuit against cybersecurity startup Corellium in a case which could have implications for researchers who find software bugs and vulnerabilities. Judge Rodney Smith said Apple failed to show a legal basis for protecting its entire iOS operating system from security researchers. Apple sued the Florida-based startup in 2019 claiming its “virtualization” of iOS software constituted copyright infringement. But the judge…

(FILES) An undated handout picture released by the University of Oxford on November 23, 2020 shows a vial of the University’s COVID-19 candidate vaccine, known as AZD1222, co-invented by the University of Oxford and Vaccitech in partnership with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. – Britain on December 30, 2020 became the first country in the world to approve the coronavirus vaccine developed by drug firm AstraZeneca and Oxford University, with a mass rollout planned from January 4, 2021. (Photo by John Cairns / University of Oxford / AFP) /  The coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, which was approved Wednesday…

(COMBO) This combination of file pictures created on October 30, 2020 shows Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden in Coconut Creek, Florida, on October 29, 2020; and US President Donald Trump arrives to a campaign rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin on October 30, 2020. – Biden and Trump will be holding dueling campaign rallies in Georgia on January 4, 2021, the eve of a pair of crucial Senate runoff elections in the southern state. (Photos by JIM WATSON and MANDEL NGAN / AFP) President-elect Joe Biden and President Donald Trump will be holding duelling campaign rallies in Georgia on Monday, the…

A video grab shows the moment an ordnance hit the airport in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden on December 30, 2020, shortly after the arrival of a plane carrying members of a new unity government. – Explosions rocked Yemen’s Aden airport on Wednesday shortly after the arrival of a plane carrying members of a new unity government, an AFP correspondent at the scene said. “At least two explosions were heard as the cabinet members were leaving the aircraft,” the correspondent said. Yemen’s internationally recognised government and southern separatists formed a new power-sharing cabinet on December 18 and arrived…

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi attends a ceremony marking the birth of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed in Tripoli in this February 13, 2011 file photograph. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny Britain opposed a bid by US President Bill Clinton to expand UN sanctions on Libya under dictator Moamer Kadhafi while seeking to extradite the Lockerbie bombers, previously secret government papers showed on Wednesday. Cabinet Office correspondence, released by the National Archives covering the years 1995 and 1996, showed the UK was concerned at the possible impact of expanded Security Council sanctions on Britain’s $230 million annual exports to Libya, especially of oil-producing equipment. The prime…