World

Tunisia’s new President Kais Saied takes the oath of office on October 23, 2019 at the parliament in Tunis. – Saied, a conservative academic with no previous political experience who won the overwhelming support of younger voters in an October 13 runoff, was sworn in before members of the constituent assembly and other top state bodies. (Photo by Fethi Belaid / AFP) The Tunisian presidency on Friday announced a six-month extension of the country’s state of emergency, in place since a 2015 attack on a presidential guard bus claimed by the Islamic State group. President Kais Saied “decided on the…

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a virtual press conference at Downing Street in central London on September 9, 2020 following an announcement of further restrictions on social gatherings in England due to an uptick in cases of the novel coronavirus. – The UK government on on September 9 sets out tighter rules on social gatherings to curb the spread of the coronavirus, with concern mounting at rising infection rates among the young. The law in England will change from next week to reduce the number of people who can gather socially from 30 to six, with some exemptions.…

This photo taken and handout on September 12, 2020 by the Vatican Media shows Pope Francis deliver a speech during a meeting with the “Laudato si'” community at Paul-VI hall in The Vatican. – ‘Laudato si” (Praise Be to You!), dated May 24 2015, is the second encyclical of Pope Francis. (Photo by Handout / VATICAN MEDIA / AFP) / Pope Francis said in his Christmas message Friday that fraternity was a watchword for these unusually troubled times exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. “At this moment in history, marked by the ecological crisis and grave economic and social imbalances only…

A protester chants as people hold Black Lives Matter signs during a demonstration against the police killing of Andre Hill in the neighborhood where Hill was shot, in Columbus, Ohio on December 24, 2020. The killing of an unarmed African-American man by police in the US city of Columbus, Ohio sparked a fresh wave of outrage this week against racial injustice and police brutality in the country. Andre Maurice Hill, 47, was in the garage of a house on the night of December 21 when he was shot several times by a police officer who had been called to the…

An EU Flag flown by an anti-Brexit protester is seen with a Union Flag set on a flag pole in Parliament sq1uare in front of the Houses of Parliament in London on January 30, 2020. – Britain will leave the European Union formally at 2300GMT on January 31, 2020. (Photo by Tolga AKMEN / AFP) The European Union and Britain on Thursday struck a post-Brexit trade deal to cushion the economic blow of the UK’s imminent departure from the single market after 10 months of tortuous negotiations. “A deal is done,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted. “We have finally…

Boat mishap Tunisia’s coastguard on Thursday retrieved the bodies of 20 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa after their boat capsized at sea, a spokesman for the defence ministry said. Five other migrants who were on board were rescued, ministry spokesman Mohamed Zekri told AFP, adding that a search operation was underway. Zekri did not give further details, but said the rescue operation took place off the port of Sfax in central Tunisia. Khaled Hayouni, a spokesman for the interior ministry, said the boat was heading to Italy from the Sidi Mansour district of Sfax when it sank. More than 40 people…

FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed speaks during a media conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, October 29, 2018. Michel Euler/Pool via REUTERS//File Photo Ethiopia’s military killed 42 people allegedly among those responsible for massacring more than 100 civilians in a troubled western part of the country, local officials said Thursday. The federal troops also seized firearms and arrows during the operation, the government of the Benishangul-Gumuz region said, after gunmen waged the brutal pre-dawn assault on Wednesday in which dozens were also injured. “The Ethiopia Defence Force has destroyed 42 anti-peace forces who attacked civilians yesterday”…

Huawei Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou, leaves her Vancouver home to appear in British Columbia Supreme Court, in Vancouver, Canada on November 17, 2020. – Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou appeared for a new round of extradition hearings November 16 in Vancouver, as the two-year anniversary of her arrest by Canadian authorities approaches. (Photo by Don MacKinnon / AFP) An executive for Chinese tech giant Huawei, facing extradition to the United States on fraud and conspiracy charges, plans to ask Canadian authorities to ease her bail conditions, her lawyers said Wednesday. Meng Wanzhou’s attorneys revealed their upcoming application during a routine…

European Union’s negotiator Michel Barnier arrives for a meeting of the Committee of the Permanent Representatives of the Governments of the Member States to the European Union (Coreper) in Brussels on December 22, 2020. (Photo by JOHN THYS / POOL / AFP) The European Union and Britain could agree on the terms of a post-Brexit trade deal within hours, European sources said Wednesday, as negotiators sought to hammer out the last details. “We are in the final phase,” one EU official told AFP. Asked whether this meant a deal later Wednesday, a source close to the talks said: “Very likely,…

Workers producing face masks. PHOTO: AFP Face masks reduce the risk of spreading large Covid-linked droplets when speaking or coughing by up to 99.9 percent, according to a lab experiment with mechanical mannequins and human subjects, researchers said Wednesday. A woman standing two metres (yards) from a coughing man without a mask will be exposed to 10,000 times more such droplets than if he were wearing one, even if he is only 50 centimetres away, they reported in the journal Royal Society Open Science. “There is no more doubt whatsoever that face masks can dramatically reduce the dispersion of potentially…