World

(FILES) In this file photo taken on November 3, 2017, Iraqi fighters of the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation units) stand next to a wall bearing the Islamic State (IS) group flag as they enter the city of al-Qaim, in Iraq’s western Anbar province near the Syrian border as they fight against remnant pockets of Islamic State group jihadists. Between 20,000 and 30,000 Islamic State fighters remain in Iraq and Syria despite the jihadist group’s defeat and a halt in the flow of foreigners joining its ranks, according to a UN report released on August 13, 2018. The report by UN…

An EU Flag flown by an anti-Brexit protester is seen with Union Flags 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) Most EU citizens settled in the UK will retain their rights to live and work in the country after Brexit, but on January 1 a two-tiered system comes into force that may exclude thousands. The right of EU citizens to move to and settle in Britain…

Former South African President Jacob Zuma (C) arrives Commission of Inquiry into State Capture in Johannesburg, on November 16, 2020. – After repeatedly refusing to appear, Zuma requested that the head of a commission investigating rampant state corruption during his nine-year reign recuse himself. (Photo by Guillem Sartorio / AFP) The corruption trial of South Africa’s embattled ex-president Jacob Zuma and French arms manufacturer Thales, which was due to resume this week, has been postponed to February, the high court ordered Tuesday. Zuma, in power from 2009 to 2018, faces 16 charges of fraud, graft and racketeering relating to the…

Former Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama casts his ballot as he votes for the presidential and parliamentary election at an open-air polling station, in his hometown Bole, Ghana, on December 7, 2020. – More than 17 million people are eligible to vote in presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana with the race for the top job expected to be a close-run fight between incumbent Nana Akufo-Addo and longtime opponent John Mahama. (Photo by Nipah Dennis / AFP)Ghanaians, yesterday, cast their votes in a presidential election viewed as a close fight between President Nana Akufo-Addo and his longtime rival John Dramani…

Italy's Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Monday, the government said. Lamorgese submitted to a routine test in the morning and learned the results while attending a meeting of government ministers in the afternoon, said the government in a brief statement. The two ministers sitting next to her, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede, put themselves into self-isolation, although all those present were wearing masks and practiced social distancing, the government said. Lamorgese is the second government minister to test positive for Covid-19. The first, the minister for regional affairs, Francesco…

Pfizer and BioNTech will deliver the first doses of their Covid-19 vaccine to Canada this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday, with inoculations to start as early as next week. "Canada has secured an agreement with Pfizer to begin early delivery of doses of their vaccine candidate," Trudeau told a news conference. "We are now contracted to receive up to 249,000 of our initial doses of Pfizer BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine in the month of December," he said. Pending Health Canada regulatory approval, expected this week, the prime minister said the first shipments to 14 sites across Canada could be…

Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock walks up Downing Street, a smile on his face in central London on December 7, 2020. – Britain and the European Union will reconvene post-Brexit trade negotiations in Brussels on Sunday after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen held inconclusive talks, as time runs out to seal a deal. (Photo by Tolga Akmen / AFP) Britain on Monday prepared to start its biggest ever immunisation campaign but health officials warned the drive to inoculate millions against Covid-19 would be a “marathon” stretching well into next year. The world-first rollout…

China and US Flag PHOTO: studiocasper/iStock/Getty Images China’s top diplomat on Monday called for the resumption of talks with the incoming US administration of president-elect Joe Biden, as relations between the world’s two largest economies continued to nosedive. Beijing and Washington have locked horns over issues from trade and China’s human rights record to its expansionist ambitions in the South China Sea. But speaking during a video call with the board of the US-China Business Council (USCBC) on Monday, foreign minister Wang Yi said “the two sides should work together.” “We need to strive to restart the dialogue, get back…

Ten years ago, millions dared to dream that political change could sweep across Arab capitals, but in most places such hopes have been crushed as thousands languish in jail. From Cairo to Damascus, regimes have cracked down on the dissent which flourished in the early, heady days of the Arab Spring uprisings, with many protesters especially in Syria and Egypt now silenced through torture and imprisonment. Or even death. Today, some 60,000 Egyptian political detainees have been rounded up since then autocratic president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in early 2011, according to a grim toll by human rights groups. A…

A satellite-controlled machine gun with “artificial intelligence” was used in last week’s assassination of a top nuclear scientist in Iran, the deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards told local media Sunday. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was driving on a highway outside Iran’s capital Tehran with a security detail of 11 Guards on November 27, when the machine gun “zoomed in” on his face and fired 13 rounds, said rear-admiral Ali Fadavi. The machine gun was mounted on a Nissan pickup and “focused only on martyr Fakhrizadeh’s face in a way that his wife, despite being only 25 centimetres (10 inches) away, was…