Russian boxers will only take part in the Tokyo Olympics if doping sanctions forcing them to compete as neutral athletes are overturned, the general secretary of the Russian Boxing Federation told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Umar Kremlev said he has spoken with the Olympic boxing team and they “unanimously” rejected the conditions laid out […]

One of four Indian men on death row over the infamous 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder appealed against his sentence on Tuesday citing pollution. Akshay Kumar Singh was one of a group of men who gang-raped a 23-year-old woman on a bus in India’s capital late at night in December seven years ago. Her case […]

At least three heart patients died on Wednesday after a group of lawyers attacked doctors at a cardiac hospital in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore, officials and ministers said. “Three patients including an elderly woman died after doctors failed to provide them timely treatment and remained engaged in averting the assault,” Punjab provincial health minister […]

Malaysia’s leader-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim will be questioned by police over allegations he sexually assaulted a male former aide, officials said Wednesday, the latest such scandal to tarnish his career. Anwar has vehemently denied the claims by his former research assistant Muhammed Yusoff Rawther, who says he was assaulted last year. The 72-year-old Anwar, seen as […]

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday called for the immediate release of two French nationals held in Iran, a festering issue that has complicated French efforts to defuse tension between Washington and Tehran. “On Human Rights Day, my thoughts go to Fariba Adelkhah and Roland Marchal, our compatriots held in Iran, and their families,” Macron […]

As the U.S. House of Representatives moves closer to impeaching United States President Donald Trump, larger questions loom in the Senate, where Trump’s Republican allies may not give him the extended trial he would like. Democrats who control the House unveiled formal charges on Tuesday that accused Trump of abusing his power by trying to […]

The results of Bougainville’s independence referendum are set to be announced Wednesday — with the troubled Pacific islands expected to resoundingly back the creation of a new nation and a break with Papua New Guinea. The South Pacific islands of Bougainville have overwhelmingly voted to be independent from Papua New Guinea, the referendum commission said […]

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson looks on course to win Thursday’s election though the race has tightened markedly and he can no longer be sure of a majority, according to opinion polls published on the eve of the vote. The Dec. 12 election has been described by all parties as Britain’s most important in memory, […]

China on Wednesday urged the United States to earnestly fulfil its special duties on nuclear disarmament and further cut its large nuclear arsenal. “As the country with the world’s largest and most advanced nuclear arsenal, the United States should earnestly fulfill its special duties on nuclear disarmament, respond to Russia’s call for extending the New […]

The spokesperson of the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations (UN) on Tuesday resolutely opposed the U.S. ambassador’s interference in China’s internal affairs under the pretext of human rights. U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Kelly Craft’s accusations about Chinese’s human rights are “baseless” and gross interference in China’s internal affairs said […]

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wants to put up 100 billion euros ($130 billion) to help EU nations that still heavily rely on fossil fuels to transition to lower emissions. Von der Leyen, who took office this month at the helm of the European Union’s powerful executive arm, has made the fight against […]

Teen activist Greta Thunberg says she was “a bit surprised” to be named Time’s Person of the Year, despite becoming the figurehead of a global youth movement pressing for faster action climate change. Leaving a U.N. climate conference in Madrid, Thunberg told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she wanted to dedicate the award to […]

Bosnia will on Wednesday dismantle tents at a makeshift migrant camp known as the “jungle” for its brutal conditions, after transferring hundreds of people to Sarajevo. Rights groups heavily criticised the Vucjak camp, where migrants slept in tents with no heating, running water or proper toilets, ever since local authorities opened in June in an […]

Israel’s parliament began rushing through a bill on Wednesday to call a third general election within a year as talks between embattled premier Benjamin Netanyahu and his centrist rival broke down ahead of a midnight deadline. A deal to avert a new election must be reached before 11:59 pm (2159 GMT), following a deadlocked vote […]

The UN-created International Support Group (ISG) for Lebanon meets in Paris Wednesday, stressing the need for a stable government that listens to public opinion expressed in an ongoing popular uprising, organisers said. France and the UN were to co-host the meeting, which the French foreign ministry said “should allow the international community to call for […]