A prominent women’s rights campaigner and member of the Afghan negotiating team that will hold talks with the Taliban, Fawzia Koofi, has been wounded in a gun attack near Kabul, officials said Saturday. Gunmen opened fire on Koofi and her sister on Friday when they were returning from a meeting to offer condolences in the […]

Iran on Saturday hailed a UN Security Council vote rejecting a US bid to extend an arms embargo on the Islamic republic, saying its foe has “never been so isolated”. President Hassan Rouhani said the United States had failed to kill off what he called the “half alive” 2015 deal with major powers that gave […]

Crime in South Africa dropped by up to 40% during the first three months of its lockdown, official figures show. The police minister said most types of crimes went down between April and June, including sexual assault and arson. He added that a controversial alcohol ban during the coronavirus lockdown had helped, but that attacks […]

Lebanon’s judicial investigation of the Beirut port explosion started with political wrangling over the naming of a lead investigator, military threats to jail leakers and doubts over whether a panel appointed along sectarian lines could be fully impartial. So for many Lebanese, their greatest hope for credible answers about the blast that wrecked much of […]

After more than two years of browbeating and trade sanctions on Canada and Mexico, President Donald Trump strong-armed the United States’ neighbours into agreeing to supplant a 25-year-old North American trade agreement with one of his own. His pact, meant to update the old deal and encourage more manufacturing in the United States, was expected […]