A total of 2,231 people have died out of 3,373 declared cases of Ebola in the current epidemic in DR Congo, according to the agency overseeing the response, health officials said Sunday. Deadly unrest in the fragile state has hampered the fight against the disease during the latest epidemic, which broke out on August 1, […]

  The White House said Sunday it would consider “other tools” beyond personal diplomacy if North Korea went ahead with a threatened “Christmas gift” that could reignite global tensions over its nuclear program. Experts have interpreted the message delivered earlier this month by Pyongyang as a warning that a long-range missile test was imminent if […]

Guinea-Bissau citizens return to poll on Sunday to decide their president with the hope of ending months of political turmoil in the coup-prone West African state that is one of the world’s poorest nations. Some 700,000 registered voters have a choice between two former prime ministers — Domingos Simoes Pereira, from the traditional ruling PAIGC […]

Iraqi anti-government protesters blockaded an oil field and rallied in southern cities Sunday while political factions remained paralysed in their attempts to form a new government. Several hundred people demanding jobs shut off access to the Nasiriya field, 300 kilometres (190 miles) south of Baghdad, which produces 82,000 barrels of oil per day, executives said. […]

Dubai unveiled a 2020 budget on Sunday projecting record spending of $18.1 billion, up 17 per cent on this year, as it seeks to revive its flagging economy. The Gulf city-state expects revenues too to rise sharply next year as it hosts Expo 2020, the global six-month trade fair set to open on October 20. […]

An intruder stabbed and wounded five people at a rabbi’s house in New York during a party to celebrate the Jewish festival of Hanukkah late Saturday, officials said. Rabbi’s house is a synagogue located in the Forshay neighbourhood in Monsey, Rockland County, New York, United States. The victims, all Hasidic members of the Jewish faith, […]

Iran accused France on Sunday of “interference” in the case of an Iranian-French academic held in the Islamic republic, saying she is considered an Iranian national and faces security charges. France said Friday it summoned Iran’s ambassador to protest the imprisonment of Fariba Adelkhah and another academic, Roland Marchal of France, saying their detention was “intolerable”. […]

India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to ignore popular concerns over a new citizenship law, an opposition leader said on Saturday. The comment is coming just as thousands joined rallies in protest against the legislation. The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, allows Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Christian and Parsi immigrants from three neighbouring Muslim-majority […]

At least 61 people were killed and dozens were wounded in an explosion at a bustling checkpoint in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Saturday, an ambulance service official said, the latest in a string of deadly attacks. Rescuers carried dead bodies past the twisted wreckage of a vehicle and a minibus taxi smeared with blood. “So […]

Shannon Lee, the daughter of kung fu icon Bruce Lee has sued a Chinese fast-food chain that allegedly uses her father’s image as its logo. This could turn out to be a bellwether case for Beijing’s promises to enhance intellectual property protection. Shannon Lee is seeking 210 million yuan (30 million dollars) in compensation from […]