Saudi Arabia on Thursday emptied Islam’s holiest site for sterilisation over fears of the new coronavirus, an unprecedented shutdown state media said will last while the year-round umrah pilgrimage is suspended. The kingdom halted the pilgrimage for its own citizens and residents on Wednesday, on top of restrictions announced last week on foreign pilgrims to stop […]

Elizabeth Warren, who electrified progressives with her “plan for everything” and strong message of economic populism, dropped out of the United States Democratic presidential race on Thursday, days after the onetime front-runner failed to win a single Super Tuesday state, not even her own. For much of the past year, her campaign had all the […]

Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum ordered the abduction of two of his daughters and subjected his estranged wife to intimidation, according to a British court ruling made public on Thursday. High Court judge Andrew McFarlane said he accepted claims by the sheikh’s wife Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein that he had “ordered and […]

International war crimes judges ruled on Thursday that a probe into wartime abuses in Afghanistan must go ahead, including looking into possible atrocities committed by US forces, as they overturned a previous court ruling. The call was immediately hailed by human rights organisations as a “pivotal moment” for victims of the central Asian country’s 18-year-war […]

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said on Thursday he would not run in October’s election, ending months of speculation over whether he would seek a third term. October’s election is a major challenge for the Ivory Coast after its 2010-2011 ballot ended in violence between political rivals that killed 3,000 people. “I would like to […]