Togo’s president, Faure Gnassingbe, looks set to claim a fourth term at the polls on Saturday and extend his family’s half-century domination of the West African nation. After weathering protests in 2017 and 2018, Gnassingbe pushed through constitutional changes last year enabling him to run again — and potentially remain in power for another decade. […]

Nearly 900,000 pangolins are believed to have been trafficked across Southeast Asia in the past two decades, a wildlife watchdog said Thursday, highlighting the challenge in tackling the illicit trade. As the world’s most heavily trafficked mammal, the creatures are targeted for their body parts which are highly valued in traditional medicine in countries including […]

Spanish police have rescued six workers who were left trapped and gasping for air in a counterfeit cigarette factory located in a bunker four metres (13 feet) underground, police and Europol said Thursday. Both Europol and Spanish police said it was the first underground counterfeit cigarette factory discovered in the European Union. Police found the […]

The United States on Thursday slapped sanctions on five Iranian officials in charge of vetting candidates for the Islamic republic’s parliamentary elections, in which thousands, predominantly moderates, have been barred from running. The officials targeted ahead of Friday’s vote include Ahmad Jannati, a 92-year-old cleric who, according to the Treasury Department, oversaw the disqualification of […]

Ethiopian government on Thursday assumed custody of a priceless 18th-century crown that a former refugee had kept hidden in his apartment in the Netherlands for two decades. The handover took place at a ceremony in the capital, Addis Ababa, attended by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Sigrid Kaag, the Dutch minister for foreign trade and […]