The South Korean government has pardoned former President Park Geun-hye, who was serving 22 years in prison for corruption, the country’s Justice Ministry said on Friday. Park Kyung-mi, a spokesperson for the Blue House — South Korea’s presidential office — said President Moon Jae-in considered former President Park’s worsening...
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UN envoy, Ms Stephanie Williams, on Thursday said Libya’s presidential election had been postponed with a new date expected to be announced within 30 days. Williams, the deputy head of the UN Support Mission in Libya for political affairs, said this after her 10 days visit to the county...
U.S. has contributed 10 million dollars to assist the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in its work on COVID-19 response and addressing threats to human, animal and environmental health, including future pandemics. The funding, announced on Thursday, would support the UN agency’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme, part...
An unprecedented fossil of a baby dinosaur curled up perfectly inside its egg is shedding more light on the links between dinosaurs and birds. The 70-million-year-old fossil preserves the embryonic skeleton of an oviraptorid dinosaur, which has been nicknamed Baby Yingliang after the name of the Chinese museum which...
The death toll from a shipwreck off Madagascar’s northeastern coast has risen to at least 64 after 25 more bodies were discovered, maritime authorities said Wednesday. A wooden vessel, believed to be a cargo ship carrying passengers illegally, sank in the Indian Ocean on Monday with 130 people on...
Turkish authorities arrested an American diplomat working at the U.S. consulate in Beirut, for allegedly helping a Syrian national fly to Germany on a fake diplomatic passport. The state media reports, citing the police on Wednesday, said the diplomat, identified by the initials DJK was accused of “forgery of...
The ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum has been ordered to pay his ex-wife Princess Haya bint al-Hussein more than $728 million (£500 million), in one of the largest divorce settlements ever handed down by a UK court. The figure will be used to cover Princess Haya’s...
A Madagascan minister was one of two survivors to have swum some 12 hours to shore Tuesday after their helicopter crashed off the island’s northeastern coast, authorities said. A search was still ongoing for two other passengers after the crash Monday, whose cause was not immediately clear, police and...
The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Tuesday expressed concern over the unfolding security situation in the capital, Tripoli, where forces affiliated with different armed groups have been deploying. The development came as Libyans awaited news about the postponement of long-promised landmark elections, due to take place on...
A South African court on Tuesday, granted former president Jacob Zuma leave, to appeal a ruling that he returned to prison after being released in September on medical parole. He was however, given permission to spend Christmas at home. Zuma, 79, was sentenced in June to 15 months in...
The World Economic Forum has postponed its annual meeting in Davos in Switzerland due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) fears, citing “continued uncertainty over the Omicron outbreak.” “Current pandemic conditions make it extremely difficult to deliver a global in-person meeting,” the organisation wrote on its website. The event was due to...
Israeli Prime Minister’s Office on Monday said the Israeli government had approved the ban of all non-essential travel to 10 countries including the United States to prevent the spread of the Omicron coronavirus strain. The countries include Belgium, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Switzerland and Turkey. “The cabinet...
The death toll from Typhoon Rai that lashed the Philippines last week has climbed to 208, a spokesperson for the police said on Monday, adding that 52 more remain missing. However, Philippine National Police spokesperson Colonel Roderick Alba only provided details of the reported 29 deaths caused by Typhoon...
Somali National Army (SNA)’s Special Forces (Danab), on Sunday, killed six fighters of the al-Shabab militant group during an operation in the southern region, military officials confirmed on Monday. SNA commanders, who led the operation, told the State-owned Radio Mogadishu that the security forces which have intensified onslaught agonist...
At least one policeman died Monday in the eastern DR Congo city of Goma as police fired tear gas and live bullets to break up a protest against rising crime. The demonstrators converged on arterial roads early in the morning, setting up barricades and burning tyres in the capital...
A left-wing legislator who rose to prominence during anti-government protests in Chile has been elected the country’s next president. With almost 99 percent of polling stations reporting, Gabriel Boric won 56 percent of the votes, compared with 44 percent for his conservative opponent, Jose Antonio Kast. In a model...
Two adults and two children died after a light plane crashed off the coast of the Australian city of Brisbane, police said Sunday. Queensland state police said the four were killed when the small aircraft crashed in shallow waters near Redcliffe, a bayside suburb in the city’s north, just...
UN Secretary António Guterres on Saturday received the Lamp of Peace award , a major honour from the Catholic Church, which he said recognises the work of UN personnel “striving for peace around the world”. Reminding that after the horrors of World War in the 20th Century, “the UN...
At least 12 people were killed and several more injured Saturday by a gas blast in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, police said. The explosion went off in a bank building in the Sher Shah area and social media and TV footage showed the two-floor structure’s windows and doors...
UN Secretary General António Guterres on Saturday expressed solidarity with more than 281 million international migrants, saying solidarity with migrants has never been more urgent. Guterres, in his message on International Migrants Day, said that more people than ever live in a country other than the one where they...