In May 2015, the militant group known as Islamic State captured a town in the centre of Syria called Tadmur. Nearly a year had elapsed since it declared the territory it held in Syria and neighbouring Iraq to be a "caliphate" that was "enduring, by God's will, and expanding", not only defying the international community but also breaking with the […]

HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam’s prime minister has called for “drastic measures” to fight the spread of African swine fever in the Southeast Asian country, state media reported on Tuesday. The highly contagious disease, which is incurable in pigs but harmless to humans, has spread rapidly across neighboring China since August, and has been found in seven areas in Vietnam, the […]

BEIJING (Reuters) – In a bright red office in south Beijing, some of China’s most studious Communist Party members are gathered around their smartphones. The focus of their attention is a range of mobile apps and websites which allow them to study the speeches of Chinese President Xi Jinping, including one developed by their own employer, Beijing-based conglomerate Tidal Star […]

MPs backed the call as one said: “It’s time for her to act.” Theresa May was urged to take personal charge after Home Secretary Sajid Javid ducked calls to make Britain’s knife crime epidemic a national emergency. London Mayor Sadiq Khan was also criticised for going on holiday after 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was stabbed to death in the capital. Met […]

Jackie Doyle-Price said many are conceiving accidentally while “playing the field” between long-term relationships. And she revealed unplanned pregnancies are now growing faster among thirty-somethings than inexperienced teens. Ms Doyle-Price urged those “entering the market again” to think twice before having unprotected sex with a new fella. Almost eight-times as many women in their thirties had an abortion in 2017 […]

Lake Bunyonyi: Samuel Muriisa thinks he is ready for Ebola, but he is not. Muriisa, 74, is the most widely respected omushaho wekishaka, or traditional healer, in this area. He is aware — but only vaguely — that Ebola is raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose border is just 20 miles away. "Let it stay in Congo," he […]

DEIR AL-ZOR PROVINCE, Syria (Reuters) – Some 200 Islamic State fighters surrendered after a ferocious battle over their last shred of territory in eastern Syria, but around 1,000 may still be holding out, a spokesman for the U.S.-backed Syrian force battling them said on Monday. The jihadist group faces defeat in Baghouz on the banks of the Euphrates, but it […]

Bungling ‘arsonist’ armed with a Molotov cocktail is filmed missing his intended target and setting parked cars on fire before running away Masked man captured on CCTV throwing a Molotov cocktail at building He aims to high and misses as the weapon explodes over a parked car Fled the scene but has been arrested by police to be charged to […]

The outbreak of whooping cough at Moncton High School has left one parent in “shock,” saying they are surprised people could leave their children unvaccinated despite the risk. At least five cases of the highly contagious disease were diagnosed at the school, New Brunswick said on Sunday when it informed parents at Moncton High School in an email that they […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) said on Monday it was reviewing a letter from Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido naming a new representative to the board of the regional lender. “We’ve received the letter and are determining next steps,” a bank official told Reuters after Guaido named Harvard University economist Ricardo Hausmann as the country’s representative to […]