A 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Southern California on Thursday at 10:33 a.m. (17:33 GMT) near the Searles Valley in San Bernardino County, the United States Geological Survey said. The shallow quake struck at a depth of 5.4 miles (8.7 kilometres) in the vast desert region, lasting multiple seconds with residents as far away as Los … Read more
Authorities in Switzerland have handed suspended sentences to at least five members of Cameroon President Paul Biya’s security team, after they were arrested on Tuesday in Geneva for an alleged assault on a journalist. Swiss newspaper Tribune Geneve reports that the five men appeared in court on Wednesday and a sixth member of the team, … Read more
Global technology giant Google has sent gifts to a baby boy in Indonesia named after the company by the parents, local media reported on Wednesday. Google was born in November but his birth certificate went viral recently after his mother posted it on social media. Some online commenters quipped that he would find it hard … Read more
A heartbroken man has dragged his unfaithful estranged wife to court after discovering that he is not the father of their eight-year-old son. The man is demanding from his estranged wife a refund of ‘every penny’ he spent on the child he thought was his but was actually fathered by someone the woman had an … Read more
Boeing announced Wednesday that it would give $100 million to communities and families affected by two crashes on its 737 MAX planes that claimed 346 lives. Describing the sum as an “initial investment” over multiple years, the company said it would work with local governments and non-profit organizations to provide “hardship and living expenses” and … Read more
Zimbabwe has run out of passports and vehicle registration number plates, forcing citizens to wait for long periods to get them, fueling another sign of a desperate shortage of U.S. dollars in the southern African nation. At the passport office in Harare on Wednesday, hundreds of people huddled in the morning winter cold after arriving … Read more
Sudan’s protest leaders on Wednesday agreed to hold direct talks with the ruling generals after African Union and Ethiopian mediators urged the two sides to resume stalled negotiations about a new governing body. “The Alliance for Freedom and Change met and decided to accept the invitation for direct negotiations” with the generals, prominent protest leader … Read more
The fashion designer son of the ruler of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates has died in London. Sheikh Khalid bin Sultan Al Qasimi, 39, was the owner of a British fashion label, Qasimi, which has been in business since 2008. Three days of mourning have been declared in the emirate and flags have been … Read more
Christine Lagarde has made a career out of breaking glass ceilings in the halls of international finance and is now poised to break one more, leading the European Central Bank. The former lawyer was the first woman to serve as finance minister from any Group of Seven nation and then the first to lead the … Read more
Chinese President Xi Jinping urged US President Donald Trump to “show flexibility” towards North Korea, including the “timely” easing of sanctions, at the G20 summit last week, China’s foreign minister said Tuesday. Xi visited North Korea prior to meeting Trump at the G20 in Japan on Saturday, and analysts had said the Chinese leader could … Read more
China on Tuesday rebuked Donald Trump for “gross interference” in Hong Kong’s affairs after the US president said protesters who stormed the city’s legislature wanted democracy for the financial hub. Trump weighed in on the protests in Hong Kong on Monday, saying the demonstrators are “looking for democracy” but that “some governments don’t want democracy”. … Read more
A dead body of a stowaway on Tuesday fell from a Kenya Airways plane that was en route off from Nairobi to London’s Heathrow. The dead man landed in a garden in Clapham, South London, 27 kilometres from the airport, scaring the owner of the house, who immediately called the police. The Police later found … Read more
US President Donald Trump warned Monday that Iran is “playing with fire” after Tehran said it exceeded a limit on enriched uranium reserves under a 2015 nuclear deal abandoned by Washington. Israel urged European states to sanction Iran, while Russia voiced regret but said the move was a consequence of US pressure, which has pushed … Read more
Turkey has ordered the arrest of 82 military personnel over suspected relations to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose network is accused by Ankara of carrying out an attempted coup in 2016. Ankara blames Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, for masterminding an attempted coup in July 2016. Gulen has … Read more
Five whaling ships set sail from Kushiro in Japan for the country’s first commercial hunt since 1986. The ships are allowed to catch up to 227 whales in Japanese waters, after it pulled out of an international whaling moratorium. Shigeto Hase, the Director General of the Japanese Fisheries Agency, said many people had been hoping … Read more
British prime ministerial contender Jeremy Hunt on Monday pledged billions of pounds to mitigate the effects of a possible no-deal Brexit, but the country’s finance minister dismissed the plans as unaffordable. Hunt is vying with frontrunner Boris Johnson to win the support of predominately pro-Brexit Conservative Party members, who will vote this month for Theresa … Read more
Taiwan’s leader will stop over in the United States during a visit to four Caribbean diplomatic allies in a move that could anger Beijing. China sees the self-ruling democratic island as part of its territory awaiting reunification and bristles at countries that might lend Taiwan diplomatic support or legitimacy. Although Washington switched diplomatic recognition from … Read more
Michael de Adder, a Canadian cartoonist has lost his job just two days after his illustration of President Donald Trump playing golf over the bodies of two drowned migrants went viral on social media. Michael de Adder said on Twitter that he had been let go by a publishing company in New Brunswick, Canada. His … Read more
The Church of England on Monday urged Christians to think of Jesus when interacting on social media, as it launched a new charter to create a “positive atmosphere” online. Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby visited the British headquarters of Facebook to launch the digital charter, where he urged individuals and churches to pledge to … Read more
Israeli air strikes in Syria left nine mostly foreign pro-regime fighters and six civilians including three children dead, a Britain-based war monitor said Monday. The raids near Damascus and in Homs province late Sunday killed the fighters, but it was not immediately clear exactly how the civilians died — whether in the strikes or in … Read more