London, United Kingdom | AFP | Almost eight out of 10 companies and public sector bodies operating in Britain pay men more than women overall, said data published Thursday confirming long-standing gender inequality in the workplace. Prime Minister Theresa May introduced laws last year to force all employers with more …

Brussels, Belgium | AFP | European law enforcement officials say they are tracking at least 65,000 migrant smugglers, twice as many as at the height of the migration crisis three years ago, as the illegal trade booms. Despite a drop in the number of migrants successfully crossing the Mediterranean since …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Lassa fever has killed 142 people in Nigeria since the start of the year, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said on Thursday, reporting a rise of 32 fatalities in a month. “Since the onset of the 2018 outbreak, there have been 142 deaths,” …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Pope Francis has stepped in to the case of a seriously ill British toddler who is being kept alive on a ventilator. Alfie Evans, who is 22 months old, has a rare degenerative neurological condition which has not been definitively diagnosed. His parents, Tom Evans …

Paris, France | AFP | Ten international rights groups called on French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday to pressure Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over his country’s bombing campaign in Yemen. Macron is expected to host Prince Mohammed for a three-day trip to France starting Sunday, the latest stop in …

Memphis, United States | AFP | Americans on Wednesday marked 50 years since the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, a day seared into the national consciousness that transformed the civil rights leader into a symbol of the fight for racial equality. In a country still torn over issues of race …

China chosen as launch site of Volkswagen’s new ‘premium’ flagship Kampala, Uganda | MOTORING GURU | Volkswagen has abandoned the United States in favour of China for the world debut of its third-generation Touareg – because that’s where the money is. And you will need plenty of money to get into …

Paris, France | AFP | Within minutes of the shooting at YouTube offices in California, social media was awash with conspiracy theories and images of the supposed “shooter” wearing a Muslim headscarf. Some Facebook videos were quick to claim that it was a “false flag” attack, carried out to discredit the …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Residents queued for hours outside fuel stations in Khartoum on Wednesday as an acute shortage of petrol and diesel hit the Sudanese capital. The drop in supplies came on top of rising food and electricity prices that led to sporadic anti-government protests in January. Long queues …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | In life, Winnie Mandela was known as a brave anti-apartheid activist whose reputation was badly tainted by criminal convictions and thuggish gang violence. But in death, her chequered record has largely been forgiven in South Africa, with the president declaring 12 days of mourning and …