London, United Kingdom | AFP | The British government sought Thursday to play down an extraordinary row with US President Donald Trump after he castigated Prime Minister Theresa May for rebuking him over anti-Muslim tweets, even as individual politicians expressed outrage. Plunging headlong into a high-profile spat with one of America’s …

United Nations, United States | AFP | The United States warned North Korea’s leadership will be “utterly destroyed” if war breaks out but its call for nations to cut ties with Pyongyang was rejected by Moscow while Beijing sidestepped talk of an oil embargo. Washington urged tough action at an emergency …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | The United Nations said Wednesday that some armed groups fighting in Sudan still deploy child soldiers, but acknowledged Khartoum’s efforts to prevent child recruitment into its forces. Olof Skoog, chairman of the UN Security Council’s working group on children and armed conflict, said armed groups including …

The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | Dutch prosecutors are investigating how a Bosnian Croat war criminal managed to dramatically take his own life Wednesday, apparently after drinking poison he had smuggled into a UN court, in scenes that were broadcast live. In shocking footage beamed around the world, Slobodan Praljak drank …

Yangon, Myanmar | AFP | Pope Francis on Thursday wraps up a visit to Myanmar defined by his decision not to address the Rohingya crisis in public, and flies to Bangladesh, where huge numbers of refugees from the Muslim minority languish in refugee camps. Christians make up less than 0.5 percent …

Beijing, China | AFP | Nearly 12 tonnes of smuggled pangolin scales have been confiscated by Chinese officials — the country’s largest-ever seizure of the endangered mammal’s prized parts as it seeks to curb illegal trafficking. The pangolin, whose brown scales have earned it the nickname “scaly anteater”, is the most …

Why don’t many policymakers recognise loss of healthy, robust, and diverse ecosystems as serious threat? COMMENT | ROBERT WATSON | With the United Nations’ climate change conference underway recently in Bonn, Germany, rising global temperatures were once again at the top of the world’s agenda. But why care about the increase …

What’s so special? Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Pope Francis got a major vehicle upgrade on Nov.15 when luxury car company Lamborghini stopped by the Vatican to drop off the pontiff’s sweet new ride. Francis, who typically uses Fiats and Fords to get around, was gifted a special-edition Lamborghini Huracan …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Bebe Cool has been hailed for last month’s Coke Studio Africa performance on the RnB track titled “Push Up” with Jason Derulo – one of the world’s most successful songwriters and recording artists. Coke Studio Africa is a non-competitive music collaboration show, which seeks to bring …

Why changes in broadly shared economic assumptions are potentially riskier than more dramatic events COMMENT | CHRISTOPHER SMART | One of the great mysteries of today’s global markets is their irrepressible enthusiasm, even as the world around them appears on the verge of chaos or collapse. And yet, investors may be …