Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | AFP | Saudi Arabia Wednesday announced the consolidation of development funds under a unified body led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, cementing the powerful prince’s position in the Gulf kingdom’s affairs. The new National Development Fund joins industrial, agricultural and social development funds under a board …

Brussels, Belgium | AFP | The EU turned the screw on US tech giants Wednesday, ordering Amazon to repay Luxembourg 250 million euros in back taxes and taking Ireland to court for failing to collect billions from Apple. Europe’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager accused tiny Luxembourg of an illegal deal with …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenya’s highest profile marathon, due on October 29, has been postponed to late November over fears of political unrest around the country’s re-run presidential election expected on October 26. The Nairobi Marathon, a road race which has often been a platform for young Kenyan athletes to …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Eight female members of one family were shot dead in their homes in South Africa, police said Wednesday, with attackers also setting fire to the houses. Six of the victims were aged between three and 18, while two were older women. Police said the cause …

Paris, France | AFP | The board of the UN’s cultural body on Wednesday began vetting eight candidates vying to head an organisation accused of bias in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and foot-dragging on reforms. The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization infuriated Israel and its staunch ally the United States by …

Pekanbaru, Indonesia | AFP | A giant python attacked an Indonesian man, nearly severing his arm, before hungry villagers chopped up the reptile and ate it, a police chief said Wednesday. Security guard Robert Nababan crossed paths with the giant creature while patrolling an oil palm plantation in the remote Batang …

Strasbourg, France | AFP | The European Commission said Wednesday it was “time to talk” to resolve the escalating political crisis in Catalonia, while defending Madrid’s right to use “proportionate” force to maintain law and order. “It’s time to talk, finding a way out of the impasse, working within the constitutional …

Lausanne, Switzerland | AFP | Long before Jacques Dubochet embarked on the research that earned him a Nobel Chemistry Prize on Wednesday, he made a discovery at age five that helped him overcome a common, yet powerful fear. The retired professor of biophysics and the University of Lausanne has been honoured, …

Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | A revolutionary technique dubbed cryo-electron microscopy, which has shed light on the Zika virus and an Alzheimer’s enzyme, earned scientists Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson the Nobel Chemistry Prize on Wednesday. Thanks to the international team’s “cool method”, which uses electron beams to examine …

Mumbai, India | AFP | India’s central bank held interest rates at a seven-year-low on Wednesday as it downgraded growth forecasts for Asia’s third largest economy amid a slowdown following recent high-profile reforms. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said the benchmark repo rate — the level at which it lends …