Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | Swedish carmaker Volvo, owned by the Chinese Geely, said Thursday that booming demand in China helped it notch up record sales for the fourth consecutive year in 2017. Volvo Cars said in a statement that it sold a total 571,577 cars worldwide last year, an …

Paris, France | AFP | South Korea’s Samsung has overtaken US rival Intel as the world’s biggest maker of semi-conductors as sales in the sector boom, a study published by consultancy Gartner showed on Thursday. Samsung Electronics “gained the most market share and took the number one position from Intel …

Jakarta, Indonesia | AFP | Indonesian authorities have seized 1.3 tonnes of marijuana and arrested six people in a major drug bust on New Year’s Eve, police said Thursday. Authorities confiscated the drugs at a port near Lampung, on the southern tip of Sumatra island. The bricks of tightly-wrapped cannabis — …

Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | Danish police are investigating the theft of what is claimed to be “the world’s most expensive” bottle of vodka, in what the bar owner says could be an inside job. The bottle, made from white and yellow gold and containing a diamond-encrusted replica of the …

Moscow, Russia | AFP | Moscow on Thursday warned Washington against interfering in Iran’s “internal affairs” after US President Donald Trump pledged to help Iranians “take back” their government following protests. The White House said it was weighing sanctions against those involved in a crackdown against the unrest, which has left …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | A Zimbabwean court on Thursday set aside a case against an American journalist who was charged with insulting then-president Robert Mugabe on Twitter. Martha O’Donovan was charged with subversion and undermining or insulting Mugabe in an alleged tweet in October that described the ageing leader …

Lome, Togo | AFP | Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe broke his silence after months of protests against his rule, calling on the opposition to “dialogue” in his New Year address given late Wednesday. “Dialogue must remain the preferred way of resolving disagreements between political actors,” Gnassingbe said in an address on …

Doha, Qatar | AFP | Qatar has approved legislation allowing 100-percent ownership for foreign investors in most sectors of the economy in a bid to boost non-energy revenues, the government said on Thursday. The move comes at a time of political crisis in the Gulf, with Qatar under an economic and …

Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP | Somalia’s prime minister, Hassan Ali Khaire, fired three key ministers on Thursday after weeks of political conflict with opposition and clan leaders. Foreign Minister Yusuf Garad Omar, Trade Mminister Khadra Ahmed Duale and Interior Minister Abdi Farah Said all lost their jobs. No reason was …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egypt’s grand mufti has said that bitcoin is forbidden in Islam, warning the digital currency could be used for criminal purposes. Bitcoin, launched in 2009 and based on a peer-to-peer payment system, poses “high risks to individuals and states,” Shawqi Allam said in a published ruling. …