Berlin, Germany | AFP | Two German air force jets were deployed late Saturday to escort and help a Korean plane land in Stuttgart after it lost contact with air traffic controllers. The Korean Air plane with around 200 people was flying from Seoul to Zurich when communication with controllers …

Canchungo, Guinea-Bissau | AFP | The school year is ending in the west African nation of Guinea-Bissau, but some pupils will hardly notice the difference. Long-running pay disputes have kept teachers out of the classrooms for long stretches of the last four decades in this former Portuguese colony, where a …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Two white South African farmers accused of pushing a black labourer into a coffin and threatening to burn him alive were granted bail on Friday. The assault was captured on video apparently filmed on a mobile phone by one of the alleged assailants, causing …

Beijing, China | AFP | China’s economy lost momentum in the second quarter, a survey shows, as Beijing’s efforts to curb risky lending and investment took a toll on the Asian powerhouse. The world’s second-largest economy expanded by 6.8 percent in the April-June period, compared with a year ago, according …

Seoul, South Korea | AFP | New images of North Korea’s main nuclear facility show that the isolated regime has apparently produced more plutonium for its weapons programme than previously thought, a US monitor said, as tensions soar over Pyongyang’s ambitions. The respected 38 North website, a monitoring project linked …

Berlin, Germany | AFP | Berlin on Saturday said two women who were killed after being stabbed in an Egyptian beach resort were German nationals, confirming earlier reports. “We can now sadly confirm that two German tourists died in the attack at Hurghada,” a foreign ministry statement said. Friday’s attack …

Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Visitors will not be allowed to set foot on a men-only UNESCO World Heritage island in Japan from next year, an official said Saturday. The tiny landmass of Okinoshima, where women are banned and male visitors must bathe naked in the sea before visiting its …

Jakarta, Indonesia | AFP | Indonesia has blocked web-based access to a popular messaging service and threatened a full ban on the app due to its “terrorism” content, the government said. The communications ministry said in a statement that “so many channels in the (Telegram) service contain radicalism and terrorism… …

Shenyang, China | AFP | The ashes of China’s late Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo were scattered in the sea Saturday after a controversial funeral, as his friends worried about the fate of the democracy advocate’s widow. Officials showed a video in which his wife, Liu Xia, and others lowered a …

Washington, United States | AFP | Our Sun is much like other stars, and not an anomaly because of its magnetic poles that flip every 11 years, scientists said Thursday. The report in the journal Science aims to lay to rest the controversy over whether our solar system’s star is cyclic, …