WORLD

  Paris, France | AFP | Lionel Messi won a record sixth men’s Ballon d’Or award at a ceremony in Paris on Monday, beating Liverpool duo Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane to take the honours. Now aged 32, it is Messi’s first Ballon d’Or since 2015 and his sixth overall as he moves one …

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | AFP |  Heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr said Monday that all the pressure will be on dethroned champion Anthony Joshua in their contentious showdown in Saudi Arabia. Ruiz, who was born in the United States but fights as a Mexican, caused one of boxing’s biggest upsets …

Brussels, Belgium | AFP |  Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen, who takes the reins of the European Commission on Sunday, is a loyal confidante of Chancellor Angela Merkel whom she served as defence minister for six difficult years. The political blue-blood, medical doctor and mother-of-seven was long considered a likely successor …

Tring, United Kingdom | AFP |  Only a few months ago, David Gauke was a Conservative minister. Now he’s standing in Britain’s upcoming election as an independent, hoping to deprive the party and its prime minister of victory. “With a majority, Boris Johnson would be able to proceed with a reckless …

Euro 2020 Group F: France 🇫🇷 Portugal 🇵🇹 Germany 🇩🇪 Bucharest, Romania | AFP | France face a major hurdle if they are to add the European Championship to their World Cup crown after coming out in the same Euro 2020 group as Germany and reigning European champions Portugal in …

London, United Kingdom | AFP |  A man suspected of stabbing two people to death in a terror attack on London Bridge was an ex-prisoner convicted of terrorism offences and released last year, police said Saturday. The knifeman, wearing a suspected hoax explosive device, was shot dead by police after Friday’s …

Paris, France | AFP |  Chilean singer Ana Tijoux says she is scared of cameras. Yet it is hard to think of anything as fearless as her latest hit “Cacerolazo”, which has become an anthem of the street revolt in her homeland against its billionaire president Sebastian Pinera. Latin America’s richest …

‘Black Friday’ becoming a shadow of its former self in US New York, United States | AFP | The US holiday shopping season officially opened with a deluge of “Black Friday” promotions but the frenzied crowds of the past have thinned out with the rise of e-commerce. Companies in the …

Frankfurt am Main, Germany | AFP | Luxury automaker Daimler on Friday said it was scrapping “thousands” of jobs to help fund the switch to electric vehicles, in the latest layoffs to hit the stuttering German car industry. The Mercedes-Benz maker said it wanted to save 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 …

Bucharest, Romania | AFP |  On the morning of December 22, 1989, Bogdan Stan drank his usual cup of coffee and went to join the wave of protests against Romania’s communist regime. Shortly after that, he was shot and killed in front of the public TV building. Almost 30 years later, …