WORLD

Tahíche, Spain | AFP | Roadside billboards and high-rise hotels are banned on Spain’s holiday island of Lanzarote — a legacy of visionary artist Cesar Manrique, whose birth a century ago is being celebrated this year. Part of the volcanic Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago located in the Atlantic Ocean off …

Washington, United States | AFP |  US President Donald Trump will visit Britain for NATO’s 70th-anniversary summit next month, the White House said Friday, in a trip falling days before the country votes in a general election. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seeking to retain power in the December 12 …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | The fight for safe abortions is an uphill struggle with half of all terminations worldwide still conducted in risky conditions, pro-choice advocates told a major women’s health conference in Nairobi. Despite gains in many countries, there are huge barriers in poorer parts of the world, they …

Seoul, South Korea | AFP | North Korea has launched a visceral diatribe against US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, calling the former vice-president a “rabid dog” — while also borrowing the terminology of Donald Trump. Pyongyang is renowned for its vitriol, but the verbal deluge was unusually ferocious even by …

Bossier City, United States | AFP | US President Donald Trump campaigned on Thursday for the Republican challenger in the Louisiana governor’s race, in what is seen as a test of his own political vitality as he battles an impeachment inquiry. Addressing a rally in Bossier City, Trump urged a crowd of thousands whose votes …

The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | International investigators looking into the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine released intercepted phone calls on Thursday showing close links between “high-ranking” Russian officials and rebel suspects facing trial over the crash. The probe said the recordings raised questions about the possible involvement of key …

San Francisco, United States | AFP |  Amazon on Thursday challenged the awarding of a $10 billion Pentagon cloud computing contract to Microsoft, alleging “unmistakable bias” in the process. The 10-year contract for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure program, better known as JEDI, ultimately will see all military branches sharing information …

Vienna, Austria | AFP |  Another moving chapter in the story of the Viennese Jewish Ephrussi family — made famous in the book The Hare With Amber Eyes — has been written after around 40 members of the family reunited in the Austrian capital for the first time in decades. The …

San Francisco, United States | AFP | Facebook on Wednesday said that its software is getting more skilled at spying banned content at the social network, then working with humans to quickly remove terrorist videos and more. “While we err on the side of free expression, we generally draw the line …

Beijing, China | AFP | China’s economy showed further signs of strain on Thursday with data showing a sharp slowdown in consumer spending and factory production, while investment growth hit a record low as the trade war with the US takes its toll. The readings are the latest to give a …