WORLD

Dubai, United Arab Emirates | AFP | A United Arab Emirates court sentenced British student Matthew Hedges to life in jail on spying charges on Wednesday, prompting a “shocked” Britain to warn of repercussions for relations with its longstanding Gulf ally. Hedges, a 31-year-old PhD student, had protested his innocence …

Washington, United States | AFP | US President Donald Trump thanked Saudi Arabia Wednesday for lower oil prices — a day after pledging the US would remain a “steadfast partner” of the kingdom despite the murder of a dissident journalist. “Oil prices getting lower. Great! Like a big Tax Cut …

Beirut, Lebanon | AFP | Amnesty International on Wednesday launched a crowdsourcing data project using satellite imagery to assess damage from US-led coalition air strikes last year on the Syrian city of Raqa. The rights group said it expects up to 5,000 digital activists to sign up for the month-long …

Paris, France | AFP | Paris prosecutors have launched an inquiry into the origins of thousands of euros donated to President Emmanuel Macron’s election campaign last year, a legal source told AFP on Tuesday. The move follows an alert from France’s campaign finance oversight body this month, after it was …

United Nations, United States | AFP | UN environment chief Erik Solheim resigned on Tuesday after an audit questioning his huge travel expenses triggered an outcry, UN officials said. The former environment minister of Norway had been at the helm of the Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme (UNEP) since June 2016. …

Paris, France | AFP | The world’s fastest marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge and world decathlon record holder Kevin Mayer are among five nominees for the IAAF’s male athlete of the year, the federation announced on Tuesday. The Kenyan and Frenchman are joined on the shortlist by the quickest person over …

Washington, United States | AFP | Facebook said Tuesday users were having trouble accessing the social network and its other applications such as Instagram, but did not explain the cause of the outages. It was the second instance in the past two weeks in which technical issues appeared to affect …

United Nations, United States | AFP | A push at the United Nations to secure financing for peace operations led by the African Union won strong backing from China on Tuesday but the United States poured cold water on the proposal. Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea and Ivory Coast – the three …

Washington, United States | AFP |President Donald Trump acknowledged Tuesday that Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman could have known of the murder of a dissident journalist — but said there would be no fallout anyway for Saudi-US relations. “It could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of …

Maggots, grasshoppers, licorice and cobra hearts at Sweden’s ‘Disgusting Food Museum’ Malmö, Sweden | AFP | Cheese teeming with squirming maggots, grasshopers and sheep’s eye juice and mouse wine: the “Disgusting Food Museum” explores why a dish seems delicious to some, but for others is stomach-churning. On show for three …