WORLD

Tehran, Iran | AFP | Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani phoned his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday to congratulate him on the impending defeat of rebel forces in the battleground city of Aleppo, his website said. “The victory in Aleppo… constitutes a great victory for the Syrian people against terrorists …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Global progress on controlling malaria risks stalling due to an “urgent need” for more funding, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned in its annual report on Tuesday. Overall, the number of new cases fell by 21 percent between 2010 and 2015, and mortality rates …

New York, United States | AFP |  Bill Gates on Tuesday called on Donald Trump to inspire Americans to embrace innovation as John F. Kennedy once did by urging them to fly to the moon. “In the same way President Kennedy talked about the space mission and got the country …

New York, United States | AFP | Rap superstar Kanye West on Tuesday delivered a surprise even in this most unusual of political years — he met President-elect Donald Trump, marking the artist’s first appearance since a reported mental breakdown. West, a rare US celebrity to voice support for Donald …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said Monday his country was seriously thinking of quitting the International Criminal Court, after three other African nations moved to pull out of the tribunal. Kenya has been one of the most vocal critics of the court based in The Hague, …

Washington, United States | AFP | The White House on Monday threw its support behind a Congressional investigation into Russian meddling in the US election, saying lawmakers had a “special responsibility” to investigate such an explosive issue. “We have long supported the principle of congressional review of this matter,” said …

Washington, United States | AFP | President-elect Donald Trump questioned in an interview broadcast Sunday whether the United States should continue its “one China policy” unless Beijing makes concessions on trade and other issues. “I don’t want China dictating to me,” Trump said as he made a vehement defense of …

The Hague, Netherlands | AFP |  The European Union on Sunday signed an agreement with the Malian government aimed at enabling the return of migrants who have reached Europe’s shores, and whose asylum requests have been refused. “It is the first time the EU establishes such a precise mechanism with …

Miami, United States | AFP | John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962, but for a solid hour of that journey, NASA feared he was about to die in a blazing fireball. In fact, all of the original crew of astronauts, known as the Mercury …

Beijing, China | AFP |  China’s president Xi Jinping has called for the Communist Party to exert greater ideological control over universities, state media reported Friday, amid a broad crackdown on academic freedom and dissent in the world’s second-largest economy. Institutes of higher education must “serve the rule of the …