WORLD

Paris, France | AFP | Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy crashed out of the presidential election on Sunday, suffering a humiliating defeat in the first round of the rightwing primary. Sarkozy was beaten into third place after a stunning upset by Francois Fillon, who served as his prime minister, with …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP |  Pope Francis prays every day for a sense of humour to help him as head of the Catholic Church, but beware of laughing at his jokes — he can’t abide flatterers. “A sense of humour is a gift I ask for everyday. Because …

  Berlin, Germany | AFP | German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday she would seek a fourth term in elections next year to defend democratic principles in the face of looming threats at home and abroad. Predicting her toughest campaign to date, Merkel said the forces of populism as well …

Pukhrāyān, India | AFP |  Emergency workers raced to find any more survivors in the mangled wreckage of an Indian train that derailed Sunday, killing at least 120 people, in the worst disaster to hit the country’s ageing rail network in recent years. Shocked passengers recalled being jolted out of …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Sunday brought to a close the Catholic Church’s “Year of Mercy,” shutting the Holy Door at Saint Peter’s after a year in which he raised Mother Teresa to sainthood and took in Syrian Muslim refugees. The Argentine pontiff, who says …

Colombo, SRI LANKA | AFP |  Sri Lanka’s economy has begun to stabilise after securing a $1.5 billion bailout earlier this year, but the island needs to build its dwindling foreign reserves, the IMF said Saturday. The Washington-based International Monetary Fund said it had just concluded its first review of …

Washington, United States | AFP |  US President Barack Obama on Friday declared portions of the Arctic off-limits for oil exploration for the next five years, dealing a blow to Republican efforts to expand fossil fuel extraction. The decision means new oil and gas exploration leasing in the Chukchi Sea …

Washington, United States | AFP | US President-elect Donald Trump and France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen are part of “identical phenomena” that have swept the two countries, the mayor of Paris said Friday. Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who was in Washington accepting an environmental award from Foreign Policy magazine, added …

Washington, United States | AFP |  President-elect Donald Trump announced three important cabinet appointments Friday, for the posts of CIA director, attorney general and national security advisor. The following are thumbnail sketches of the three men: CIA director  Mike Pompeo, the Republican legislator nominated to lead the CIA, is a …

Ankara, Turkey | AFP | President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to call a referendum on the future of Turkey’s EU membership bid, while Brussels accuses Ankara of “backsliding” on key commitments. After an already exhausting process of over half a century, could this finally be the end for the …