WORLD

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Southern African leaders paid glowing tributes to the late revolutionary icon Fidel Castro, but if one country will forever be heavily indebted to his leadership of Cuba, it is Angola. Castro sent tens of thousands of troops when oil-giant Angola became embroiled in a …

Havana, Cuba | AFP |  From Dwight Eisenhower, who broke US diplomatic relations with Cuba, to Barack Obama, who decided to normalize them, 11 US presidents faced off with Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, who died late Friday. Dwight Eisenhower (Republican, 1953-1961): Provided arms to dictator Fulgencio Batista, who was …

Havana, Cuba | AFP |  Guerrilla revolutionary and communist idol, Fidel Castro was a holdout against history who turned tiny Cuba into a thorn in the paw of the mighty capitalist United States. The former Cuban president, who died aged 90 on Friday, said he would never retire from politics. …

Havana, Cuba | AFP | Cuban revolutionary icon Fidel Castro died late Friday in Havana, his brother, President Raul Castro, announced on national television. “The commander in chief of the Cuban revolution died at 22:29 hours this evening,” the president announced on national television. Fidel Castro will be cremated on …

Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | Sweden on Friday said 200,000 chickens were being slaughtered at a farm where bird flu has been detected, following a resurgence in the virus across Europe. Traces of the H5N8 virus were found at the Aniagra farm in Morarp, southwest Sweden, on Thursday. The discovery …

Washington, United States | AFP | Donald Trump’s White House triumph this month caught the business world by surprise but also breathed life into a little-understood US industry: private prisons and migrant detention centers. Following the Republican’s election, shares in two of the sector’s major players, CoreCivic (formerly known as …

Moscow, Russia | AFP |  Russia has detained a general who heads a branch of Russia’s federal guard service after he allegedly took a large bribe, Interfax news agency reported Friday. The Federal Guard Service (FSO) is Moscow’s version of the US Secret Service and is responsible for ensuring the …

Moscow, Russia | AFP |  President Vladimir Putin on Friday personally handed a new Russian passport to US action star Steven Seagal and said he hoped the gesture showed a “normalisation” of strained relations with Washington. Sitting at a round table in the Kremlin at a televised meeting, Putin showed …

Istanbul, Turkey | AFP |  President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened Friday to open Turkey’s borders to allow migrants to reach the EU, in a move that would tear up a landmark deal that has reduced the flow. Erdogan’s comments, some of his toughest in recent times against the European Union, …

Bangkok, Thailand | AFP |  He’s a mercurial army general known for penning saccharine ballads and angry tirades against his critics. Now Thailand’s junta chief has launched a new eye-catching project: trimming the waistlines of the kingdom’s civil servants. Former army chief turned Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha ditched his fatigues …