WORLD

Bangalore, India | AFP | A controversial Indian mining tycoon has taken over a royal palace and flown in Brazilian dancers at a reported cost of $75 million to celebrate his daughter’s wedding on Wednesday, as the country reels from a cash crisis. Up to 50,000 people are expected at …

Moscow, RUSSIAN FEDERATION | AFP |  Russia said Wednesday it is formally withdrawing its signature from the founding statute of the International Criminal Court, saying the tribunal has failed to live up to the hopes of the international community. Russia in 2000 signed the Rome Statute setting up the ICC, …

Athens, Greece | AFP | US President Barack Obama issued a warning against “crude” nationalism as he kicked off his last foreign tour Tuesday with allied nations on edge after Donald Trump’s shock election win. Speaking in Greece, Obama called the NATO alliance “absolutely vital” to US interests and stressed …

Moscow, Russia | AFP | Russian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev was sacked Tuesday and put under house arrest on suspicion of pocketing a two-million-dollar bribe in a deal involving state-controlled oil giant Rosneft. Ulyukayev is the highest ranking official detained over suspected corruption since President Vladimir Putin took power in …

New York, United States | AFP |  Donald Trump huddled with Vice president-elect Mike Pence on Tuesday to nail down their next round of cabinet appointments, amid reports of intense infighting over the key posts. The Republican billionaire drew a barrage of criticism over his pick of chief strategist: the …

Berlin, Germany | AFP |  Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel intends to stand for a fourth term in next September’s elections, a close political ally said Tuesday. “She will run for the post of chancellor,” Norbert Roettgen, a senior member of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, told US television channel …

Kathmandu, Nepal | AFP |  Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal called his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi Tuesday to find out how Nepalis could exchange Indian rupees they hold in the now banned denominations. The two countries share a long border and close cultural ties, and many Nepalis hold large …

Beijing, China | AFP |  Chinese state-run media lauded Donald Trump Tuesday after a phone call between him and President Xi Jinping, saying that the president-elect’s emergence could mark a “reshaping” of Sino-American relations. The pair spoke Monday, when Xi said that the two powers needed to co-operate and Trump’s …

Wajir, Kenya | AFP | Swaddled in colourful hijabs the women exchange puzzled looks and suppress embarrassed giggles. “You’re sure it’s halal?” asks one, peering at a collection of birth control pills, condoms and IUDs. Such everyday forms of contraception are little known and rarely seen in Kenya’s arid and …

Miami, United States | AFP |  West Nile virus may be three times more deadly than previously thought, because many deaths associated with the mosquito-borne virus occur years after the initial infection, researchers said Monday. The findings were based on a study of 4,144 people in Texas, and were presented …