Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Congolese President Joseph Kabila on Tuesday defied calls to step down when his term ends next month and vowed during remarks to lawmakers to defend his government against violent overthrow. His defiant speech to parliament came as criticism grows following a controversial deal between …

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 …

New York, United States | AFP | Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has taken stakes in three large US airlines, in a $1.3 billion bet that marks a sharp U-turn of his antagonistic views on the sector. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. invested $797 million in American Airlines, $249 million in Delta …

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 …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP |  An Egyptian appeals court has overturned a death sentence handed down against ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in one of four trials since his 2013 overthrow, a judicial official said. The Court of Cassation ordered that Morsi be retried on the charges of taking part …

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 …

Washington, United States | AFP | Facebook had a tool to weed out fake news circulating on the social network this year but declined to deploy it for fear of offending conservatives, a report said Monday. The report by the online news site Gizmodo comes with Facebook under fire for …

The Hague, Netherlands | AFP |  US military forces and the CIA may have committed war crimes in Afghanistan through the “cruel and violent” interrogation of detainees mostly between 2003-2004, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Monday. There was a “reasonable basis to believe that, in the …

Rome, Italy | AFP | A veteran commander of the Islamic State group who was convicted in Italy of terrorist recruitment has been arrested in Sudan, an Italian lawmaker said Monday. Giacomo Stucchi, a senator who chairs the parliamentary committee that oversees Italy’s secret services, said Italian intelligence had played …