Baghdad, Iraq | AFP |  Iraqi President Fuad Masum called on Wednesday for parliament to revise a law passed over the weekend that included a provision banning alcohol. The ban on the sale, import and production of alcohol, which was slipped into a draft law on municipalities in parliament on …

London, United Kingdom | AFP |  Theresa May is in a class of her own when it comes to not answering questions, according to analysis of her major interviews since becoming Britain’s prime minister. Such is her niche skill that researchers had to come up with a brand new category …

Paris, France | AFP |  Six medallists from the 2008 Beijing Olympics were among nine competitors to fail drug tests as part of an International Olympic Committee campaign of retesting stored samples, it was announced Wednesday. The list of athletes to have their medals stripped includes three weightlifters — Ukraine’s …

Laguna Beach, United States | AFP | A Verizon executive overseeing the deal to buy Yahoo said Wednesday the deal was moving ahead pending the outcome of an investigation into an epic hack. Verizon expected that within 60 days it would have the “outcome” of how the massive breach at …

United Nations, United States | AFP | The United States on Wednesday abstained for the first time in 25 years from a vote at the United Nations calling for an end to the US embargo against Cuba. The UN General Assembly adopted the annual resolution by an overwhelming vote of …

Los Angeles, United States | AFP |  US rapper Coolio was given community service on Wednesday after admitting carrying a handgun in a backpack at Los Angeles International Airport. The weapon was discovered in the bag as a member of the 53-year-old’s entourage went through a security screening checkpoint on …

VIDEO: Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago has snubbed Uganda President Yoweri Museveni’s invitation, together with other councilors, to solve the administrative stalemate over the vendors on Kampala streets. The refusal of the Lord Mayor Lukwago to attend the state House meeting sets a stage for the renewed clashes between him …

Paris, France | AFP | A labelling error and reckless media hype in the 1980s led to unjustly branding a gay airline employee as “Patient Zero” in the US AIDS epidemic, scientific and historical sleuthing detailed Wednesday. The deadly virus, which has claimed more than 650,000 lives in the United …

Dakar, Senegal | AFP | The Gambia has become the latest African nation to announce its withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, accusing the war crimes tribunal of “persecuting” Africans. The shock move announced late Tuesday was condemned by rights groups as a “drastic blow” for victims of serious crimes …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP |  Sudanese police fired tear gas on Wednesday to break up a protest in Khartoum against what demonstrators said was a government plan to seize their land, an AFP correspondent reported. Hundreds of people were demonstrating in the East Jreif district of the capital when clashes …