WORLD

Paris, France | AFP | France’s highest administrative court has upheld a decision to deny a French passport to an Algerian Muslim who refused to shake hands with officials during her citizenship ceremony, according to a ruling seen by AFP Thursday. The woman argued that her “religious beliefs” prevented her from …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday openly voiced her wish for her son Prince Charles to succeed her as head of the Commonwealth as she opened the group’s summit for potentially the final time. Queen Elizabeth, who turns 92 on Saturday, welcomed leaders from the 53 …

Beirut, Lebanon | AFP | experts have said they were negotiating with Syrian and Russian authorities for international chemical inspectors to deploy to the site of an alleged toxic gas attack near Damascus, after a reconnaissance mission came under fire. The team from the world’s chemical arms watchdog has not yet …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Queen Elizabeth II, the Head of the Commonwealth, opened the Commonwealth summit for what may be the last time on Thursday voicing hope that her son would be allowed to carry on her role. Queen Elizabeth, who turns 92 on Saturday, welcomed leaders from …

What is a reasonable tip at a restaurant? Chicago, United States | AFP | For most Americans, the answer is likely — at most — 20 percent. But how about 260 percent? For one patron at a Chicago restaurant, a normal tip was not enough to show his appreciation after …

Washington, US | THE INDEPENDENT | The International Monetary Fund is seeking a leading role in rallying the world’s central banks to get ahead of digital money and crypto currencies in the global financial system. The IMF Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, wants authorities to “distinguish between real threats and needless …

Tokyo, Japan | AFP | A Japanese firm is poised to carry out what it hailed as the world’s first experiment to test for cancer using urine samples, which would greatly facilitate screening for the deadly disease. Engineering and IT conglomerate Hitachi developed the basic technology to detect breast or …

Zurich, Switzerland | AFP | Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis on Tuesday announced $100 million of funding over the next five years for research into new treatments for malaria, a mosquito-borne disease with a devastating impact that killed 445,000 people in 2016. There were some 216 million cases of malaria worldwide in …

Washington, United States | AFP | The World Bank fund dedicated to helping the world’s poorest countries on Tuesday announced it has raised $1.5 billion in its first-ever global bond issue, which enjoyed huge demand from investors. The International Development Association (IDA) issued a five-year AAA-rated bond which had nearly …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Russian government-sponsored hackers are compromising the key hardware of government and business computer networks like routers and firewalls, giving them virtual control of data flows, Britain and the United States warned Monday. The operation was “to support espionage, extract intellectual property, maintain persistent access to …