WORLD

Shenyang, China | AFP |  China’s Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo died Thursday after a battle with cancer, remaining in custody until the end as officials ignored international pleas to let him spend his final days free and abroad. The prominent democracy advocate died aged 61, more than a month after …

Melbourne, Australia | AFP | At a secret location in Australia’s southeast, Peter Crook delicately tends to a two-month-old cannabis cutting. Barely knee high, it is one of about 50 government-sanctioned “mother plants” to be cloned for future generations of crops for the country’s fledgling medicinal marijuana industry. “I think we’ll …

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | AFP |An agreement between Qatar and the United States on combating terror funding is “insufficient”, the four Arab states that imposed sanctions on the emirate said in a joint statement Tuesday. The memorandum of understanding announced in Doha during a visit by US Secretary of State …

One step closer to a gonorrhoea vaccine? Paris, France | AFP |  A discontinued vaccine against a bacteria that causes brain inflammation also shielded people against gonorrhoea, the first drug ever to offer such protection against the sexually transmitted disease, researchers said Tuesday. Using a condom or abstaining from sex …

Tokyo, Japan | AFP |Mark Karpeles, the former CEO of collapsed Bitcoin exchange MtGox, denied wrongdoing Tuesday as his trial got under way in Tokyo on charges linked to the disappearance of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the virtual currency. The French national — once the high-flying head …

Washington, United States | AFP |President Donald Trump heaped pressure on US lawmakers Monday to pass a health care reform bill before Congress goes on its August recess, with Republicans teetering on the edge of a potentially major failure. As Senators returned for work in Washington after a week off, …

Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | Turkey marks one year on July 15 since a coup attempt aiming to topple President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that failed within hours but etched far-reaching consequences into its society and politics. The country is in the throes of the biggest purge in its history against …

Embed from Getty Images   Sydney, Australia | AFP |  Vatican finance chief Cardinal George Pell arrived back in Australia on Monday ahead of a court appearance later this month over historical sex abuse charges. The 76-year-old, a top advisor to Pope Francis, touched down in Sydney and was met …

Hamburg, Germany | AFP | World leaders made concessions on trade and climate language to Donald Trump Saturday at the end of the most fractious and riot-hit G20 summit ever, in exchange for preserving a fragile unity of the club of major industrialised and emerging economies. In a departure from final …

Garlenda, Italy | AFP |  More than 1,200 Fiat 500s from across Europe revved into the Italian foothills on Saturday to mark the 60th birthday of the iconic little car. The Italian classic took its first spin on July 4, 1957. Eighteen years later, more than 4.2 million had rolled …