Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | AFP | A judge on Tuesday suspended the WhatsApp smartphone messaging service across Brazil, where it is hugely popular, for failing to surrender user data in a police investigation. “WhatsApp is blocked across the whole national territory,” a spokesman for the court in Rio de …

Lausanne, Switzerland | AFP | The International Olympic Committee barred Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko from the Rio Games and withdrew backing for international events in Russia over a state-run doping programme, but delayed ruling on a complete ban on the country until after a key court case on Thursday. …

Some 2.5 million people are still becoming infected with HIV every year even as drugs have slashed the death rate and patients live longer than ever, a global AIDS study said Tuesday. New infections have plateaued after a steep dip from the peak rate of 3.3 million in 1997, said …

A Turkish court has remanded in custody 26 senior generals on charges of playing a role in the  failed coup aimed at toppling President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, state media said on Tuesday. The 26 placed under arrest by the Ankara court include former Turkish air force chief General Akin Ozturk, …

Russia operated a state-dictated doping system during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and other events, an independent investigator said Monday in a report likely to lead to demands for Russia to be completely banned from the Rio Games. Canadian law professor Richard McLaren said Russia’s FSB secret service had backed …

Ankara, Turkey | AFP | President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Saturday battled to regain control over Turkey after a coup bid by discontented soldiers, as signs grew that the most serious challenge to his 13 years of dominant rule was starting to falter. After hours of chaos unseen in decades, Erdogan …

  Right now in the skies of #Ankara, fighter jets flying low. Please let this be some sort of training, I’m scared. pic.twitter.com/GBOIZL1sNZ — Marina Lourenço (@lourenco_marina) July 15, 2016   #BREAKING Turkey’s top general ‘held hostage’ at military HQ: state agency — AFP news agency (@AFP) July 15, 2016 …

Former Burundian government minister and spokeswoman Hafsa Mossi was shot dead in the capital Bujumbura on Wednesday, police said. “Hon. Mossi assassinated 10.30 in Gihosha”, in the east of Bujumbura by, “two criminals in a vehicle,” police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye said on Twitter. Mossi was Burundi’s information minister and government …

The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | The International Criminal Court on Tuesday said it is referring Uganda and Djibouti to the UN Security Council after the two east African countries’ failed to arrest wanted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The Hague-based ICC’s judges said in a statement “the Republics of Uganda …

In Thatcher’s footsteps: Theresa May, Britain’s Brexit PM London, United Kingdom | AFP | Britain’s prime minister in waiting Theresa May is a pragmatist who has emerged from the chaos of the Brexit referendum unscarred, portraying herself as the one who will lead the country out of the EU. The …