Berlin, Germany | AFP | Robert Lewandowski converted a second-half penalty, awarded by a video assistant referee intervention, as champions Bayern Munich opened the 2017/18 Bundesliga season with a 3-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen on Friday. The video assistant referee is being trialled in the Bundesliga this season and came into …

Washington, United States | AFP | When Steve Bannon gave a free-wheeling interview to a small left-wing magazine this week, he spoke as if he — the White House’s ‘great manipulator’ — was back on top. By Friday, President Donald Trump had sacked him. Some reports suggest that Trump’s strategy chief …

Washington, United States | AFP | Traffic through the White House exit door has been astonishingly high since Donald Trump became president on January 20. On Friday chief strategist Steve Bannon became the latest casualty of seven months of bedlam in the executive offices of the world’s most powerful country. Here …

Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Friday urged ethnic Turks in Germany to reject its main parties in upcoming elections, prompting a sharp warning from Berlin to stop the “unprecedented” meddling. Erdogan called on ethnic Turks to ignore Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and their …

Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump has moved to dismiss his far-right chief strategist Steve Bannon, as the White House reels from the fallout over Trump’s response to a violent white supremacist rally, The New York Times reported Friday. According to the Times, the US leader has informed top …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |Four people were hacked to death and their houses torched in an attack claimed by Shabaab militants in Kenya’s coastal Lamu county, police said Friday. “The attackers dragged people from their houses and killed them. We have launched investigations to establish the motive of the attack,” …

Freetown, Sierra Leone | AFP | Aid workers in Sierra Leone warned of a humanitarian crisis on Friday as the official death toll passed 400, with more than a hundred children among the victims — and a similar number orphaned. Heavy rains that hit the capital Freetown on Monday triggered the …

Paris, France | AFP | People who choose alternative cures for common cancers are up to five times more likely to die compared to those opting for standard treatments, the lead scientist of a new study told AFP Friday. The risk of death five years after diagnosis “was highest for breast …

Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump ordered the US military on Friday to elevate its cyber warfare operations to a separate command, signaling a new strategic emphasis on electronic and online offensive and defensive operations. The move means the US Cyber Command, or Cybercom, will eventually become its …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African officials were on Friday considering whether to grant diplomatic immunity to Zimbabwe’s first lady Grace Mugabe over her alleged assault on 20-year-old model in a Johannesburg hotel. Mugabe, who has not been seen since the Sunday’s incident, is due to attend a Southern …