Berlin, Germany | AFP | A Protestant pastor’s daughter who grew up behind the Iron Curtain, Angela Merkel rose to become the “chancellor of Europe” who has outlasted a generation of world leaders. Unlike her one-time partners on the global stage, George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and Silvio …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP |  Pope Francis prays every day for a sense of humour to help him as head of the Catholic Church, but beware of laughing at his jokes — he can’t abide flatterers. “A sense of humour is a gift I ask for everyday. Because …

  Berlin, Germany | AFP | German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday she would seek a fourth term in elections next year to defend democratic principles in the face of looming threats at home and abroad. Predicting her toughest campaign to date, Merkel said the forces of populism as well …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP |  A dozen biplanes taking part in a vintage air rally bound for Cape Town arrived in Sudan’s capital on Sunday, with one participant walking away from a bad landing. The aircraft dating from the 1920s and 1930s took off on November 12 from the Greek …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP |  Egypt will try 292 jihadist suspects over plots to assassinate President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the Saudi crown prince and attacks in the Sinai Peninsula, a prosecution official said Sunday. The suspects, including 151 currently in custody, were referred to a military court for alleged …

Pukhrāyān, India | AFP |  Emergency workers raced to find any more survivors in the mangled wreckage of an Indian train that derailed Sunday, killing at least 120 people, in the worst disaster to hit the country’s ageing rail network in recent years. Shocked passengers recalled being jolted out of …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Sunday brought to a close the Catholic Church’s “Year of Mercy,” shutting the Holy Door at Saint Peter’s after a year in which he raised Mother Teresa to sainthood and took in Syrian Muslim refugees. The Argentine pontiff, who says …

San Francisco, United States | AFP | Amazon is set to challenge Netflix worldwide with a massive expansion of its on-demand video streaming service featuring its remake of the BBC’s global hit “Top Gear.” Amazon Prime Video is currently available in Austria, Britain, Germany, Japan and the United States, with …

Colombo, SRI LANKA | AFP |  Sri Lanka’s economy has begun to stabilise after securing a $1.5 billion bailout earlier this year, but the island needs to build its dwindling foreign reserves, the IMF said Saturday. The Washington-based International Monetary Fund said it had just concluded its first review of …

Washington, United States | AFP |  US President Barack Obama on Friday declared portions of the Arctic off-limits for oil exploration for the next five years, dealing a blow to Republican efforts to expand fossil fuel extraction. The decision means new oil and gas exploration leasing in the Chukchi Sea …