Kabul, Afghanistan | AFP | An ambulance packed with explosives blew up in a crowded area of Kabul on Saturday, killing at least 40 people and wounding 140 others, officials said, in an attack claimed by the Taliban. The explosion — one of the biggest since a truck bomb ripped …

Libreville, Gabon | AFP | An internal inquiry for the United Nations recommends tactical changes to the UN mission in the Central African Republic to protect civilians, according to findings made available Friday to AFP. “(The mission) MINUSCA should overhaul its strategy to protect civilians to ensure that its operational …

Berlin, Germany | AFP | The German government said Friday it had asked a US court to throw out a lawsuit brought by indigenous groups from Namibia seeking reparations for the genocide of their peoples under German colonial rule. It was the first time Berlin has formally responded to the …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Burundi’s government claimed a diplomatic victory Friday with the announcement that it would host a regional trade summit later this year. The tiny central African nation has been in the cold since President Pierre Nkurunziza’s run for a controversial third term in 2015 plunged the …

Paris, France | AFP | The great global reckoning with sexual harassment is “long overdue”, says acclaimed Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, but the feminist figurehead in Africa hopes it is not “a passing fad”. As the global #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct continues in the wake of the disgraced …

Chicago, United States | AFP | The director of the athletics program at Michigan State University, where convicted child molester Larry Nassar practiced medicine, resigned Friday as pressure intensifies for answers over how abuse persisted for decades. The university’s president stepped down Wednesday evening, hours after Nassar was sentenced to …

Davos, Switzerland | AFP | President Donald Trump on Friday reached out to the global business and political elite in Davos with a sales pitch for the US economy, but provoked boos for attacking the media after waking up to another round of adverse headlines. In a 15-minute speech at …

United Nations, United States | AFP | The United Nations is in talks with countries that contribute peacekeepers to its mission in the Central African Republic after an investigation found their response to attacks last year fell short, a UN spokesman said Friday. A special investigation led by a retired …

Beirut, Lebanon | AFP | Lebanese authorities on Friday said Israel was involved in a car bomb blast that targeted an official of the Palestinian movement Hamas in southern Lebanon earlier this month. Mohammad Hamdan was wounded when a bomb placed in his car detonated in the southern port city …

Miami, United States | AFP | Flu is sweeping the United States, killing at least 37 children as influenza sends the most people nationwide in search of medical care since the 2009 “swine flu” pandemic, US officials said Friday. This year, the most common strain is H3N2, and nearly every …