WORLD

Washington, United States | AFP | The United States and China have stepped up an increasingly harsh war of words over pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, as Beijing seeks to push its accusations that the mass demonstrations are being fueled by foreign powers. In the latest exchange, Washington on Friday called …

Paris, France | AFP | Not everyone needs to become a vegetarian, much less vegan, to keep the planet from overheating, but it would surely make things easier if they did. That’s the ambiguous and — for many on either side of this meaty issue — unsatisfying conclusion of the most …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Britain’s economy unexpectedly shrank in the second quarter of the year on Brexit turmoil, official data showed Friday, placing the country on the verge of recession. Gross domestic product (GDP) fell 0.2 percent in the April-June period, the first time the economy has contracted in …

Dongguan, China | AFP | Chinese telecom giant Huawei unveiled its own operating system on Friday, as it faces the threat of losing access to Android systems amid escalating US-China trade tensions. The highly-anticipated software is considered crucial for the tech group’s survival as it confronts a looming White House ban …

Des Moines, United States | AFP | Deep-fried corn dogs, a blistering summer sun, and discerning American voters greet the presidential candidates at Iowa’s state fair, a must stop on the early road to the White House. Two dozen candidates — 23 Democrats and a longshot Republican primary challenger to President …

The hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam Mecca, Saudi Arabia | AFP |  The annual hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia’s city of Mecca is one of five pillars of Islam that all Muslims who are able to are expected to complete at least once. More than two million …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled plans Thursday for a new fast-track visa route for “the brightest and best”, in a bid to attract the world’s top scientists to Britain after Brexit. The “shake-up” of immigration rules is aimed at encouraging elite researchers and specialists in science, engineering and technology …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Humanity faces increasingly painful trade-offs between food security and rising temperatures within decades unless it curbs emissions and stops unsustainable farming and deforestation, a landmark climate assessment said Thursday. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that efforts to limit global warming while feeding …

Moscow, Russia | AFP | Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. The departing Yeltsin was casting around for a successor and few could have …

Dhaka, Bangladesh | AFP |  Five-year-old Mohammad Ahnaf lies in a makeshift bed in the balcony of a major hospital in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, fighting for his life as dengue fever ravages his little body. But his mother Shimul Akhter knows he is one of the lucky ones as Bangladesh grapples …