WORLD

Beijing, China | AFP | China said Monday it would welcome UN officials to the restive western region of Xinjiang with the condition that they stay out of the country’s internal affairs. This comes after UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said in December her office was seeking access to …

Washington, United States | AFP | China’s economy is more vulnerable to the fallout in the current trade stand-off with Washington and already has been hurt by the dispute, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Monday. Ross’s remarks emphasized President Donald Trump’s confidence that the robust US economy means Washington …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Nationalist leaders are weakening the world’s system of multilateral diplomacy, Pope Francis warned on Monday in his annual address to ambassadors to the Holy See. The pope decried “the resurgence of nationalistic tendencies at odds with the vocation of international organisations to be …

Kiev, Ukraine | AFP | Ukraine’s newly created independent Orthodox Church held its first service in Kiev on Monday after a historic break with the Russian Orthodox Church that has enraged Moscow. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko attended the service in Kiev’s most ancient church, the 11th-century Saint Sophia’s Cathedral, as …

Washington, United States | AFP | World Bank President Jim Yong Kim announced Monday he would step down next month, more than three years before his current term was due to expire. The decision ends Kim’s six-year tenure and may give US President Donald Trump decisive influence over the future …

Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Japan on Monday started levying a 1,000 yen ($9.22) departure tax on each person leaving the country, a measure aimed at raising funds to further boost tourism. The International Tourist Tax will cover everyone regardless of nationality — from business people to holidaymakers older than …

Tokyo, Japan | AFP | The case of auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn has gripped Japan and the business world since his stunning arrest in November, and now he is finally getting his day in court. Ghosn will be able to make his first public statement at a brief hearing on …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis vowed justice for victims of clerical sex abuse Monday, describing paedophilia as one of the “vilest” crimes ahead of a historic global meet on the crisis roiling the church. “I cannot refrain from speaking of one of the plagues of our …

Paris, France | AFP | French police were Monday hunting for a ex-professional boxer who was filmed at the weekend punching an officer on a bridge in central Paris during a demonstration by “yellow vest” protesters. The shocking images show the heavily built man land several punches on a policeman …

Bethlehem, Palestinian Territories | AFP | Hundreds of Orthodox Christians began marking Christmas in Bethlehem Sunday, as protesters demonstrated against the sale of church land to Israelis. Greek Orthodox patriarch Theophilos III arrived at the Church of the Nativity, built on the traditionally recognised site of Jesus’s birth, as a …