WORLD

Seoul, South Korea | AFP | The US and South Korea on Monday kicked off their largest ever joint air exercise, an operation North Korea has labelled an “all-out provocation”, days after Pyongyang fired its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile. The five-day Vigilant Ace drill — involving 230 aircraft, including F-22 …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Humans are poisoning their environment and themselves at an alarming rate, with pollution of the oceans, soil and air now the biggest killer, a UN conference heard Monday. Urging rapid and united action from governments, businesses and individual consumers, envoys underlined that nine million people are …

United Nations, United States | AFP | A top UN official will travel to North Korea this week for talks with officials there, a UN spokesman said Monday, amid heightened tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The unusual visit by Jeffrey Feltman, which begins Tuesday and runs to Friday, …

Brussels, Belgium | AFP | Britain and the EU failed to strike a Brexit divorce deal after a dispute over the Irish border scuppered talks in Brussels on Monday, but both said they were confident of reaching an agreement later this week. British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President …

Sanaa, Yemen | AFP | Yemen’s ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed by Huthi rebels on Monday as he fled heavy fighting in Sanaa after the collapse of his alliance with the Iran-backed insurgents. Saleh, who ruled with an iron fist for three decades, had joined forces with the Shiite Huthi …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Social media titan Facebook will open a new office in London on Monday that is set to be its biggest engineering hub outside America, the company has announced. The investment in the office, near Oxford Street in the heart of the city’s West End district, …

Washington, United States | AFP | Tensions were on the rise Sunday ahead of the largest ever US-South Korea air exercise, with Pyongyang calling it an “all-out provocation” that could lead to nuclear conflict as a US lawmaker warned of a growing likelihood of “preemptive war” on the divided peninsula. The …

Washington, United States | AFP | A top Republican lawmaker warned Sunday that the United States moves closer to preemptive war with North Korea every time Pyongyang carries out a missile or nuclear test. North Korea’s test launch this week of an intercontinental ballistic missile has sent tensions soaring once again …

Yangon, Myanmar | AFP | Pope Francis’s embrace of the Rohingya during a trip to Bangladesh has sparked some angry comment on social media in Myanmar, where just days earlier he chose not to publicly air their plight. On Friday the head of the Catholic church met a group of …

Ankara, Turkey | AFP | A minibus smuggling people from Syria into Turkey hit a truck on the Turkish side of the border on Sunday, killing 10 people on board and severely injuring seven others, according to the Dogan news agency. The head-on collision happened in Hatay province in the …