WORLD

Washington, United States | AFP |  Facebook announced Thursday it was offering a tool allowing users to report fake news, a move aimed at stemming a wave of misinformation which some claim influenced the 2016 US election. “We believe in giving people a voice and that we cannot become arbiters …

UN divided over South Sudan mission renewal United Nations, United States | AFP |  The United States on Thursday was locked in difficult negotiations on South Sudan, with African countries, Russia and China balking at a draft resolution on the UN peacekeeping mission’s mandate in the war-torn country, diplomats said. …

Trump rejects Russia hacking plot as Putin direct role reported Washington, United States | AFP | US President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday again rejected the CIA’s conclusion that Russia manipulated the US election, as the hacking scandal expanded into a hefty foreign policy challenge just five weeks before he takes …

Washington, United States | AFP | New satellite imagery shows China has apparently installed “significant” defensive weapons on a series of artificial islands it built in the South China Sea, a US-based think tank said Wednesday. Beijing has created seven islets in the Spratly Islands in recent years, built up …

New York, United States | AFP |  Vladimir Putin was the world’s most powerful person for a fourth straight year in 2016, with US president-elect Donald Trump in second place, Forbes magazine said Wednesday in its annual rankings. “Russia’s president has exerted his country’s influence in nearly every corner of …

Tehran, Iran | AFP | Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani phoned his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday to congratulate him on the impending defeat of rebel forces in the battleground city of Aleppo, his website said. “The victory in Aleppo… constitutes a great victory for the Syrian people against terrorists …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Global progress on controlling malaria risks stalling due to an “urgent need” for more funding, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned in its annual report on Tuesday. Overall, the number of new cases fell by 21 percent between 2010 and 2015, and mortality rates …

New York, United States | AFP |  Bill Gates on Tuesday called on Donald Trump to inspire Americans to embrace innovation as John F. Kennedy once did by urging them to fly to the moon. “In the same way President Kennedy talked about the space mission and got the country …

New York, United States | AFP | Rap superstar Kanye West on Tuesday delivered a surprise even in this most unusual of political years — he met President-elect Donald Trump, marking the artist’s first appearance since a reported mental breakdown. West, a rare US celebrity to voice support for Donald …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said Monday his country was seriously thinking of quitting the International Criminal Court, after three other African nations moved to pull out of the tribunal. Kenya has been one of the most vocal critics of the court based in The Hague, …