WORLD

Louisville, United States | AFP | Thousands of people from the worlds of sports, entertainment, politics and Muhammad Ali’s native Louisville on Friday said farewell to the boxing legend hailed by Bill Clinton as a “universal soldier for our common humanity.” A poignant memorial service, which began with a Koranic …

Japan’s first “naked restaurant” opens in Tokyo next month with draconian rules of entry — podgy prospective diners will be weighed and ejected if found to be too fat. Following the lead of establishments in London and Melbourne, “The Amrita” — Sanskrit for ‘immortality’ — also has strict age restrictions, …

Washington, United States | AFP | Barack Obama on Thursday endorsed Hillary Clinton to succeed him as president of the United States, declaring in a video message “I’m with her.” After months of assiduously avoiding tipping the scales of the Democratic presidential primaries and a Thursday meeting with Clinton’s closest …

Singapore, Singapore | AFP | Singapore’s prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has defended the country’s controversial decision to cut off civil servants’ work computers from the Internet, calling the move “absolutely necessary” to keep information systems secure. “Are we happy? I don’t think so, because it will slow us down …

  Hillary Clinton declared a historic victory for women Tuesday as she grasped the Democratic Party nomination and the chance to become America’s first female president. “Thanks to you, we’ve reached a milestone,” a beaming Clinton told ecstatic supporters in New York: “the first time in our nation’s history that …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford has made the decision to freeze his sperm because of fears about the Zika virus at this year’s Games in Rio de Janeiro. Rutherford’s girlfriend, Susie Verrill, said the couple were increasingly worried about mosquito-born Zika, which can …

Louisville, United States | AFP | Muhammad Ali’s hometown of Louisville is ready to “welcome the world” for this week’s ceremonies honoring the late boxing legend, the city’s mayor said Tuesday, with a huge public procession set for “The Greatest.” Louisville, the largest city in the southern state of Kentucky …

Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | Turkish police detained four people in a hunt for the perpetrators of a car bombing in central Istanbul Tuesday that killed seven police and four civilians, state media said. The third deadly attack in Turkey’s biggest city in six months targeted a bus transporting anti-riot …

Washington, United States | AFP | On the subject of women in politics, Hillary Clinton is fond of quoting the words of another illustrious first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, who once said: “You need to grow a skin as thick as a rhinoceros.” When out on the stump, in cafes, churches …

  A cloth with a drop of Pope John Paul II’s blood was stolen from Cologne Cathedral in western Germany at the weekend, police said. “Its material value is small but the spiritual loss is much greater,” the cathedral’s provost, Gerd Bachner, was quoted in the police statement from Sunday …