WORLD

Moscow, Russia | AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday acknowledged the accuracy of the Panama Papers revelations, but claimed funds had been spent on musical instruments as he blamed the leak on the United States. The Papers revealed that Putin’s associates, notably cellist Sergei Roldugin, “secretly shuffled as much …

Remarks by Nelly Mukazayire, Deputy Director of the Cabinet in the Office of the President, at the 22nd Commemoration of the Genocide Against the Tutsi at the UN 12 April 2016 Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General, Excellency Mr. Mogens Lykketoft, President of the United Nations General Assembly, Excellency …

Douala, Cameroon | AFP | The director of a public hospital in Cameroon’s economic capital Douala was sacked Tuesday after the death of a woman pregnant with twins sparked protests and heated political debate. Under a ministerial decree, Jean II Dissongo was removed from his post at the Laquintinie Hospital …

Brasília, Brazil | AFP Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff risks being driven from office if the lower house votes in favor of an impeachment trial following Monday’s vote in a special committee. These are the main stages in the crisis, which comes on top of a deep recession in Latin America’s …

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | AFP | When she was being tortured under Brazil’s military dictatorship, Dilma Rousseff could never have imagined becoming the country’s first female president. But four decades on from those dark days in 1970, when Rousseff belonged to a violent Marxist underground group, she did indeed …

Brussels, Belgium | AFP   Paris attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini confessed Saturday to being “the man in the hat” caught on video with suicide bombers at Brussels airport last month, images that had sparked a massive manhunt. Abrini made the admission on the day he was charged with terrorist murders …

Caracas, Venezuela | AFP Venezuelan workers will get Fridays off for the next two months as part of an emergency plan to save electricity, the president said. Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves but its economy is a mess, with rampant inflation, shortages of goods as basic as …

Vatican City (AFP) – Pope Francis will on Friday issue new guidelines on the Church’s approach to love, sex and marriage in what is being billed as one of the defining moments of his tenure. Is he gay-friendly and relaxed about divorce and cohabitation? Or is the pontiff a conservative …

Paris, France | AFP Almost half of all natural World Heritage Sites, including the Great Barrier Reef and Machu Picchu, are threatened by industrial activities such as mining, oil exploration and illegal logging, conservation group WWF warned Wednesday. The 114 threatened sites, virtually half the total listed by UNESCO, provide …

Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP Four decades after his brother was killed during a rescue operation in Uganda, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is embarking on an African mission of his own — but with very different aims. Galvanised by a growing demand for Israeli security assistance and his government’s search …