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At least 27 people have died and more than a dozen were injured after a bus plunged into a ravine in Indonesia, officials said Tuesday. The bus careered into a 150-meter (500-foot) ravine in South Sumatra province just before midnight (1600 GMT) on Monday and ended up in a river, …

US Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders have overtaken former Vice President Joe Biden in head to head matchup with President Donald Trump, a new poll shows. The survey, conducted between December 18 and 19 by Ipsos/Reuters, found that 39 percent of US voters favored Sanders over Trump, compared …

In a move to stem public anger and drawn-out street protests, Iraq’s parliament has approved a new electoral law, which enables the electorate to choose individual candidates instead of picking from party lists. On Tuesday, the legislature lent its blessing to the law, which has constituted a key demand by …

The number of babies born in Japan fell an estimated 5.9% this year to fewer than 900,000 for the first time since the government started compiling data in 1899, the welfare ministry said on Tuesday. The dwindling number of births will put more strain welfare finances to support snowballing costs …

Somalis battling the worst invasion of locusts in 25 years have resorted to eating the insects to stop them from destroying crops. Local media reports have shown residents in central Somalia frying locusts and serving them with rice, with one man saying the desert insects are tastier than fish. Another …

Brazil’s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro was discharged from hospital on Tuesday, having spent the night under observation after falling at his official residence in the capital Brasilia, his office said in a statement. Bolsonaro, 64, was given a brain scan at the hospital that detected no abnormalities, the president’s office …

Turkey said on Tuesday it would keep pushing for accountability “regardless of how high it goes” over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, after what it called a “sham trial” of 11 people. Khashoggi disappeared after going to the consulate in Istanbul on …

US President Donald Trump’s looming impeachment trial in the Senate has reached an impasse as Republican and Democratic leaders in the upper chamber of Congress clash over impeachment rules. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives approved two articles of impeachment against the Republican president on Wednesday on charges of abuse of …

The Indian cabinet has approved a new population register despite weeks of protests over a citizenship law that critics say is anti-Muslim. Authorities say the National Population Register (NPR) will create a list of all the people living in the country and help in the formulation of policies. However, critics …

Russia has successfully tested Runet, a country-wide alternative to the global internet, its government has announced. Details of what the test involved were vague but, according to the Ministry of Communications, ordinary users did not notice any changes. The results will now be presented to President Putin. Experts remain concerned …

The British government is ready to intervene if soccer authorities fail to stamp out “vile” racist behavior at matches, a spokesman for the UK Prime Minister said Monday. Sports authorities needed to crack down harder on the issue, Downing Street said, a day after Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger indicated he …

This single piece of technology has obliterated the promise of the internet and corrupted human interaction. In the long lost year of 2011, I managed to graduate college without owning a smartphone. Even then, four years after the birth of the iPhone, I was not yet an unreasonable outlier. All …

For the first time in more than 200 years, worshippers will not be able to attend Christmas mass at Notre-Dame cathedral, still being restored after a devastating fire. “There won’t be a midnight mass at Notre-Dame. The last time this happened was during the French Revolution. Since 1803, there have …

US President Donald Trump has accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of “breaking all the rules” by holding on to the articles of impeachment instead of sending them to the Senate, saying that she has conducted “the most unfair trial in the history” of the United States Congress. “Pelosi gives us …

On Monday, Iraq announced that it was opening the Mandali border crossing in Diyala governorate, which connects Iraq with Iran, in the middle of the two countries. The border crossing had been closed for nearly five months, as the Iraqi Border Ports Authority explained. It was shut down last August, …

Boeing’s board of directors has named current Chairman David L. Calhoun as chief executive officer and president, effective as of 13 January 2020, the company’s statement says. Chief Executive Officer of Boeing Dennis Muilenburg has resigned, the company says, announcing new CEO David Calhoun. “I strongly believe in the future …

The amount of food needed to feed the world’s population by the end of the century could increase by almost 80%, a study has suggested. Researchers from Germany said a trend of increasing Body Mass Index (BMI) is resulting in individuals requiring more calories. The authors warn that failure to …

More than 60 vehicles have been involved in a pile-up in foggy conditions on a motorway in the US state of Virginia. There were no reports of fatalities in the crash on Interstate 64 near Williamsburg but more than 50 people were injured, two critically. The cause of the accident …

Saudi Arabia sentences five to death for Khashoggi murder but clears three top officials Saudi Arabia has sentenced five people to death for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi but cleared a former top adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a public prosecutor said Monday. There was no evidence …

A revamped common currency in West Africa known as the ECO will be launched in 2020, according to French President Emmanuel Macron. The ECO is supposed to replace the CFA franc which is currently being used in eight West African countries and six countries in central Africa. During a trip …