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Mutanabbi Street, in the heart of downtown Baghdad, has been home to booksellers for centuries. Through years of war, censorship, and dictatorship it has served as a cultural hub for the city. “Cario writes, Beirut prints and Baghdad reads,” goes the proverb, and this is where they come to do …

Rwanda has closed part of its border with DR Congo, where an Ebola outbreak has killed more than 1,800 people in the past year. At least two people have died from the virus in the past month in the crowded Congolese border city of Goma. It is the worst Ebola …

The owner of an Australian crocodile farm has told of his shock after finding a surgical plate in the stomach of a 4.7-meter (15-foot) reptile. The saltwater crocodile, named M.J., died in June at the Koorana Crocodile Farm near Rockhampton, Queensland, in the country’s northeast. The orthopedic plate was discovered …

Two hurricanes, one of them a Category 3, are moving toward the Hawaiian islands — one heading straight for the island chain and another track slightly south. Hurricane Erick, the larger of the storms, is not expected to make landfall but parts of Hawaii could see increased wind gusts and …

The thigh bone of a giant dinosaur was found this week by French paleontologists at an excavation site in southwestern France where remains of some of the largest animals that ever lived on land have been dug up since 2010. The two-meter long femur at the Angeac-Charente site is thought …

Britain Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised on Tuesday to lead Britain out of the European Union on Oct. 31 “no matter what” as sterling tumbled and Ireland warned that the bloc would not be renegotiating the thrice defeated divorce deal. The British pound fell on Tuesday as investors bet Johnson’s …

“Voice assistants have a dark side, and we may be paying for their limited benefits with our privacy” A news story in the Guardian last week confirmed what many Apple users likely already suspected: Siri, Apple’s voice assistant, has the power to record private conversations, and these audio clips aren’t …

Oil prices rose for a fourth day on Tuesday on optimism the U.S. Federal Reserve will this week cut interest rates for the first time in more than 10 years, supporting fuel consumption in the world’s biggest oil user. Brent crude LCOc1 rose 63 cents to $64.34 a barrel by …

A child has died after a man pushed him and his mother in front of an oncoming high-speed train at Frankfurt’s main station, police said. Witnesses reportedly saw a man dressed in dark clothes shove the pair onto the tracks as an InterCity Express train pulled into the station in …

The Lion King’s strong circle of life has reached into a second weekend. According to studio estimates Sunday, Disney’s photorealistic remake brought in $75 million to again finish at the top of the North American box office. Its domestic total of $350 million makes it the year’s fourth highest-grossing film …

The US economy grew less than previously thought last year, missing President Donald Trump’s target of 3%. Revised official figures shows that GDP expanded by 2.5% during 2018. The figures also revealed that growth slowed during the second quarter as exports declined and companies invested less in their businesses. GDP …

The US government says the economy grew more slowly in 2018 than it previously estimated, downgrading its estimate from 3% to 2.5%. US President Donald Trump had frequently boasted of the 3% growth figure as evidence that his policies invigorated the economy. The US Commerce Department lowered its estimate of …

The finals of the Fortnite World Cup are taking place in a stadium in New York, with the winner set to earn more prize money than Simona Halep and Novak Djokovic won as Wimbledon champions. Forty million players attempted to qualify over 10 weeks of online competition but only 100 …

A six-year-old South Korean YouTube star with 30 million subscribers has purchased a multimillion-dollar, five-story property in Seoul. Boram bought the 9.5 billion Korean won ($8 million) building in the trendy Seoul suburb of Gangnam earlier this year, through the Boram Family company, which was set up by the YouTuber’s …

Three massive asteroids are expected to pass by Earth today, with one of the approaching space rocks flying closer to our planet than the Moon, NASA has warned. Estimated at 360 feet wide, asteroid 2015 HM10 is expected to fly past our planet on Wednesday, according to NASA’s Center for …

Facebook Inc will pay a record-breaking $5 billion fine to resolve a government probe into its privacy practices and the social media giant will restructure its approach to privacy, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said on Wednesday. The FTC voted 3-2 along party lines to adopt the settlement, which …

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has refuted claims his club behaved disrespectfully while on a pre-season tour to China. In an opinion piece published by Chinese state news agency Xinhua, it was claimed that the Premier League champion showed “utter disrespect” to locals, treating the trip as “nothing more than …

Singapore said on Tuesday it had seized 8.8 tonnes of elephant ivory, a record haul by authorities in the city-state, which conservation groups say is a transit point for the illegal wildlife trade. The elephant ivory, estimated to be worth $12.9 million, came from nearly 300 African elephants and was …

Microsoft Corp agreed on Monday to pay about $25.3 million, including a criminal fine, to settle U.S. charges it made improper payments that were used to bribe government officials in Hungary and other countries. The U.S. Department of Justice said Microsoft Hungary will pay the $8.75 million criminal fine, as …

People will no longer be able to smoke in designated outdoor areas of bars and restaurants in Catalonia, under new proposals. Smoking in public places was banned in Spain in January 2011, although smokers were permitted to use the outside terraces of establishments, according to Catalan News. At the time, …