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The Kuwaiti charge d’affaires in Tehran went to the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Saturday to receive Iran’s strong protest against the anti-Iran session in the Arab country which was held between Kuwaiti officials and a representative of a terrorist group that pursues separatist goals. The Foreign Ministry reminded the Kuwaiti …

In America this year there have been more mass killings, leading to the deaths of 211 people, than in the last 50 years. There were more mass killings in America in 2019 than any year dating back to at least the 1970s, according to US reports. A database compiled by …

Volunteer firefighters in New South Wales will get compensation for loss of earnings after spending time away from jobs to battle bushfires in the state, Australia’s federal government says. The offer of up to A$6,000 ($4,200; £3,200) for privately-employed volunteers follows weeks of wrangling. PM Scott Morrison – who had …

Uruguay says it has seized a record haul of 6 tonnes of cocaine, calling it the biggest setback for traffickers in the country’s history. Naval and customs officers seized 4.4 tonnes of the drug in Montevideo port. It had been hidden in four soy flour containers destined for Lome, the …

Former US Vice-President and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden have said he would not testify in the impeachment of President Donald Trump. Biden said on Friday that he would not comply with a Senate subpoena to testify because it would take the focus off Trump. Trump’s tactic is to “take …

Hong Kong riot police have arrested at least 15 people in clashes with dozens of pro-democracy protesters who targeted a mall near the border with China to demonstrate against mainland tourists and shoppers. On Saturday afternoon, masked plain-clothed officers wielding batons arrested 14 people, including a 14-year-old girl, who were …

A well known Moroccan YouTuber has been jailed for four years and fined about $4,000 (£3,000) after being found guilty of insulting the country’s king. Mohamed Sekkaki was arrested earlier this month after criticizing King Mohammed’s speeches and for calling Moroccans donkeys. He plans to appeal against the verdict. Separately, …

A 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck southwestern Iran early Friday morning in a region which houses the country’s first nuclear power plant. The quake occurred just after 5 a.m. local time, 44 kilometers (27 miles) southeast of the city of Borazjan in Bushehr province, at a depth of 38.3 kilometers (23.7 …

Italy’s Supreme Court has ruled that small-scale domestic cultivation of cannabis is legal, in a landmark decision triggering calls for further legalization from weed advocates and anger from the country’s conservatives. Called on to clarify previous conflicting interpretations of the law, the Court of Cassation decreed that the crime of …

Islamic State released a video purporting to show its militants beheading 10 Christian men in Nigeria, saying it was part of a campaign to avenge the deaths of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and its spokesman. The militant group posted the footage on its online Telegram news channel on Thursday, …

A Turkish court on Friday handed down jail sentences to seven journalists and other staffers at opposition newspaper Sozcu over aiding a network that Ankara says orchestrated a failed coup in 2016, the paper said. Sozcu, long a pillar of Turkey’s secularist establishment, described the verdict as a black mark …

A passenger plane carrying nearly 100 people crashed soon after take-off near the city of Almaty in Kazakhstan on Friday, slamming into a house in an accident that killed 12 people and injured dozens. The Fokker 100 aircraft, operated by Bek Air, got into trouble shortly after departing from Almaty, …

Russian military police have taken control of a base near Syria’s northern city of Raqqah only a few days after US servicemen left the site, which lies in a strategic area at a crossroads linking the strategic city with the central and northern regions of the war-ravaged country. Russia’s state-run …

Germans perceive US President Donald Trump as a greater threat to world peace than other top world leaders, according to a new survey from YouGov. The poll, commissioned by German news agency DPA, found that 41 percent of Germans feel Trump is the most dangerous of five globally important leaders, …

More than three in five shoppers say they intend to spend less, with “fast fashion” hit the hardest Environmental concerns are expected to see retailers take a £200m hit as consumers spend less than usual in the post-Christmas sales. A survey by Barclaycard found that 62% of shoppers intend to …

Heavy rains that hit Rwanda on Wednesday night killed at least 12 people, a senior government official said here on Thursday. “It’s unfortunate that we confirm that 12 people have died due to heavy rains that hit different parts of our country on Christmas night,” said Rwanda’s Minister of Local …

Italy’s education minister Lorenzo Fioramonti resigned after the government failed to provide the ministry with the extra €3 billion he asked in order to improve the country’s schools and universities. Fioramonti has been threatening to quit since just after the coalition government formed in September, following the collapse of the …

The governor of the central bank of Lebanon, officially known as Banque du Liban, says efforts are underway to tackle the worsening financial crisis that has caused several businesses to close and many people to lose their jobs amid growing fears about the country’s economic future. “We are solving the …

Japan has hanged a Chinese man for the high-profile and brutal murder of a family of four, the first execution of a foreigner in 10 years. The man, Wei Wei, carried out the murders in 2003 with two accomplices. They fled to China, where one was executed in 2005 and …

Twenty-seven members of a peace group who were kidnapped as they traveled in western Afghanistan have been released, local media say. The People’s Peace Movement (PPM) disappeared after entering Farah province two days ago as part of a march demanding a ceasefire. The Taliban were suspected of being behind it. …