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It was little over a year ago that the Saudi Arabian crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, made a high-profile visit to London. During his three-day stay, he was treated to lunch with the Queen, dinner with Princes William and Charles, and photos on the steps of Downing Street. The charm-offensive …

Hundreds of people have had to leave their homes in Norway as emergency services try to extinguish forest fires raging in the south of the country. Some 148 homes were evacuated around the town of Sokndal, where fires have been burning since Tuesday. Police say the fires are still out …

Moscow will start shipping its S-400 air defense missile systems to Turkey this summer, the chief of Russia’s state arms trade agency said. The deal is going through as Ankara ignores pressure from its ally, the US. Aleksandr Mikheyev of Rosoboronexport told Russian media on Wednesday that all issues pertaining …

Rapidly melting snow caused bodies of water to swell throughout Quebec, Canada, flooding nearly 3,000 homes in the province, officials said Monday. The flooding also forced the evacuation of about 1,300 people, according to figures from Urgence Quebec, the government’s informational branch for emergency communications. Some 1,700 homes also were …

Fifty-one people have died in floods that ravaged parts of the coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa’s southeast, local authorities said. The flooding began on Monday after heavy rain caused mudslides in several towns in Durban, the largest city in KwaZulu-Natal, government spokesman Lennox Mabaso said. “The areas most …

Afghan Taliban insurgents are battling fighters loyal to Islamic State over control of territory in eastern Afghanistan in some of the heaviest clashes over the past year between the rival militants, officials said on Wednesday. The fighting erupted on Monday in two districts of the eastern Afghan border province of …

Scotland should hold an independence referendum before the current Scottish parliamentary term ends in May 2021, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Wednesday. “A choice between Brexit and a future for Scotland as an independent European nation should be offered in the lifetime of this parliament,” Sturgeon told Holyrood, Scotland’s …

More than 50 people were feared to have been killed in Myanmar when jade miners and machinery were buried under a mound of tailings late on Monday, a member of parliament and a rescue worker said. Three bodies had been pulled from the debris, Tin Soe, a lawmaker representing the …

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has arrived in Russia’s the Far East for the first summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Governor of Primorsky Region Oleg Kozhemyako officially welcomed Kim at the railway station in the Russian city of Vladivostok on Wednesday. Putin and Kim are scheduled to meet in …

The British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has rejected claims that it was asked by the administration of former President Barrack Obama to spy on then-President Elect Donald Trump after the 2016 presidential election. A GCHQ spokesman made the comments Wednesday after President Trump tweeted that a former CIA analyst, Larry …

  African leaders meeting in Cairo on Tuesday agreed to give Sudan’s ruling military council three months to implement democratic reforms, Egypt said on Tuesday, amid pressure for a quick handover of power to civilians. The decision extends a 15-day deadline set by the African Union last week for Sudan’s …

Yemen’s Houthi forces have missiles that could be fired at Riyadh, Dubai and Abu Dhabi should violence escalate in the main Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, where a fragile ceasefire is now in place, the leader of the Houthi movement said on Monday. “Our missiles are capable of reaching Riyadh …

Eastern Libyan forces said on Monday they would intensify an assault on Tripoli, the capital in the west of the country that is held by the internationally recognized government, as the death toll in a battle now in its third week rose to 254. The Libyan National Army (LNA) force …

China’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday it has formally complained to the United States over its decision to end waivers on sanctions on Iranian oil imports, adding another fault line to already complicated Beijing-Washington ties. China is Iran’s largest crude oil customer, with total imports last year of 29.27 million …

Iran’s parliament passed a bill on Tuesday requiring the government take firm steps to respond to “terrorist actions” by U.S. forces, state TV reported, retaliating against Washington’s blacklisting of the country’s elite Revolutionary Guards. Donald Trump on April 8 designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) a foreign terrorist group, …

The United States on Monday demanded that buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May 1 or face sanctions, a move to choke off Tehran’s oil revenues which sent crude prices to six-month highs on fears of a potential supply crunch. The Trump administration on Monday said it will not …

Ukrainian comedian Volodymyr Zelensky has scored a landslide victory in the country’s presidential election. With nearly all ballots counted in the run-off vote, Mr Zelensky had taken more than 73% with incumbent Petro Poroshenko trailing far behind on 24%. “I will never let you down,” Mr Zelensky told celebrating supporters. …

Iran and Pakistan will form a joint quick reaction force to combat militant activity on their shared border, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday during a televised press conference with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan. Khan arrived in Iran on Sunday to discuss security and regional issues, Iranian state …

  Top congressional Democrats left the door open on Sunday to the impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump, but said they would first need to complete their own investigations into whether he obstructed justice in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. Party leaders have cautioned against impeachment just 18 months …

Bahrain has revoked the nationality of 138 people convicted of terrorism in a mass trial, according to the kingdom’s state news agency. The Bahrain News Agency citing Advocate General Ahmed al-Hammadi reported Tuesday that the High Criminal Court also sentenced 69 terror suspects to life in prison. Thirty-nine of the …