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US National Security Adviser John Bolton has been photographed holding confidential notes with information about a possible troop deployment in the South American country of Colombia, which reports say might be linked to the ongoing unrest in neighboring Venezuela. Bolton and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin appeared before journalists at …

Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro addressed Donald Trump in English to demand that Washington keep its “hands off” the country after the US imposed sanctions on its state oil company in recognition of Juan Guaido as president. “Donald Trump, do not get involved with Venezuela! Hands off Venezuela! Donald Trump, hands …

The recent partial US government shutdown cost the American economy twice as much as the money President Donald Trump had requested to build a wall on the border with Mexico, the Congressional Budget Office has revealed. The 35-day impasse, which began on December 22 after congressional Democrats refused to give …

India’s main opposition Congress party has offered to roll out a means-tested universal basic income if it wins the country’s fast-approaching general election. Congress’s leader Rahul Gandhi described the scheme as “the first of its kind in the world”. “We have decided that every poor person in India would be …

Ethiopia has tripled the size of its main airport as it gets set to be Africa’s gateway hub. Ethiopia’s capital is set to cement its place as Africa’s leading aviation hub with an expanded airport terminal which triples it passenger capacity. Last year, Addis Ababa overtook Dubai as the leading …

Confidential data detailing the HIV-positive status of thousands of people living in Singapore has been leaked online by a US citizen, officials in the country have said. Records leaked include 5,400 Singaporeans diagnosed as HIV-positive before January 2013 and 8,800 foreign residents diagnosed before December 2011, the city state’s Ministry …

  Bahrain’s supreme court, whose verdicts are final, on Monday upheld a life term for Shiite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman for spying for Gulf rival Qatar, a judicial source said. Salman, who headed the Al-Wefaq group, was convicted in November of “communicating with Qatari officials… to overthrow constitutional order,” …

  Army units destroyed fortified positions and gatherings of terrorist organizations in Hama northern countryside and Idleb southern countryside in retaliation to their repeated breaches of the de-escalation zone agreement and the attacks they launched on military posts and safe villages and towns. Sources  reported  that army units conducted concentrated …

Mining giant Vale says it will curb dividends for shareholders and halt bonuses for managers. Its statement comes as it starts to investigate the dam breach in Brazil which killed 58 people. It is also setting up a committee to offer help to the victims. Rescue teams searching for 300 …

French Ambassador Stéphane Romatet said on Monday the current visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to Egypt is an important event and a big step on the road of pushing forward bilateral relations, MENA reported. Romatet, in a special edition issued by the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry on …

British Prime Minister Theresa May intends to give the UK parliament a second chance to approve a Brexit deal with the European Union as soon as possible. A spokesman for May said on Monday that the government could hold a second vote in the House of Commons on an improved …

Ten children kidnapped in Tanzania have been found dead with their body parts mutilated, authorities told CNN on Monday. Tanzania’s deputy health minister Faustine Ndugulile said all 10 children had been missing since December in Njombe district, southwest Tanzania. Their bodies were discovered last week after police launched a search …

  A rare and powerful tornado that struck Havana killed three people and left 172 injured, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said early Monday. Diaz-Canel, who toured the darkened streets of Havana in the pre-dawn hours visiting emergency crews, wrote on Twitter that damage to the Cuban capital from the late …

The captain of the Bangladeshi passenger plane that crashed in March as it landed at Kathmandu airport in Nepal “seemed to have an emotional breakdown” just before the crash, reports said. Fifty-one people died when the Bombardier Q400 turboprop, operated by Bangladeshi airline US-Bangla, swerved off the runway as it …

A prominent anti-government “yellow vest” activist was badly injured in the eye after being hit by a rubber bullet used by the French police, his lawyer has said. Philippe de Veulle, the lawyer of Jerome Rodrigues, fears he will be disabled for life following the injury in clashes with the …

Leader of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has openly mocked Israel’s claims that it had discovered secret tunnels used by the group on the border between Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territories, saying Israel was deeply wrong to think that the closure of tunnels would save it from future attacks …

  Novak Djokovic won a record seventh Australian Open title and a third successive Grand Slam as he swept aside Rafael Nadal in Melbourne. The Serb, rarely troubled on his serve, won 6-3 6-2 6-3 for his biggest victory in a major final over his great rival. Spanish second seed …

The Syrian government has strongly dismissed recent remarks by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan concerning a 1998 agreement between Ankara and Damascus, saying Turkey has been breaching the pact by supporting “terrorism” and occupying Syrian territory since 2011. Syria confirms that it is in compliance with the Adana Interstate Agreement …

Lamia Al-Gailani Werr, who as one of Iraq’s first female archaeologists helped her country’s national museum recover from the looting of its antiquities at the outset of the Iraq war, died on Jan. 18 in Amman, Jordan. She was 80. Her daughter Noorah Al-Gailani said the cause was a stroke. …

Israeli forces have shot dead a Palestinian man in East Jerusalem al-Quds; the third fatality in the occupied territories since Friday. Another Palestinian was also wounded in the attack as Israeli forces targeted the victim’s vehicle, the Palestinian news and information agency Wafa reported. It said they had “opened fire …