Global stock benchmarks and oil prices fell on Friday while safe havens such as the dollar and Treasury bonds rose as investors wrestled with a hawkish turn from major central banks in the fight against inflation and rising numbers of Omicron cases. Asian shares closed near lows for the year …

The risk of reinfection with the Omicron coronavirus variant is more than five times higher and it has shown no sign of being milder than Delta, a study showed, as cases soar across Europe and threaten year-end festivities. The results of the study by Imperial College London were based on …

A court in Madagascar convicted six people on Friday over a plot to kill President Andry Rajoelina and handed them various sentences up to 20 years prison with hard labor. French-Malagasy dual national Paul Rafanoharana, who local media reported was once an adviser to the president, was handed the highest …

France has threatened to fine the facial recognition company Clearview AI for unlawfully collecting citizens’ data. The French data protection watchdog (CNIL) said the American company had collected thousands of photos of French citizens without their consent. The authority has formally ordered Clearview to delete its database of images within …

The UN’s human rights body voted to set up an experts panel to examine allegations of war crimes in Ethiopia. The resolution was brought forward by the EU. The UN Human Rights Council on Friday voted in favor of establishing a panel of experts to report on rights violations during …

Scientists have discovered the first-ever “true” millipede with more than 1,000 legs 60 meters underground in a mining area in Western Australia, setting the record for the creature with the most legs known to humans. Announcing the discovery in the peer-reviewed Scientific Reports journal, the team of researchers revealed that …

More than 50 high-ranking Saudi-backed militant commanders loyal to former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi have reportedly been killed while fighting Yemeni army troops and their allies over the control of the country’s strategic oil-producing province of Ma’rib. Yemen’s al-Khabar al-Yemeni news website, citing informed sources who preferred not …

Iran’s lead negotiator at the negotiations in the Austrian capital to remove the US sanctions says good progress has been made in Vienna this week, noting that the high-ranking talks will continue after a short break. In a tweet on Friday morning, Ali Bagheri Kani said he met with EU …

At least 2,500 people including hundreds of children have fled a flare-up in fighting between the Myanmar army and ethnic minority rebels and have taken refuge across the border in Thailand, Thai authorities and an aid group said. Those displaced had poured into the Thai town of Mae Sot after …

Artificial intelligence can now predict whether someone will develop dementia within two years, a new study claims. Researchers hope the technology will cut down on false diagnoses and help doctors catch the condition earlier. Researchers from the University of Exeter in the UK took data from more than 15,000 memory …

Russia said on Friday it wanted a legally binding guarantee that the NATO military alliance would give up any military activity in Eastern Europe and Ukraine, part of a wish list of ambitious security guarantees it wants to negotiate with the West. The demands form a package that Moscow says …

The Turkish stock exchange suspended trading after the national currency fell below 17 lira per US dollar on Friday. The lira has lost more than half of its value against the US dollar since the beginning of 2021.

European countries prepared to impose further restrictions on travel and more on Friday in an effort to stem surging cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 that are threatening to stall a global economic recovery. Germany, Ireland, and Denmark were all considering further restrictions in the days before Christmas festivities …

The death toll from a typhoon that slammed into the Philippines rose to 12 on Friday, and its president feared it could climb further as authorities assess the devastation caused by one of the strongest tropical storms to hit the country this year. President Rodrigo Duterte said he would visit …

At least 27 people were feared dead after a fire swept through a psychiatry clinic in the Japanese city of Osaka on Friday, and police were investigating possible arson after reports a man had spilled liquid that fuelled the blaze. The fire broke out at the clinic on the fourth …

The death toll from the floods that swept Erbil, northern Iraq, today has reached 11. Erbil city center deputy commissioner, Nabz Abdulhamid, said that among the victims were a Turkish man and another Filipino. Since yesterday evening, heavy floods swept Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan region causing casualties and great material damages.

The Iraqi Federal Intelligence and Investigations Agency in the Ministry of Interior reported on Wednesday that it foiled an operation to detonate a pipeline carrying natural gas between the capital, Baghdad, and the oil-rich governorate of Basra, in the far south of Iraq. In a statement, the Agency said, “in …

The Supreme Federal Court might consider a “partial hand recount” of the ballots of all the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the country in order to overcome the stifling political impasse, a source revealed on Tuesday. The source said, “the Supreme Federal Court has only two solutions: the first, a …

The Taliban didn’t take the Afghan capital — they were invited, says the man who issued the invitation. In an Associated Press interview, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai offered some of the first insights into the secret and sudden departure of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani — and how he came …

Colombia’s riot police should undergo a “profound transformation” to prevent the disproportionate use of force against peaceful protesters, the United Nations urged in a report Wednesday. The U.N. human rights agency blamed the country’s public force for 28 deaths during months of nationwide protests this year. They included 10 deaths …