World
Latest stories
Mali Violence Displaces Nearly 18,000 in Kidal

A spike in violence in the northern Mali region of Kidal has forced 17,400 people from their homes, undermining limited progress in stability, the UN humanitarian operations director said Thursday.

In total, 135,000 Malians have fled to neighboring countries and 151,000 are displaced within the country, said John Ging in New York following a recent three-day visit to the country.

W140 Full Story
McCarthy Wins U.S. House Majority Leader Post

Republican Kevin McCarthy was selected Thursday as the new U.S. House majority leader, capping a whirlwind week for a party scrambling to heal internal rifts after the ouster of GOP number two Eric Cantor.

With the even-keeled McCarthy elected to the position vacated by Cantor, his job as House majority whip was won by far-right up-and-comer Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who pledged to bring a more conservative value set to Republican leadership.

W140 Full Story
Ecuador Vows Long-Term Assange Asylum

As Wikileaks founder Julian Assange marked Thursday the second anniversary of his stay at the Ecuador embassy in London, the Latin American country vowed its asylum offer was for the long term.

International agreements and Ecuador's constitution both mean it is a "complete impossibility" for the country to turn over someone who has been granted asylum, Ecuador's Foreign Affairs Minister Ricardo Patino said.

W140 Full Story
U.N. Bases Shelter a Record 95,000 in S. Sudan

The number of civilians seeking refuge on U.N. bases from bloodshed in South Sudan has reached a peak of 95,000 since fighting broke out in December, the United Nations said Thursday.

There are more than 30,000 people on U.N. bases in the capital Juba, 18,000 in Malakal in Upper Nile State and around 38,000 in the oil hub of Bentiu, said spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

W140 Full Story
Nearly 4,000 Eritreans Flee Each Month

Brutal government repression and a system of forcing all citizens into decades of military conscription is driving nearly 4,000 Eritreans to flee every month, a U.N. expert said on Thursday.

The numbers escaping the autocratic Horn of Africa country have increased from around 3,000 per month at the beginning of the year, Sheila Keetharuth told reporters in Geneva, describing the exodus as "shocking".

W140 Full Story
Security Tightened in Nigeria for Key State Vote

Police in Nigeria on Thursday threw a security cordon around southwestern Ekiti state, restricting movement and deploying riot squads to curb election-linked violence.

A vote takes place on Saturday to elect a new governor, with incumbent John Kayode Fayemi, of the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), looking for re-election.

W140 Full Story
Suicide Blast Kills One in Northwest Pakistan

A suicide bomb attack at the residence of an anti-Taliban peace militia in the restive northwestern city of Peshawar left one dead and five others injured late Thursday, police said.

The incident took place in the Matan Adezai area of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa city and targeted the leader of an anti-insurgent group, senior police official Najeeb U Rehman told Agence France Presse.

W140 Full Story
Nigeria Police Search River for Women, Children after Packed Boat Capsizes

Marine police in Nigeria were on Thursday scouring a river in the central eastern state of Taraba after a boat believed to be carrying more than 100 women and children capsized.

The vessel overturned on Tuesday near the Muslim village of Dampar as it transported people fleeing sectarian violence that left at least 12 dead and saw homes razed, residents said.

W140 Full Story
Britain Bans ISIL, Other Syria-Related Groups

The British government on Thursday banned the ISIL militant group currently cutting a swathe through northern Iraq, adding it to a list of proscribed organizations along with four other groups linked to the Syrian conflict.

Security Minister James Brokenshire told lawmakers that terrorism related to the civil war in Syria "will pose a threat to the UK for the foreseeable future", and said banning the groups sent a "strong message".

W140 Full Story
Briton Had Bomb-Making Chemicals, Kenya Expert Tells Trial

A Briton on trial in Kenya for plotting bomb attacks possessed chemicals capable of making an explosion, a government chemist told a court in the port city of Mombasa Thursday.

Suspected British militant Jermaine Grant, accused of ties to Somalia's al-Qaida-linked Shebab and plotting attacks, was arrested in December 2011 in Mombasa with various chemicals, batteries and switches, which prosecutors say he planned to use to make explosives. He denies the charges.

W140 Full Story