Kurdish forces in northern Iraq yesterday found a mass grave containing the bodies of at least 11 Iraqi policemen presumed killed by jihadists, a peshmerga security official said.

A third of people in the 420-million-strong Arab world do not have enough to eat, the United Nations said yesterday, highlighting that 69 million suffered from malnutrition last year.

European Union leaders were to consider yesterday what economic sanctions they could impose on Russia if Moscow were to launch a new attack on Ukraine, Slovenia’s prime minister said, warning that the bloc was prepared for Russian “surprises”.

1903 - Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first successful controlled flight in a powered aircraft, the Wright “Flyer”, on the beach at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. They made four flights in all, the longest lasting almost a minute.

Saudi Arabia has launched a new initiative that will allow Muslims all around the world to touch the Black Stone at the Kaaba in Makkah virtually.

US military commanders in the Pacific have built a software tool to predict how the Chinese government will react to US actions in the region like military sales, US-backed military activity and even congressional visits to hotspots like Taiwan.

The United States said on Wednesday it was ready to move forward with the sale of F-35 fighter jets and drones to the United Arab Emirates after Abu Dhabi told Washington it would suspend talks on the $23-billion deal that also includes munitions.

The death toll from a fuel truck explosion in Haiti rose to 75 on Wednesday as doctors scrambled to treat the wounded from an incident that officials say was made more deadly by residents approaching the vehicle in a desperate search for fuel.

1996 - A South Korean appeals court commuted the death sentence on ex-President Chun Doo Hwan to life imprisonment.

Democratic and Republican members of the US Congress on Tuesday urged President Joe Biden to meet with the Dalai Lama in a bid to ensure that Tibetans’ rights remain high on the agenda, even as it carries more risks on the troubled ties between Washington and Beijing.

The number of Americans who identify themselves as non-religious is soaring in the profoundly Christian United States, said a Pew Research Center study published Tuesday.

The United States is exploring additional actions against the ruling military junta in Myanmar, as the situation continues to deteriorate, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday defended his record on tackling the coronavirus pandemic, after nearly 100 of his own MPs broke ranks and rebelled against new restrictions.

Russia and China should stand firm in rejecting Western interference and defending each other’s security interests, presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping agreed in a video call yesterday.

Germany yesterday vowed to “defend itself” against radicalised anti-vaccination groups after police launched raids in response to death threats against a top politician backing decisive measures to fight the pandemic.

Cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria remains vital, the United Nations Secretary-General said in an internal report Tuesday, as a UN authorization allowing aid into rebel-held areas in the country’s northwest without approval from Damascus is set to expire.

European Union policymakers yesterday set out a second set of proposals to cut emissions across its economy this decade and to put it on track for net zero greenhouse gas output by 2050.

Nearly half of adults in Britain cannot cook a full Christmas dinner that includes all the traditional trimmings, according to a survey unveiled yesterday.

Shares in Chinese healthcare and technology firms tumbled yesterday after a report that the United States would add more Chinese firms, including the largest commercial drone maker and biotech firms, to investment and export blacklists this week.

Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin appeared in federal court in person Wednesday morning for a change of plea hearing during which he was expected to admit to violating George Floyd’s civil rights.