WORLD

Pope Francis has called on Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Google, among others, to step up efforts to remove child pornography from the internet. He also said it is too easy for youngsters to access indecent material. Pope Francis said Thursday that tech companies, such as Facebook and Google, needed to …

For the second year in a row, Canada has refused visas to dozens of researchers – most of them from Africa – who were hoping to attend an artificial intelligence (AI) conference in Vancouver. The hassles have caused at least one other AI conference to choose a different country for …

Protests have erupted across Iran after the government unexpectedly announced it was rationing petrol and increasing its price. Prices rose by at least 50% on Friday as subsidies on petrol were reduced. The authorities say they want to free up money to help the poor. Iran is already suffering economically …

Art Shapiro stands on the edge of a Chevron gas station in the north-central Sierra, sipping a large Pepsi and scanning the landscape for butterflies. So far he’s spotted six species — a loping Western tiger swallowtail, two fluttering California tortoiseshells, a copper-colored common checkered-skipper, a powdery echo blue, a …

A man has died in Hong Kong after being hit on the head during clashes between government supporters and protesters. The government said the 70-year-old cleaner was on a lunch break on Wednesday when he was struck by “hard objects hurled by masked rioters”. Meanwhile, China’s president Xi Jinping said …

A student gunman opened fire Thursday at a US high school in Southern California, killing two students and wounding three others before he was captured in grave condition after shooting himself in the head, authorities said. The shooting occurred around 7:30 a.m. at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, about …

An SOS from a ‘distressed’ Ghanaian woman in Lebanon has underscored once more the plight of domestic helps ‘exported’ to the Gulf States. A lady, whose name withheld, claimed to be distressed sent a voice message to a Ghanaian worker in Dubai calling for her agent in Ghana to have …

  For the sixth year in a row, more than 1,000 people have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea, according to the UN Refugee Agency. The Mediterranean crossing remains the deadliest known migration route worldwide. People are four times more likely to die than last year, according to the …

A top US diplomat at an impeachment hearing has said that President Trump directly asked about a Ukrainian probe into his Democrat rival Joe Biden. In previously unheard testimony, Bill Taylor, the acting US ambassador to Ukraine, said a member of his staff was told Mr Trump was preoccupied with …

The British police have urged suspects connected to the deaths of Ben Gillham-Rice and Ghanaian born British Dominic Ansah to turn themselves in. Dominic Ansah and Ben Gillham-Rice, both 17, died from knife injuries after they were attacked at a house party in the Emerson Valley area of the town …