WORLD

US Democrats have made gains in state elections, in what is being seen as a blow to President Donald Trump. Democrat Andy Beshear claimed victory in Kentucky’s governor vote, after a tight race in the conservative-leaning state. Meanwhile, Democrats seized full control of the legislature in Virginia for the first …

The US has begun the process of withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, notifying the UN of its intention to leave, as other countries expressed regret and disappointment at the move. The notification begins a one-year process of exiting the global climate change accord, culminating the day after the 2020 US …

The sister of former Islamic State group (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been captured in northern Syria, Turkish officials say. The 65-year-old, named as Rasmiya Awad, was detained in a raid on Monday near the town of Azaz, officials said. Turkish officials, cited by multiple media outlets, said the …

The US military has published the first footage of the raid in northern Syria that resulted in the death of the leader of the Islamic State (IS) group. Grainy video showed troops firing at militants on the ground as they flew towards the compound where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was hiding …

A Ghanaian student studying in the Liaoning Shihua University, China, has reportedly died from injuries sustained as he attempted to scale over his school’s wall after arriving late from town. The student, identified as Joseph Amoako, is reported to have gone out with friends and returned drunk. As school regulations …

A 21-year-old Indian woman has allegedly killed herself because of constant harassment by her husband over her “dark complexion”, police said. Police in Rajasthan state registered a case against the woman’s husband after her father complained that he was responsible for her death. Police told BBC Hindi that no arrests …

Former Vice President Joe Biden was denied communion Sunday at a Catholic church in South Carolina over his support for abortion rights. Father Robert Morey, the pastor at Saint Anthony Catholic Church in Florence, told the Florence Morning News that he had denied Biden communion because “any public figure who …

Militants from the Somalia-based Islamist group al-Shabab raided a police station in Kenya’s north-eastern region of Wajir, the Daily Nation newspaper reports. The militants attacked Dadajabula police station in Wajir South in the early hours of Wednesday with heavy artillery, including rocket-propelled grenades, the newspaper reports. A local government official …

Former Vice President Joe Biden was denied communion Sunday at a Catholic church in South Carolina over his support for abortion rights. Father Robert Morey, the pastor at Saint Anthony Catholic Church in Florence, told the Florence Morning News that he had denied Biden communion because “any public figure who …

A federal judge has temporarily blocked an abortion ban in Alabama that would criminalise the procedure at any stage of a pregnancy in most cases. Abortion rights groups sued the state after Republican lawmakers approved the bill in May, but both sides expected the law to be blocked in federal …