Decades after burnishing his reputation as a wealthy daredevil mogul in a series of boating and hot-air balloon expeditions, Richard Branson is poised to promote his burgeoning astro-tourism venture by launching himself to the final frontier. 

More than six months after the deadly US Capitol insurrection, authorities on Friday began the process of dismantling fencing and barricades surrounding the iconic Washington building, although some access restrictions will remain in place. 

The Ukrainian army yesterday said that a soldier had been killed and three others wounded in the country’s pro-Russian separatist east, amid rising tensions in the conflict-torn region. 

The US and French defense chiefs signed a new “roadmap” for cooperation between their special operations forces Friday as both seek to build international efforts to counter non-state threats like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. 

A statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee was taken down in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday, nearly four years after white supremacist protests over plans to remove it led to clashes in which a woman was run down by a car and killed.

A suicide car bomb targeting a government convoy exploded at a busy junction in Somalia's capital on Saturday, killing at least eight people, an eyewitness told Reuters.

President Joe Biden on Friday named Peter Haas as the new nominee for US ambassador to Bangladesh, reports CNBC quoting a White House press release.

Eid-ul-Azha will be celebrated in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday (July 20), as the crescent of Dul Hijjah was not sighted on Friday evening, Arab News reports.

Haiti has requested US and UN security forces to help it protect key infrastructure like the airport and ports after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise by foreign mercenaries, a government minister said on Friday.

A British police officer yesterday admitted murdering Sarah Everard, whose killing sparked anger, protests and soul-searching across the country about what the authorities and society could do to stop male violence against women.

We did not go to Afghanistan to nation build. And it’s the right and the responsibility of the Afghan people alone to decide their future. US President Joe Biden

An agreement on Ethiopia’s controversial Nile River dam is possible, the UN said Thursday, urging “trust, transparency and open engagement” as Egypt accused Addis Ababa of threatening its existence. 

A 28-member hit squad made up of Americans and Colombians assassinated President Jovenel Moise, Haitian police said Thursday, adding that eight were still at large as the country lurched into political chaos. 

The Taliban yesterday claimed to be in control of 85 percent of Afghanistan after seizing key border crossings with Iran and Turkmenistan following a sweeping offensive launched as US troops pulled out of the war-torn nation. 

Pfizer and BioNTech said they would seek authorisation for a third dose of their Covid-19 vaccine to boost its efficacy as the Delta variant drove devastating outbreaks in Asia, including in Thailand where fresh curbs were announced yesterday.

World hunger rose steeply in 2020, with six times more people living in “famine-like conditions” than in 2019, rights group Oxfam said yesterday.

President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday  France would start closing its bases in northern Mali before the end of the year, part of a drawdown of French troops fighting Islamist extremists in the Sahel region.

Italy on Thursday authorised the Ocean Viking migrant rescue ship to dock in Sicily after the group urged EU members to allow 572 people picked up in the Mediterranean Sea over three days to be brought ashore.

The Chinese CoronaVac jab, a key tool in Brazil’s fight against Covid-19, is less effective against the Gamma variant first detected in the virus-ravaged South American country, a study said yesterday.

A Palestinian on hunger strike for more than two months while in Israeli detention claimed “victory” yesterday after his release and transfer to a hospital in the occupied West Bank.