World

Sweden's centre-right opposition and the far right ousted Prime Minister Stefan Lofven in a vote of no-confidence on Tuesday, as the left and right blocs wrangle over who can form a new government after neither won a majority in September 9 elections. Lofven's departure was widely anticipated. The head of the opposition four-party Alliance, Ulf Kristersson, has since election night insisted … [Read more...] about Swedish parliament ousts PM in vote of no-confidence

Germany's Catholic Church was Tuesday due to confess to thousands of cases of sexual assault against children, but victims blasted it for failing to reveal the true scale of the abuse and end decades of impunity. The Church will release a damning report showing that in Germany alone, almost 3,700 minors were assaulted between 1946 and 2014. The report's authors say the real figure was likely … [Read more...] about German Catholic Church to own up to decades of child abuse

New US research has found that the taller a person is, the higher their risk may be of developing varicose veins. Led by Stanford University School of Medicine, the new study analyzed the genes of 493,519 individuals gathered from UK Biobank -- a large, long-term study which looks at conditions such as cardiovascular disease in UK residents and includes genomic data on about a half-million … [Read more...] about Research finds that height and varicose vein risk may be linked

Bahrain's attorney general charged nearly 170 people on Tuesday with forming a Shiite "terrorist organisation" named for Lebanon's famed militant group Hezbollah. The small but strategic Gulf Arab kingdom has been dogged by persistent low-level violence since 2011 when its Sunni minority rulers bloodily suppressed Shiite-led protests for a constitutional monarchy with an elected prime … [Read more...] about Nearly 170 charged with forming ‘Bahrain Hezbollah’

Spain's Socialists (PSOE) would win 30.6 percent of the vote if an election was held today, an official poll showed on Tuesday, up from a previous poll held in August which predicted the party headed by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez would win 29.9 percent. The latest poll will buoy Sanchez in parliament, in which he holds just 84 seats in a 350-seat house, as he negotiates next year's budget and … [Read more...] about Spain’s Socialists seen easily winning election in poll

Hundreds of people who fled to Malawi from fighting in Mozambique are finally poised to go home, desperate to reach their untended farms now that the guns have fallen silent. Patricia Ekeson, 32, was among thousands who fled to the safety of Malawi four years ago after Renamo rebels and government troops renewed a bloody cycle of violence. She escaped with her husband and three of her … [Read more...] about War-weary Mozambicans yearn to leave Malawi haven

A US government investigation has found that Myanmar's military waged a "well-planned and coordinated" campaign of mass killings, gang rapes and other atrocities against the Southeast Asian nation’s Rohingya Muslim minority. The US State Department report, which was released on Monday, could be used to justify further US sanctions or other punitive measures against Myanmar authorities, US … [Read more...] about US accuses Myanmar military of ‘planned and coordinated’ Rohingya atrocities

Beneath the carved timber roof of a traditional "marae" meeting house at Wellington High School, dozens of students watch entranced as a play performed entirely in the Maori language unfolds. Many only understand a smattering of the indigenous language, but pick up emotional cues from the performers. Some audience members are close to tears as the production in the New Zealand capital … [Read more...] about ‘Ka pai’: New Zealand’s Maori language back from brink

The defeated strongman of the Maldives, Abdulla Yameen, is welcome in neighbouring Sri Lanka, Colombo said Tuesday, two days after his surprise defeat in presidential elections. Sri Lanka has long been a haven for dissidents from the nearby Maldives over years of political upheaval, including for hundreds of opponents of Yameen since he became president in 2013. In a phone call on Monday, Sri … [Read more...] about Sri Lanka ready to welcome toppled Maldives strongman