Comoros ex-president says innocent of charges against him on passports scheme
Former Comoros president Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi rejects charges of corruption and embezzling public funds in connection with a scheme to sell his country’s passports and will prove his innocence, his lawyer said on Thursday.
Merkel’s conservatives under fire over right-wing radicalism in Saxony
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives faced accusations on Thursday of ignoring the rise of far-right groups in the eastern German state of Saxony after an incident there involving an off-duty police employee at an anti-Islam rally.
‘I am born once again’: Pilgrims pray and give praise as haj winds down in Mecca
More than two million haj pilgrims headed back to Mecca for final prayers on Thursday as organizers said the world’s largest annual gathering of Muslims had gone smoothly in the face of political tensions and huge logistical challenges.
Reality Winner to be sentenced for leaking top secret U.S. report
Former U.S. intelligence contractor Reality Winner, who pleaded guilty to illegally leaking to a media outlet a top secret report on Russian interference in U.S. elections, was due to be sentenced on Thursday in Georgia.
Migrant boat sinks off Tunisia, at least five dead
Tunisia’s coast guard said it recovered the bodies of five migrants on Thursday whose boat sank as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Red tape, border delays if no Brexit deal, Britain warns firms
British companies trading with the European Union will face a tangle of red tape and possible delays at the border if the government fails to negotiate an exit deal before Britain leaves the bloc, official papers showed on Thursday.
UK calls for extra six weeks of Brexit drug stockpiles
The British government called on Thursday for drugmakers to build an additional six weeks of medicines stockpiles to cope with potential supply disruption in the event of a no-deal Brexit – a target the industry said would be challenging.
Ugandan lawmaker remanded in custody on treason charges
An opposition Ugandan lawmaker was charged with treason on Thursday over his alleged role in the stoning of President Yoweri Museveni’s convoy this month.
Why no one thought to close Italy’s crumbling bridge
People living under the Italian bridge that collapsed last week with the loss of 43 lives had known for years it was crumbling: pieces kept falling on their homes and cars.
Pope to visit a changed Ireland during ‘perfect storm’ of abuse crises
When Pope John Paul II made the first visit by a pontiff to Ireland in 1979, contraception and divorce were still illegal and the Catholic Church’s influence on a deeply conservative society was near-total.
