Taliban fighters have taken over the glitzy Kabul mansion of one of their fiercest enemies -- the warlord and fugitive ex-vice president Abdul Rashid Dostum. Now in the hands of rank and file Taliban fighters, the opulent villa has given the auster...

Six ocelots rescued from illegal wildlife traffickers have been returned to the wild in northern Ecuador, the environment ministry said on Saturday. "They released six female ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) in the Cotacachi Cayapas Reserve," near the ...

Less than a month after the Taliban rolled into the Afghan capital, Rabia Jamal made a tough decision -- she would brave the hardliners and return to work at the airport. With the Islamists saying women should stay at home for their own security th...

Seven years ago, Adrineh Simonian bowed out of a successful career as an opera singer to produce pornography instead. Since then, the 48-year-old from Vienna has not looked back, becoming a prominent voice for porn producers who prioritise their pr...

The Biden administration declassified an FBI memo Saturday that fortified suspicions of official Saudi involvement with the hijackers in the September 11, 2001 attacks, but it fell well short of proof that victims' families suing Saudi Arabia had ho...

Children clutching glow sticks shrieked with delight and onlookers gazed awestruck as Blackpool's Illuminations lights festival launched to a spectacular volley of fireworks from its 158-metre Victorian tower. The northwest English town's lights di...

Emma Raducanu's extraordinary US Open triumph on Saturday led to an explosion of joy in Britain, with Queen Elizabeth II leading the celebrations as the 18-year-old qualifier made tennis history in New York. Raducanu beat 19-year-old Canadian Leyla...

After 20 years of not paying its debts, Zimbabwe is taking steps to clean up its balance sheet and its image by making payments to major creditors. Even if admittedly token amounts, the government hopes they will build goodwill towards Zimbabwe. F...

Cloning is in high demand in the competitive world of camel beauty pageants, leaving scientists at a Dubai clinic working round the clock to produce carbon-copy beasts. Not every animal is blessed with sought-after drooping lips and a tall, elegant...

Lebanon's new government, finally formed in the throes of an accelerating economic meltdown after 13 months of political deadlock, has its work cut out. What are the most pressing issues for the cabinet announced on Friday, and how easy will they b...

Former heavyweight world champion Evander Holyfield looked all of his 58 years in a first-round technical knockout loss to mixed martial arts star Vitor Belfort on Saturday. With former US President Donald Trump providing ringside commentary for th...

From rural poverty to real estate billions, the fortunes of Xu Jiayin tracked China's runaway growth for much of the past two decades -- but now he is battling to save his Evergrande conglomerate from a quagmire of debt. The 62-year-old -- also kno...

Pope Francis arrives in Budapest on Sunday morning to celebrate a mass, with eyes focused on his meeting with the anti-migration Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The head of 1.3 billion Catholics will have a half-hour meeting with Orban -- a...

With YouTube videos "debunking" allegations of human rights abuses and diatribes on Western "conspiracies" against China, an unlikely set of foreigners are loudly defending Beijing from its international critics. They are teachers and business owne...

America marked the 20th anniversary of 9/11 Saturday with pleas for unity at solemn ceremonies given added resonance by the messy withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and return to power of the Taliban. At the 9/11 memorial in New York, relativ...