World News

In Spain, the long fight to find Franco era's 'stolen babies'

When the bones of her twin sister who died at birth were exhumed, Maria Jose Robles's worst fears were confirmed: their DNA didn't match, suggesting she was one of the newborns snatched during the Franco dictatorship.. "My twin sister was just two days old when she died, that's what they told my mother in hospital," she told AFP, referring to events that happened in 1962, her voice breaking. 

Month before COP27, host Egypt faces heat over rights, climate action

A month before Egypt hosts the UN climate change conference, Cairo is finalising the list of world leaders coming as it weathers criticism over its human rights and environmental records.. Egypt will from November 6 host the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

For Saudi fan, road to World Cup is a desert trek

The idea hit Abdullah Alsulmi earlier this year, while he was watching a television show in which a senior Qatari official promised an "exceptional" experience at the upcoming World Cup.. Wearing a wide-brim hat and a backpack to which he'd affixed Saudi and Qatari flags, he said: "I consider myself like a Qatari who is very interested in this World Cup and its success."  

Iranian Kurd exiles in Iraq under fire as protests rage

As protests flare across Iran over the death of young Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, the Kurdistan region of neighbouring Iraq has paid a price, coming under bombardment from the Islamic republic's forces.. A general in Iran has charged that the Kurdish opposition groups have been inciting the Mahsa Amini protests in Iranian Kurdistan, in the face of a lethal crackdown by the security forces.

Myanmar jails Japanese filmmaker for 10 years: diplomatic source

Myanmar's junta has jailed a Japanese filmmaker for 10 years for encouraging dissent against the military and violating an electronic communications law, a diplomatic source told AFP on Thursday. . The court sentenced Kubota to "seven years imprisonment" for breaching an electronic communications law, and three years for encouraging dissent, the source said.

Grandmaster Hans Niemann defends reputation after cheating claims

American international grandmaster Hans Niemann said Wednesday he "won't back down," after the chess platform chess.com reported he has "probably cheated more than 100 times" in online games.. "Overall, we have found that Hans (Niemann) has likely cheated in more than 100 online chess games, including several prize money events," the world's leading online chess platform wrote in a Tuesday evening report that ran 20 pages, with 50 additional appendices.

The censor cannot hold: the pressure of controlling China's internet

As a teenager in rural China, Zeng Jiajun used his internet know-how to watch a banned documentary on the bloody military crackdown in Tiananmen Square.. In amongst the forbidden fruit was "The Gate of Heavenly Peace", a three-hour documentary on student protests in Tiananmen Square in June 1989.

'A time to help': Indonesians ran to aid of fleeing fans in stadium stampede

As one of the deadliest disasters in the history of football unfolded before his eyes at an Indonesian stadium, photographer Adi Bowo Sucipto put his camera down and rushed to help.. Like Sucipto, other photographers and video journalists working that night in the stadium stopped shooting to wrest fleeing football fans who were trapped in the human crush near an exit. 

'Watched the whole time': China's surveillance state grows under Xi

When Chen picked up his phone to vent his anger at getting a parking ticket, his message on WeChat was a drop in the ocean of daily posts on China's biggest social network.. Chen quickly deleted the post, but officers tracked him down and detained him within hours, accusing him of "insulting the police".

Crowd-pleaser or obscure pick for literature Nobel?

The Nobel Literature Prize will be announced on Thursday, with speculation in literary circles split over whether it will go to an overdue bestselling author or a relative unknown lifted into the spotlight.. Literary critics and Nobel watchers are split into two camps this year.