World News

It was only when Abi Blake was nearly killed by her abusive husband that she decided to break up with him and press charges. A new policing pilot in Cheshire encourages women not to leave it so late, reports the BBC’s Sue Mitchell. They were introduced by friends just after Valentine’s Day in 2014. She was an operations manager at ...

There has been widespread disruption in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos on the first working day of a ban on motorbike- and tricycle-taxis. There were long queues at bus stations even though extra transport was laid on, while some walked for miles. Commercial motorbikes are the most common form of public transport in the city of at least 20 million people, ...

The new coronavirus has been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization, as the outbreak continues to spread outside China. “The main reason for this declaration is not what is happening in China but what is happening in other countries,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The concern is that it could spread to countries with weaker health ...

Police in Mexico are questioning 10 guards at a prison in the capital, Mexico City, after three high-profile inmates escaped. The three, including a man suspected of being the financier for the sons of jailed drug lord Joaquín Guzmán, walked through five gates before driving away in an official car. Three guards have reportedly confessed to helping the inmates escape. ...

US life expectancy rose in 2018 for the first time in four years, a welcome reversal for health officials combating a drug epidemic gripping the country. Deaths from drug overdoses declined for the first time in over 20 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Overall life expectancy improved by 0.1 years from 2017, to 78 years and ...

The Pentagon has said that 34 US troops were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) following an Iranian attack on their base in Iraq. Seventeen troops are still under medical observation, a spokesman said. President Donald Trump had said no Americans were injured in the 8 January strike, which came in retaliation for the US killing of an Iranian general. ...

Nigeria’s corruption watchdog, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has filed multiple corruption charges against former Attorney General Mohammed Adoke, who is suspected of taking bribes to facilitate a $1.3bn (£845m) oil block sale. Multinational oil giants Shell and Eni’s local subsidiaries were also charged with illegally assisting Mr Adoke. Mr Adoke has denied any wrongdoing. Shell and Eni ...

The US embassy serving Libya has warned that the shutdown of the country’s oil fields risks worsening the humanitarian emergency there. An embassy statement called for the immediate resumption of production. Libya’s state-run, National Oil Corporation says the forces of the rebel commander, General Khalifa Haftar, have in recent days halted oil field operations in the east and south. Oil ...

The Chinese government is carrying out an intense attack on the global system for defending human rights, Kenneth Roth, executive director at Human Rights Watch, said on Tuesday in releasing Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2020.  Decades of progress that have allowed people around the world to speak freely, live without fear of arbitrary imprisonment and torture, and enjoy other human rights are at ...

The regulatory environment for women’s economic participation has improved over the past two years, with 40 economies enacting 62 reforms that will help women – half the world’s population – realize their potential and contribute to economic growth and development, says a new World Bank study. Still, the results are uneven — women in many countries have only a fraction ...