
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was appointed chancellor of Queen's University Belfast on Thursday, taking up the mainly ceremonial role in Northern Ireland where the peace process was one of the greatest successes of her husband's presidency.

China on Friday confirmed more cases of a mystery viral pneumonia that has sparked fears about a resurgence of SARS, the flu-like virus that killed hundreds of people more than a decade ago. The 44 cases, up from the initial 27 announced on Tuesday, include 11 severe cases, health authorities in the central Chinese city of Wuhan said in a statement.

The Australian navy on Friday began evacuating around 1,000 people stranded on the east coast of the fire-ravaged country as a searing weather front was set to whip up more blazes across the states of Victoria and New South Wales (NSW).

US President Donald Trump ordered the killing of Iran Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani, who died in Baghdad “in a decisive defensive action to protect US personnel abroad”, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

By Gwynne Dyer – Down on the turkey farm, the Scottish and Irish birds noticed the smiling man was holding a hatchet behind his back and hid. The Welsh turkeys looked confused and huddled together squawking. But the English turkeys marched bravely up to the chopping block, confident this would be a Christmas to remember.

A Catalan separatist party said on Thursday it would abstain during the Spanish parliament's upcoming vote to confirm Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez as prime minister, potentially ending the prolonged national political deadlock.

A partial new US-China trade agreement will be signed in the middle of next month, US President Donald Trump said, announcing that he will also then travel to China for continued talks.

Thousands of tourists have been given less than 48 hours to evacuate fire-ravaged coastal communities as Australia braces for a heatwave on Saturday expected to fan deadly bushfires.

The number of people killed in large commercial airplanes crashes fell by more than 50% in 2019 despite a high-profile Boeing 737 MAX crash in Ethiopia in March, a Dutch consulting firm said on Wednesday.

Pope Francis apologized on Wednesday for slapping a woman who had grabbed him as he greeted a crowd of devotees, shortly before he delivered a speech denouncing ”every form of violence against women.