White House backtracks on refugees decision after criticism and says Biden will announce increased cap by May 15 The White House said Friday President Joe Biden will set a new, increased refugee cap next month after facing a barrage of criticism when officials confirmed to CNN and other outlets that it would remain at the historically low level set by …

Russia sanctioned eight senior US administration officials Friday, including FBI director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, one of several measures it took just a day after President Joe Biden announced sweeping sanctions against Russia and warned against a “cycle of escalation.” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday that Russia will also expel 10 US diplomats, curb …

Raúl Castro says he is resigning as Cuban Communist Party leader, ending his family’s six decades in power. Mr Castro, 89, told a party congress that he is handing over the leadership to a younger generation “full of passion and anti-imperialist spirit”. His successor will be voted in at the end of the four-day congress. The move, which was expected, …

Jordan’s King has broken his silence about a royal family fallout that rattled the country, calling the episode the “most painful” of his 22-year reign. The saga began over the weekend, when Jordanian authorities detained around 15 people, including a high-profile political figure and at least one member of the royal family. A popular prince, Hamzah bin Al Hussein, claimed …

The United Arab Emirates has not proven that Princess Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum, the missing daughter of Dubai’s ruler, is alive, the United Nations has said. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said Friday it has asked the UAE for “proof of life” for the Princess, but has not received it. “We haven’t …

America plans to “close the book” on its 20-year war in Afghanistan — but the departure of US troops will usher in an uncertain chapter for Afghan civilians. US President Joe Biden announced .Wednesday he would end America’s longest war by September 11, deeming the two-decade-long conflict in Afghanistan no longer an American priority. “We cannot continue the cycle of …

Dawit was watching television at a relative’s one-room apartment in Axum, a historic city in Ethiopia’s war-torn, northern Tigray region, in early March when a news bulletin flashed up on the screen. Graphic, unverified footage had surfaced of a mass killing near Dawit’s hometown of Mahibere Dego, in a mountainous area of central Tigray. In the shaky video Ethiopian soldiers …

A Burkina Faso court charged former President Blaise Compaore in absentia on Tuesday in connection with the 1987 murder of then-President Thomas Sankara, one of the most infamous killings in Africa’s post-independence history. Sankara, a charismatic Marxist revolutionary often called “Africa’s Che Guevara,” was assassinated during a coup led by his former friend Compaore. Compaore went on to rule Burkina …

It was a kidnapping as brazen as it was unexpected. While the numbers are murky, more than 300 schoolboys are still missing after an attack on a boys’ school in northwest Nigeria nearly a week ago. A large number of attackers riding motorbikes ambushed the children at the school. “They said they were not here to rob us, that we …

How can the EU better handle irregular migration? Illegal immigration has been out of the EU´s toughest problems to handle recently, especially during the migration crisis of 2015, where more than 1 million migrants and asylum seekers from countries like Syria, Iraq or Pakistan arrived in the EU caused by events like the Syrian civil war. Irregular migration is caused …