AFP, cairo:  Gunmen killed eight civilians, including a child, in Egypt's Sinai peninsula where the army is battling a jihadist insurgency, medical and security sources said Thursday. Unidentified armed men shot and killed seven men and a four-year-old child in their home in El-Arish in North…

AFP, nairobi: Conflicts, floods and failed rains caused by El Nino have sparked a dramatic rise in the number of people going hungry in east Africa, especially in drought-hit Ethiopia, the United Nations said Thursday. El Nino, a global weather pattern that periodically wreaks havoc, is expected to…

AFP, tehran: Hassan Rouhani heads to Italy and France from Saturday for the first visit of an Iranian leader to Europe in 16 years, as ties thaw after Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers. In Rome on Saturday and Sunday, Rouhani will meet Italian officials and Pope Francis, while on Monday and…

AFP, moscow: Russia on Thursday sentenced a former policeman to 13 years in prison on high treason charges, accusing him of spying for the CIA, the security service said. The Moscow District Court convicted a former employee of the interior ministry's Moscow region branch, Yevgeny Chistov, of high…

AFP, VIENNA: Austrian authorities on Thursday said they had smashed a people-trafficking gang believed to have transported 1,800 migrants to Vienna since February. The group was charging 250-300 euros ($270-320) per person to bring them from Serbia and Hungary, raking in more than 500,000 euros, Interior…

AFP, london: India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday began a three-day visit to London focused on trade deals and connecting with the diaspora…

AFP, RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Thursday executed one of its citizens convicted of murder, adding to a toll which rights group Amnesty International says is the kingdom's highest in two decades. Nasser al-Qahtani was put to death in Eastern Province after being convicted of shooting dead another Saudi,…