AFP, WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama chose the centrist judge Merrick Garland for a pivotal vacancy on the Supreme Court Wednesday, warning Republican foes their “unprecedented” refusal to consider his nominee threatens the integrity of US institutions. Obama tapped the 63-year-old judge…

AFP, JERUSALEM: Two Palestinians stabbed an Israeli soldier near a group of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank on Thursday before being shot dead, the army said, the latest in a months-long wave of violence. The incident occurred at the Ariel junction in the West Bank. The female soldier was…

AFP, WASHINGTON: First lady Michelle Obama said Wednesday she had no desire to follow Hillary Clinton and run for president herself, saying she could have more impact outside of Washington’s polarized politics. Obama made the remarks as she addressed the South by Southwest festival in Austin,…

AFP, LAGOS: The death toll in a suicide attack by female bombers at a mosque in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri has risen to 25, a regional official said Thursday. “Twenty-two people died immediately following the blast and three others died later in the hospital, bringing the total…

AFP, NEW DELHI: Police in India arrested four Muslim students on charges of breaching the peace after rumours the men were cooking beef sparked protests, an officer said Thursday. Hundreds of fellow students and right-wing Hindu activists had gathered outside a university residence in the northern state…

AFP, BRUSSELS: Belgian police found an Islamic State (IS) flag next to the body of an Algerian killed during a raid in Brussels, investigators said Wednesday as they raced to track down two suspected extremists who escaped. In Paris, meanwhile, French police said they had arrested four suspected Islamists,…

AFP, BAGHDAD: The United Nations said Thursday it was concerned that many of the 35,000 people recently displaced by fighting in Iraq’s Anbar province were still very close to the front lines. Thousands of civilians have been fleeing Hit, 145 kilometres (90 miles) west of Baghdad, as security…