BSS Marilyn Nevalainen was just 15 years old, and pregnant, when she left Sweden with a jihadist recruit, though she did not realise what a mistake she had made until she was in Iraq. Desperate, she called home from the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq begging for help, and was ultimately rescued…
BSS France’s countryside comes to Paris on Saturday as the agricultural expo kicks off, the annual opportunity for urbanites to channel their inner peasants and politicians to burnish their farm cred. Strutting cows, prize pigs and splendid cockerels will preen for the cameras as nearly 700,000 visitors — a third of them children under 12…
BSS Iran was expected to announce preliminary results Saturday from elections for parliament and a second poll to pick a powerful group of clerics who appoint the country’s supreme leader. Coming just a month after sanctions were lifted under Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, the outcome of Friday’s voting is being seen as a…
BSS Calm prevailed Saturday across much of war-ravaged Syria on the first day of a landmark ceasefire, as a task force led by Moscow and Washington prepared to begin monitoring the truce. On the stroke of midnight, firing stopped in suburbs around the capital and the devastated northern city of Aleppo, AFP correspondents said, after…
BSS Oil prices turned lower in late trade Friday as hopes fizzled for a fix in the global oversupply that could support prices. Prices had jumped Thursday after Venezuela raised expectations that it and other major producers would meet in March to try to find ways to stabilize the market. The US benchmark West Texas…
BSS The farmers have exceeded the fixed farming target of onion by 3.11 per cent so far predicting bumper production in Rangpur agriculture region this season, official sources said. After completing sowing of onion seed, the enthusiastic farmers have still been continuing transplantation of its seedling at places to further exceed the fixed farming target…
BSS The world’s 20 top economies will agree to use all policy tools to lift sluggish global growth, according to a draft communique obtained by Bloomberg News on Saturday, despite German disquiet over fiscal and monetary stimulus. The G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs meeting in Shanghai agreed to use those methods, as well…
BSS France’s top film awards ceremony, the Cesars, celebrated diversity on Friday with honours for films about the struggles of life as an immigrant and forced marriage. The creme de la creme of French showbiz gathered in Paris Friday for the 41st Cesars just two days ahead of its Hollywood equivalent, the Oscars, which have…
BSS Yoko Ono, the Japanese-born singer, artist and widow of John Lennon, was hospitalized Friday in New York with flu-like symptoms, US media reported. The 83-year-old went to the hospital on her doctor’s recommendation, with what appeared to be “just an advanced case of the flu,” her spokesman Elliot Mintz said, according…
BSS Gianni Infantino on Friday won FIFA’s presidential election and vowed to lead the scandal-tainted body into a new era as he faced immediate calls to ensure genuine reform. The 45-year-old UEFA general secretary scored a convincing victory in the battle to replace the disgraced Sepp Blatter, whose 18-year reign ended with FIFA mired in…