CNN – Europe/Mideast/Africa

By Sammy Mngqosini, CNN The South African government’s tourism board has conditionally approved plans to sponsor English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur amid an energy crisis, South African Tourism (SAT) announced in a statement on Thursday. The controversial sponsorship deal, which is yet to be finalized, is reported to be around $58 million (R1 billion). “We cannot

By Delia Gallagher, CNN Pope Francis arrived in Juba, South Sudan on Friday fulfilling a long-time wish to visit the war-ravaged country, currently in the midst of a major humanitarian emergency. In a first, the Pope is undertaking the trip together with the head of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Justin Welby, and the Moderator of

By Charlotte Banks, CNN A British man has pleaded guilty to threatening to assassinate the late Queen Elizabeth II on Christmas Day 2021, police have said. Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, pleaded guilty to three charges, including treason and possession of an offensive weapon, at a hearing at London’s Old Bailey court on Friday following an

By Amarachi Orie, CNN It was only two weeks ago that Spike, a 23-year-old chihuahua mix from Ohio, was named the oldest living dog. Now, he has been utterly dethroned. Bobi, at the age of 30 years and 268 days, has been crowned the world’s oldest living dog — and the oldest dog to ever

By Tim Lister and Frederik Pleitgen, CNN Russia is bringing its war against Ukraine closer to the industrial cities of Donetsk with a series of missile strikes against densely populated areas. On Thursday, two S-300 missiles were fired at the center of the city of Kramatorsk, landing about a minute apart and less than a

By Hande Atay Alam and Artemis Moshtaghian, CNN One of Iran’s most influential filmmakers, Jafar Panahi, has reportedly gone on a hunger strike in Tehran’s Evin prison to protest his continued detention. The move by Panahi, a Cannes film festival award winner who directed such movies as “The White Balloon,” “The Circle,” and “No Bears,”

CNN By Jennifer Hauser, CNN A former senior Russian army officer says he saw his comrades torturing prisoners of war in Ukraine, in a rare eyewitness account from within Moscow’s ranks to address widespread allegations of Russian war crimes. Speaking to CNN’s Erin Burnett on Thursday, former Lt. Konstantin Yefremov said he witnessed a deputy

By Jennifer Hauser, CNN A former senior Russian army officer says he saw his comrades torturing prisoners of war in Ukraine, in a rare eyewitness account from within Moscow’s ranks to address widespread allegations of Russian war crimes. Speaking to CNN’s Erin Burnett on Thursday, former Lt. Konstantin Yefremov said he witnessed a deputy commander

By Hadas Gold, CNN Israel and Sudan have finalized the text of a peace agreement to be signed “later this year,” Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen announced on Thursday. Speaking upon returning to Tel Aviv from a visit to Sudan’s capital Khartoum, Cohen said the trip was made with the consent of the United States,

By Tim Lister, Fred Pleitgen and Sana Noor Haq, CNN A fresh barrage of missiles ripped through the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine Thursday, sending flames and thick plumes into the air as screaming civilians scrambled to find shelter. A CNN team had just arrived at the scene and heard the first incoming strike

By Mohammed Tawfeeq, Jennifer Hauser and Jessie Yeung, CNN Israel carried out airstrikes in Gaza early on Thursday after intercepting a rocket attack from the coastal enclave, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. In a Twitter post, the IDF said Israeli fighter jets targeted a chemical production site and a weapons manufacturing facility owned by

By Amy Croffey and Sharon Braithwaite Andrew Tate, the controversial former kickboxer turned social media influencer, and his brother Tristan have lost their appeal and will remain in detention in Romania on allegations of human trafficking and rape, CNN affiliate Antena 3 reported Wednesday. The brothers will remain in the custody of Bucharest Police until

By Tim Lister, Frederik Pleitgen and Konstantyn Hak, CNN In the town of Krasnohorivka, grim Soviet-era apartment buildings stand nearly but not quite empty, with only a few residents remaining. Blocks on the southern edges of town are burned shells, windows shattered and awnings dangling in the winter breeze. Houses are largely shuttered; their tenants

By Artemis Moshtaghian, CNN An Iranian couple, both social media influencers, have been given lengthy prison sentences after a video emerged of them dancing in a main square in the capital Tehran. In a video shared widely on social media, Astiyazh Haghighi, 21, is seen dancing without a headscarf with her fiancé Amir Mohammad Ahmadi,

By Yulia Kesaieva, Mick Krever and Jack Guy, CNN Ukrainian authorities have conducted a series of anti-corruption raids across the country, uncovering stashes of cash as well as luxury watches and cars. Among those caught up in the investigations is the acting head of the Kyiv tax authority, who was allegedly part of a scheme

By Katie Hunt, CNN From the ruins of an embalming workshop, scientists have discovered the substances and concoctions ancient Egyptians used to mummify the dead. While scholars had previously learned the names of substances used to embalm the dead from Egyptian texts, they were — until recently — only able to guess at exactly what