The new Republican majority in the House of Representatives takes power Wednesday January 5 and vows to open a legislative battle with President Barack Obama over the size of government and how much it spends.

Taliban militants used a butcher’s knife to chop off the hand of a man convicted of theft in a self-appointed court in Pakistan’s northwest, residents and officials said Wednesday.

Health officials and medical agencies in Haiti are racing to stem a cholera epidemic that has reached the crowded capital Port-au-Prince and threatens to spiral out of control.

A senior officer in the Democratic Republic of Congo has used the military to illegally profit from a gold mine, sources have told the BBC.

A rare pink diamond goes on auction next week – and Sotheby’s says the gem could set a new world record if it sells for its estimated price of $27 million to $38 million.

Climate change disasters on the African continent have raised the need for an humanitarian response as poverty continues to plague communities, the Red Cross director for Africa said on Wednesday.

World powers led by US President Barack Obama on Tuesday criticised Israel’s decision to build 1,300 new settler homes in east Jerusalem, warning it risked wrecking an already frail peace process with the Palestinians.

If it had not been for Mahatma Gandhi, he may not have become president of the United States, Barack Obama said during his address to the Indian Parliament Monday.

Jordanians are set to head to the polls on Tuesday, despite a boycott urged by the country’s largest opposition party.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has admitted to paying for sex in the past, said Friday his government planned to criminalise street prostitution, bringing mockery from the opposition.