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The US ambassador to Estonia is resigning, reportedly in frustration at remarks made by President Donald Trump about America's European allies. James D Melville revealed in a Facebook post that Mr Trump's comments had brought forward his decision to retire, Foreign Policy magazine reported. The US president has imposed trade tariffs on some EU industries and strongly criticised Nato allies. Other US diplomats have also left their posts early in recent months. In January,  US ambassador to Panama John Feeley resigned  saying he was no longer able to serve under President Trump. A month earlier, Elizabeth Shackelford resigned from her post in Nairobi where she worked for the US mission to Somalia. In her letter of resignation to then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, she said she was quitting because the US had abandoned human rights as a priority, Foreign Policy reported. In the private Facebook post seen by Foreign Policy , Mr Melville reportedly told friends:...

Tata Steel and Thyssenkrupp have agreed a merger that will create Europe's second-biggest steelmaker. The deal will mean Indian-owned Tata Steel's UK plants are merged into a pan-European venture with annual sales of about £13bn. These include the UK's biggest steelworks at Port Talbot in Wales, which employs 4,000 people. Tata said its "ambition" was to not have any compulsory redundancies in the UK as part of the joint venture. German-owned Thyssenkrupp's supervisory board gave the go-ahead to the merger on Friday - the two companies have been in negotiations for more than a year. Between them, they employ about 48,000 workers. The merged group anticipates it will make costs savings of between £350m to £440m a year. Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Steel, said: "This is a significant milestone for Tata Steel and we remain fully committed to the long-term interest of the joint venture company. "We are confident that this...

Nine people have been confirmed dead after a tanker conveying petrol went up in flames on the Otedola Bridge, along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway on Thursday evening, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) has said. Adesina Tiamiyu, the agency’s general manager, said 54 vehicles were razed by the inferno. “On getting to the scene of the incident it was discovered that a Mack tanker truck loaded with 33,000 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) moving inward Berger at about 5:23 pm, fell and spilled its content on the road resulting into fire outbreak,” Mr Tiamiyu said in a statement to PREMIUM TIMES. “Unfortunately, nine bodies were confirmed dead and recovered from the scene (eight adults and one minor) and four persons sustained various degrees of injuries and taken to the hospital.” Mr Tiamiyu said efforts were ongoing to move all the burnt vehicles off the road. The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) had earlier  said the accident was cause...

The UK tolerated "inexcusable" treatment of US detainees after the 9/11 attacks, MPs have found. The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC)  said it was "beyond doubt" the UK knew how the US handled some detainees. The ISC found no "smoking gun" indicating a policy of deliberately overlooking such cases. The chair of the parliamentary group on extraordinary rendition, Ken Clarke, called for an independent inquiry into the UK's role, "to get to the truth". According to the ISC report, the UK continued to supply intelligence to allies in 232 cases where British officials knew or suspected mistreatment. Prime Minister Theresa May said British personnel had been working in "a new and challenging operating environment" which some were "not prepared" for. She added "it took too long to recognise that guidance and training for staff was inadequate", and said British intelligence and the Army were ...

Mosquito used to illustrate the story. Photo: WebMD Australian scientists on Thursday said they have taken a crucial step in developing a new malaria vaccine by using a novel “atomic-scale” blueprint to track how the parasite invades human cells. “With this unprecedented level of detail, we can now begin to design new therapies that specifically target and disrupt the parasite’s invasion machinery, preventing malaria parasites from hijacking human red blood cells to spread through the blood and, ultimately, be transmitted to others,” Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research Associate Professor, Wai-Hong Tham, said in a statement. Her team’s discovery was published in scientific journal, Nature. The researchers’ work involves using Nobel Prize-winning microscopy technology to map previously hidden first contact between the Plasmodium vivax malaria parasites and young red blood cells they invade that marks the start of the parasites’ spread throughout the body. Acco...

At least 15 people have been killed in a fire at a market in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. More than 70 people were injured in the blaze, which broke out in the middle of the night destroying many properties. The Gikomba is one of the largest open-air markets in the city and fires there are frequent, leading to speculation about possible arson attacks, The Standard newspaper says. However, the cause of the current fire is not yet known. The St John Ambulance service said the fire broke out at 02:30 local time (23:30 GMT on Wednesday) and spread to apartments and market stalls before being contained after about 90 minutes. Some of the victims were burned while others inhaled poisonous fumes as they tried to salvage their property. Hospital officials said there were four children among the dead. Pictures from Reuters news agency showed people searching the wreckage and ash. The injured have been rushed to different hospitals across the city. The market is well kno...

An appeals court in Sudan has overturned the death sentence of a woman who killed her husband after he allegedly raped her, her lawyer says. Noura Hussein, 19, was instead sentenced to five years in jail, lawyer Abdelaha Mohamad said. Her mother, Zainab Ahmed, told the BBC she was happy her daughter's life had been spared. International celebrities had backed an online campaign, #JusticeforNoura, to demand Ms Hussein's release. Last month, an Islamic court had sentenced her to death by hanging, following her conviction for the premeditated murder of her husband, Abdulrahman Mohamed Hammad. Ms Hussein said her husband had recruited some of his own cousins who allegedly held her down as he raped her. When he allegedly attempted to do the same the following day she lashed out at him with a knife and stabbed him to death. Ms Hussein was forced into the marriage at the age of 16. Her husband, who was also her cousin, was 16 years her senior. According to a 2017 re...

US astronaut Buzz Aldrin is suing two of his children and his former business manager alleging they stole money from him and are slandering his legacy. The lawsuit, which was revealed on Monday, was filed in a Florida court one week after his children petitioned to take control of his finances. His family members had told a judge that he requires a legal guardian because he is in "cognitive decline". The 88-year-old was the second man to ever walk on the surface of the Moon. In a Wall Street Journal interview last week, the former US Air Force colonel said: "Nobody is going to come close to thinking I should be under a guardianship." In his lawsuit, he claims that his son, daughter and former manager Christina Korp also undermined his "personal romantic relationships" by forbidding him from getting married. At issue is the management of his private company, Buzz Aldrin Enterprises, and his non-profit organisation, the ShareSpace Foundatio...

Two British grandparents found dead at their home in Jamaica are thought to have been murdered, police have said. Charlie Anderson, 75, and his wife Gayle, 71, from Manchester, had recently retired to the Caribbean island. They were found dead by neighbours in their home in Mount Pleasant on Friday afternoon. Their sons said in a statement they were "completely devastated" by the deaths of the "hugely popular" couple. The couple, who were also known as Halford and Florence, lived in a rural community in Hope Bay, Portland, on the north-east of the island. High murder rate It has been reported locally they had recently called in police to investigate money they said had been fraudulently taken from a credit card. Jamaican police confirmed they were involved in another ongoing investigation but said they had not yet established a motive for the killing. The couple's deaths come as Jamaican authorities seek to tackle a crime wave which has result...

As Saudi Arabia lifts its ban on women drivers, Roa Altaweli, a midwife in Jeddah, makes her first drive to work. Here is her story. I woke up earlier than usual today. I was so excited that I couldn't sleep. Today I'm driving to work, and for the first time I'm not taking a backseat. I'm behind the wheel. I still can't believe I'm going to be driving in Jeddah. Saudi Arabia has today finally lifted its ban on women drivers. I was up until after midnight scrolling through social media for photos and videos of women hitting the roads in the moments after the ban was lifted. Day one is a quiet one on the roads - a school summer holiday. Not a bad thing for anxious first-time drivers. Accompanied by my dad, for a few tips and some moral support, I set out for work. On the way I pass the police, but I'm not scared of being pulled over. I have a licence and I'm driving legally in Saudi Arabia. I stop to get coffee from a drive-through, and I'm...

An ape that is new to science has been discovered buried in an ancient tomb in China. The gibbon has already become extinct, suggesting humans wiped out primate populations long before the modern age. Living primates are in peril, with many on the brink of extinction. The new gibbon, named  Junzi imperialis , may be the first to vanish as a direct result of human actions, according to scientists led by the Zoological Society of London. "All of the world's apes - chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utans and gibbons - are threatened with extinction today due to human activities, but no ape species were thought to have become extinct as a result of hunting or habitat loss," said lead researcher Dr Samuel Turvey. "However, the discovery of the recently extinct  Junzi  changes this, and highlights the vulnerability of gibbons in particular." First emperor The partial skull of the gibbon was found in a burial chamber dating from about 2,300 years ago in Sha...

Janet Jackson has opened up about her struggle to find happiness, saying she "fell easily into despair" but found contentment after becoming a mother. In a candid letter for  Essence magazine , the pop star said she had suffered low self-esteem and "intense" depression throughout her life. "Depression is a tenacious and scary condition," she wrote. "Thankfully, I found my way way through it." The 52-year-old thanked God and her infant son for helping her find peace. "The height of happiness is holding my baby son in my arms and hearing him coo, or when I look into his smiling eyes and watch him respond to my tenderness," she wrote of one-year-old Eissa Al Mana. "When I kiss him. When I sing him softly to sleep. During those sacred times, happiness is everywhere." "Happiness is in gratitude to God. Happiness is saying, 'Thank you, God, for my life, my energy and my capacity to grow in love.' " ...

Richard Akindele The Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, has dismissed a lecturer of the institution, Richard Akindele, who demanded sex from a female student to help her improve her grades. The dismissal was disclosed during a press conference by the Vice Chancellor, Eyitope Ogunbodede, on Wednesday. Mr. Ogunbodede said the conclusion was reached after the investigative panel found Mr. Akindele guilty of inappropriate relationship with one of his students, Monica Osagie, a claim to which he admitted. The vice chancellor said the dismissal of Mr. Akindele will serve as deterrent to others as “the university has taken further steps to ensure total elimination of sexual harassment in the OAU community” PREMIUM TIMES reported the audio conversation between Mr. Akindele, a professor in the accounting department, and Ms Osagie. The university had initially suspended Mr Akindele indefinitely, following an interim report of its investigation. Read the full statement by the vic...

When a one-day-old baby, Paul Joseph Fronczak, was stolen from a Chicago hospital in 1964, the terrible story made headlines across America. Then, two years later, an abandoned boy was identified as the missing baby and handed over to the relieved parents. Years later, Paul began to investigate what had happened - and was shocked by what he found. Paul Fronczak was 10 when he went hunting for Christmas presents in his parents' basement. He pushed aside a sofa to get into the crawl space. There, he discovered three mysterious boxes full of letters, sympathy cards and newspaper clippings. One headline read: "200 search for stolen baby." Another: "Mother asks kidnapper to return baby." He recognised his parents in the pictures, looking distraught and much younger. Then he read that their baby son, Paul Joseph, had been kidnapped. "Wow, that's me!" he thought. It was a sensational tale. On 26 April 1964 his mother, Dora Fronczak, had given ...

Canada's parliament has passed a law legalising the recreational use of marijuana nationwide. The Cannabis Act passed its final hurdle on Tuesday in a 52-29 vote in the Senate. The bill controls and regulates how the drug can be grown, distributed, and sold. Canadians will be able to buy and consume cannabis legally as early as this September. The country is the second worldwide to legalise the drug's recreational use. Uruguay became the first country to legalise the sale of cannabis for recreational use  in December 2013, while a number of US states have also voted to permit it. Cannabis possession first became a crime in Canada in 1923 but medical use has been legal since 2001. The bill will likely receive Royal Assent this week, and the government will then choose an official date when the law will come into force. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that until now, "it's been too easy for our kids to get marijuana - and for criminals to reap the ...