INTERNATIONAL

India’s top court has ruled adultery is no longer a crime, striking down a 158-year-old colonial-era law which it said treated women as male property. Previously any man who had sex with a married woman, without the permission of her husband, had committed a crime. A petitioner had challenged the law saying it was arbitrary and discriminated against men and ...

Donald Trump has said he turned down a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, putting a damper on high hopes for trade renegotiations. Mr Trump’s comments were made as Nafta talks continue to drag on. “I must be honest with you, we’re not getting along at all with their negotiators,” he said at a United Nations news conference in ...

A Russian man accused of the Salisbury poisoning is a military officer who received an honour from Vladimir Putin, an investigative website says. Following the attempted poisoning in March, UK investigators identified one of the two suspects as Ruslan Boshirov. President Putin claimed Boshirov was a civilian, and on Russian TV, he himself said he visited Salisbury as a tourist. ...

The first of three woman to accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct has said the assault “drastically altered” her life. Prof Christine Blasey Ford’s written testimony describes how the alleged incident between her and the judge has had a “lasting impact” on her. Prof Ford and Judge Kavanaugh are due to testify before a Senate panel about ...

US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has dismissed a third woman’s accusation against him of misconduct as “ridiculous”. The new claim, which is being investigated by the Senate, alleges Judge Kavanaugh committed serious sexual assault in high school. In a statement, the judge said he did not know the accuser, Julie Swetnick, and her allegations “never happened”. He is set ...

An investigative journalism website has published what it says is the real identity of one of the Russian intelligence officers suspected of the Salisbury nerve agent poisoning. The Bellingcat group claims the man who was named as Ruslan Boshirov is actually Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga. British officials have not commented. The BBC understands there is no dispute over the identification. UK ...

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has defended Mesut Ozil, a German footballer with Turkish roots who has faced criticism for posing in photos with Turkey’s leader. Ozil, 29, quit international football in July, citing “racism and disrespect” towards him in Germany over the photos. But President Erdogan said: “Should we lynch a German player who plays in our country when he takes ...

US National Security Adviser John Bolton has warned Iran’s rulers that there will be “hell to pay” if they harm the US, its citizens or allies. His comments came hours after President Donald Trump accused Iran of sowing “chaos, death and destruction” across the Middle East. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani responded by criticising the Trump administration for its hostility. The ...

A Kenyan journalist and TV presenter has won this year’s BBC World News Komla Dumor Award. Waihiga Mwaura presents Kenya’s most-watched evening news bulletin on Citizen TV. As part of the prize, he will spend three months at the BBC in London and travel back to the continent to report on a story there. The award was created to honour ...

The co-founders of photo-sharing giant Instagram, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, are both leaving the firm. Mr Systrom, the chief executive of the app, said they were departing to “explore our curiosity and creativity”. Instagram, which was purchased by Facebook in 2012 for $1bn (£760m) in cash and stock, now has more than one billion users. The exit comes amid ...