By Caroline Davies BBC News Thousands of Pakistanis are taking the Libya route to seek work in Europe. It involves a boat journey, the perils of which were highlighted when an overcrowded vessel sank off Greece in June with huge loss of life. Of nearly 13,000 Pakistanis who headed for Libya and Egypt this year,…

Reuters By Sean Dilley in Washington & Jaroslav Lukiv in London BBC News The US has urged Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban to “reverse policies responsible for the deteriorating human rights situation” in the country, particularly for women, girls, and “vulnerable communities”. It also pressed for the release of detained US citizens during talks with the hardline…

By Tchima Illa Issoufou & Beverly Ochieng BBC World Service, Niamey & Nairobi In a sign of growing hostility towards the West since the coup in Niger, a businessman proudly shows off his outfit in the colours of the Russian flag in the traditional heartland of deposed President Mohamed Bazoum. Since the coup, there has…

Fresh off a James Beard Foundation win as the best chef in the American Southwest, chef Andrew Black shares his recipe for scallops, inspired by a classic Jamaican fish stew. In Jamaica, “run down” – or rondón, run dun or rundung as it’s also known – is a meltingly tender seafood stew or sauce made…

This once-mighty river is where humans first developed agriculture, writing and the wheel. But now the lifeblood of the ancient world is under threat. Reaching the source of the Tigris is not an easy task. Where a dirt road ends, a small path leads over the shoulder of a jagged mountain whose peaks are gnawed…

PA Media Coutts has offered to reinstate Nigel Farage’s personal and business bank accounts, the former Ukip politician has claimed. Mr Farage said the new boss of Coutts had written to him to say he could keep the accounts. Coutts and its parent company NatWest have been embroiled in a row with Mr Farage, which…

Focusing on a ménage à trois, acclaimed indie film Passages is out in the US this week – but has already been at the centre of a controversy over its rating. Anna Bogutskaya reports. How much bum is too much bum for under-18 audiences? And is it to do with the angle? The lighting? Or just…

From floodplain restoration to master-planned communities, Vermont and other US states are testing how best to protect people from extreme floods A black and red kayak sits propped up outside Tygart Mountain Sports in Ludlow, Vermont, strapped to the pillar as an invitation for passers-by to enter the ski and mountaineering store. Moments later, a…

Getty Images By Anthony Zurcher North America correspondent @awzurcher Donald Trump’s mounting legal troubles have not dented his status as the clear frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. In fact, the criminal charges have strengthened his position. Why? The former US president has been indicted twice in the past four months – once…

The origins of the very earliest life on Earth have long fascinated scientists. Can we recreate the conditions that gave rise to it? Some 4.5 billion years ago, the newly formed planet Earth was devoid of animals, plants and bacteria. Yet just a few hundred million years later, the first primitive life forms emerged. How…