China has sharply rejected statements made by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in the United States about Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The US president said it his Chinese counterpart was upset because he didn't know a balloon shot down over the US had been blown off course, something that was "embarassing for dictators."

Ferdinand Marcos Junior has emerged as the favourite to win the Philippines’ presidential election on May 9. His father, Ferdinand Marcos, ruled the country with an iron fist from 1965 to 1986 - imposing martial law, torturing and killing thousands of opponents, and plundering public coffers. The election could be a turning point for this country of 110 million people. If Marcos Junior wins, it will mark the full rehabilitation of a political dynasty, decades after its despotic reign ended.

Former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre, who was serving a life term in Senegal for crimes against humanity, died from Covid-19 on Tuesday aged 79. Those who suffered under his rule expressed mixed feelings over his death.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi describes Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan as a dictator, in remarks which have inflamed a diplomatic row between Turkey and the EU. Draghi made the comments after a summit in Turkey with the EU's two top leaders in which European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen ended up without a chair.

Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs Claude Joseph spoke to FRANCE 24 about concerns the United States and the international community have of the recent political turmoil in his country over the presidential term limit.

Forty years after South Korea's spy chief Kim Jae-gyu was executed for shooting dead his boss, dictator Park Chung-hee, the assassin's sister is seeking to clear him of treason, arguing the killing was in the service of the country.

Since taking power, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has endeavored to portray the country as a progressive, cosmopolitan nation. But in reality, it remains a repressive autocracy.

Thousands of supporters of Gambia's longtime dictator, Yahya Jammeh, have protested for his right to return from exile. But accounts differ on whether an agreement is in place for him to do so.

Forty-four years after his death, the remains of former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco are being exhumed from a vast mausoleum in the hills near Madrid and moved to a discreet grave close to the capital.

Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini "built roads" in Italy and achieved other "positive things" before following Adolf Hitler into war, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani has said. His remarks prompted outrage.

The civil war that brought down Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi allowed the country's women to carve out niches for themselves in public life. Now they are being squeezing out and even killed.