world

Nearly 300 people are being quarantined on a cruise ship at the St. Lucia port in the Caribbean after a crew member was confirmed to have measles. Dr. Merlene Fredericks-James, St. Lucia’s chief medical officer, confirmed the quarantine on Tuesday in a filmed statement but did not reveal the name of the cruise ship. Neither […]

Violent attacks against Jewish people have spiked significantly over the last year ― leading Jewish communities around the world to feel increasingly marginalized and anxious about their safety, researchers at Tel Aviv University have found.  The number of violent attacks against Jewish people rose by 13% in 2018 compared to the previous year, according to […]

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for violating his bail conditions after seven years holed up inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.  The whistleblower sought refuge at the London address in 2012 after he was accused of sexual offences in Sweden.   But the 47-year-old was finally arrested last month […]

DOHA: Iran expressed renewed support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Wednesday, as the opposition called for a huge May Day protest after armed clashes erupted in the capital Caracas.Maduro said he had defeated an attempted coup on Tuesday night led by his opponent, self-proclaimed president Juan Guaido.Guaido, who is recognised as acting president by more […]

PACARAIMA, Brazil — Venezuelans awoke Tuesday morning to a call by self-declared interim president Juan Guaidó to bring down Nicolás Maduro’s regime. Venezuela is mired in a deep political, economic and humanitarian crisis that has led more than 3 million people to leave the country, according to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR. “I never […]

A fire has blazed through the British forest that once inspired author A.A. Milne to imagine a Hundred Acre Wood and the ramblings of a silly old bear named Winnie-the-Pooh. The fire at Ashdown Forest in East Sussex in southern England started on Sunday night and lasted until early the next morning, park officials reported […]

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó launched his most drastic attempt yet to oust President Nicolás Maduro on Tuesday morning, when he appeared in front of armed forces and called for an uprising against the government. Guaido proclaimed the support of some of the nation’s military and called on his backers to flood the streets to […]

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Anti-government demonstrators clashed with troops loyal to Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro at an air base in the capital hours after opposition leader Juan Guaidó took to the streets in a bold and risky attempt to lead a military uprising against the embattled socialist. The early-morning rebellion seems to have only limited […]

A beluga whale was found wearing what appeared to be a Russian-made harness by Norwegian fishermen last week, raising suspicions that it may be used by the Russian military. The whale was discovered swimming near a village in Arctic Norway, the fishermen said. “We were going to put out nets when we saw a whale […]

CARACAS, April 30 (Reuters) – Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday called for a military uprising to oust President Nicolas Maduro and violence broke out at anti-government protests as the country hit a new crisis point after years of political and economic chaos. Several dozen armed troops accompanying Guaido clashed with soldiers supporting Maduro at […]

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Emperor Akihito announced his abdication at a palace ceremony Tuesday in his final address, as the nation embraced the end of his reign with reminiscence and hope for a new era. “Today, I am concluding my duties as the emperor,” Akihito said as he stood in front of the throne, as […]

TOKYO: Outgoing Japanese emperor Akihito on Tuesday performed the main ritual to hand over the Chrysanthemum Throne to his son Naruhito — Japan’s first abdication in more than two centuries.Akihito technically remains emperor until the stroke of midnight when the country ushers in the new imperial era of Reiwa, or “beautiful harmony”, that will last […]

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s decades-long discussion about building a new capital has inched forward after President Joko Widodo on Monday approved a long-term plan for the government to abandon overcrowded, sinking and polluted Jakarta. Widodo decided at a special Cabinet meeting to move the capital outside of Indonesia’s most populous island, Java, said Planning […]

Sri Lanka has moved to ban face veils following a series of deadly terrorist attacks that unfolded at hotels and churches on Easter Sunday. President Maithripala Sirisena’s office cited “emergency regulations” in its announcement Sunday that it would prohibit “all forms of face covers that may hinder one’s identity being ascertained, as a threat to national […]

BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of the Islamic State group has appeared for the first time in 5 years in a video released by the extremist group’s propaganda arm. The video released by Al-Furqan on Monday shows Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appearing with a bushy grey and red beard, wearing a black robe with a beige […]

MADRID, April 29 (Reuters) – Spain’s ruling Socialists were considering possible partners for a new government for the politically polarized country on Monday after they won a national election but failed to secure a majority. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez faces a choice between a complex alliance with fellow leftists Podemos or joining forces across the […]

Hundreds of election workers have died of overwork and almost 2,000 have fallen ill following the world’s biggest single-day elections, held in Indonesia earlier this month. Indonesian officials said over the weekend that at least 272 election officers had died since the April 17 vote, mostly from fatigue-related illnesses caused by the long hours they […]

COLOMBO, April 28 (Reuters) ― Churches across Sri Lanka suspended Sunday mass and the Archbishop of Colombo delivered a televised special sermon from a chapel at his home, as fears of more attacks remained a week after suicide bombers killed over 250 in churches and hotels. Sri Lanka has been on high alert since the […]

MADRID: Spain voted on Sunday in an uncertain snap general election marked by a resurgence of the far-right after more than four decades on the outer margins of politics.Opinion polls give outgoing socialist premier Pedro Sanchez a win but without the necessary majority to govern alone, meaning he will have to seek alliances in a […]

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — An uncertain outcome and the likelihood of the far-right entering Spain’s Parliament looms over national elections on Sunday, when nearly 37 million Spaniards are called to cast ballots in the most highly polarized election in decades. A look at why Spain is voting and what to expect from the general election: […]

TAPACHULA, Mexico (AP) — About 600 mostly Cuban migrants who were part of a mass escape from a southern Mexico immigration detention center a day earlier remained at large Friday evening, immigration authorities said. Mexico’s National Immigration Institute said in a statement that rather than the 1,300 escapees it reported Thursday night, only 645 migrants […]

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan security forces found 15 bodies, including six children, early Saturday after militants linked to the Easter bombings opened fire and set off explosives during a raid on their house in the country’s east, police said. The gunbattle began Friday night after police tipped off soldiers to a suspected […]

BEIRUT (AP) ― The U.S.-led coalition killed more than 1,600 civilians in the northern Syria city of Raqqa during months of bombardment that liberated it from the Islamic State group, hundreds more than the number the U.S.-led coalition claims over the entire four-year campaign against IS, Amnesty International and a London-based watchdog group said Thursday. […]

Prince William made a powerful call to defeat extremism “in all its forms” in a poignant speech at a New Zealand mosque that was targeted in the March terror attack by an alleged white supremacist gunman. “The global ideology of hate will fail to divide us,” the Duke of Cambridge said during his address at […]

BEIJING: President Xi Jinping on Friday sought to ease global concerns over debt traps and regional hegemony by China using the BRI project, saying his ambitious infrastructure project “is not an exclusive club” and vowed that it will have complete transparency and “zero tolerance” for corruption.In his inaugural address to the 2nd Belt and Road […]

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The suspected leader of the militant group Sri Lankan authorities said carried out a series of Easter Sunday bombings died in the blast at the Shangri-La hotel, one of six hotels and churches targeted in the attacks that killed at least 250 people, officials said Friday. Police said on an […]

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka on Thursday lowered the death toll from the Easter suicide bombings by nearly one-third, to 253, as authorities hunted urgently for a least five more suspects and braced for the possibility of more attacks in the coming days. In rolling back the number of dead from 359, a […]

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin met at a summit on Thursday intended to show Washington is not the only power with enough clout to engage with Pyongyang on its nuclear program. The two men were holding a day of talks on an island off the Russian […]

President Donald Trump ― both the man and the blimp ― will return to the United Kingdom in June for the commander in chief’s official state visit. CNN confirmed on Wednesday the 20-foot “Trump Baby” balloon will soar above London, portraying the president as a diapered, tantrum-throwing infant. Leo Murray, one of the organizers behind […]

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan and international forces were responsible for more civilian deaths in the first three months of 2019 than the Taliban and other militants, a new U.N. report said Wednesday. It marks the first time in recent years that civilian deaths attributed to government forces and their allies exceeded those blamed on […]