A cargo ship traveling past Yemen in the Gulf of Aden came under attack in unclear circumstances, maritime authorities said Saturday. The Gulf of Aden is a crucial route for global trade and has seen attacks attributed to Yemen’s Houthi rebels as its civil war rages on. A number of...
Thousands of doctors, teachers and others in high-risk groups have signed up for COVID-19 vaccinations in Moscow starting Saturday, a precursor to a sweeping Russia-wide immunization effort. The vaccinations come three days after President Vladimir Putin ordered the launch of a “large-scale”...
President Emmanuel Macron hosts Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi from Sunday for a three-day state visit with France facing calls from activists that Egypt should not be "indulged" despite the close alliance between Cairo and Paris. Egypt and France have enjoyed an increasingly...
The Pentagon said Friday it is pulling most US troops out of Somalia on President Donald Trump's orders, continuing a post-election push by Trump to shrink US involvement in counterterrorism missions abroad. Without providing details, the Pentagon said in a short statement that "a...
With the imminent arrival of coronavirus vaccines that will need to be stored at ultra-low temperatures, US companies are gearing up for a massive logistical effort to aid their distribution. Automaker Ford has ordered its own freezers while meat processing giant Smithfield said it is...
Next year is shaping up to be a humanitarian catastrophe and rich countries must not trample poor countries in a “stampede for vaccines” to combat the coronavirus pandemic, top U.N. officials told the 193-member U.N. General Assembly on Friday. World Food Programme (WFP) chief David Beasley...
Israeli police on Friday arrested a man for trying to set fire to an east Jerusalem church by the Garden of Gethsemane, the site revered by Christians as the place where Jesus prayed before he was crucified. The 49-year-old Israeli suspect poured flammable liquid inside the Church of All...
Violence in Afghanistan is “unacceptably high” as delayed peace negotiations get underway, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday, adding that Washington has asked the warring parties to “stand back and indeed stand down.” Pompeo’s comments, made in a virtual address to the IISS...
Recent progress on COVID-19 vaccines is positive but the World Health Organization is concerned this has led to a growing perception that the pandemic has come to an end, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday. "Progress on vaccines gives us all a lift and we can now...
International donors Friday laid out a $2.5-billion response plan to the devastating port blast in Beirut in August, urging reforms in the crisis-hit country. The European Union, United Nations and World Bank published the plan four months after the country's worst peacetime disaster on...
Tuqqa Abdullah and her Iraqi family have wandered from one displaced people's camp to the next in the past three years, buying time and hoping they will one day be able to go home. Just 14 when her father took the family to the then Islamic State (IS) stronghold of Mosul, she has inherited...
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said on Friday he was hopeful a deal could soon be reached to resolve a long-running dispute among Gulf nations after recent progress in talks led by Kuwait and the United States. “We have made significant progress in the last few days thanks to the...
Iran is raising pressure on U.S. President-elect Joe Biden with plans to install more advanced uranium-enriching centrifuges at an underground plant in breach of its deal with major powers, a U.N. nuclear watchdog report showed on Friday. The confidential International Atomic Energy Agency...
In addition to China, Turkey is in contact with Russia on COVID-19 vaccine, the Turkish president said on Friday, adding he can be vaccinated to set an example for the nation. “We have [ongoing] talks with Russia, as well as China. On this issue, I personally have no problem with being...
Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he hoped France would soon get rid of President Emmanuel Macron, describing him as a burden on France which was going through dangerous times. Ties between Turkey and France, both NATO members, have been particularly tense in recent months...
Lebanon's Hezbollah said Friday it had filed slander lawsuits against an ex-parliamentarian and a political party who allegedly claimed the Shiite movement was responsible for the Beirut port blast. The explosion of hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser at the Beirut port on...
Manchester United are to install 1,500 barrier seats early next year as they prepare to trial "safe standing" at Old Trafford. Fans can finally return to Premier League matches in some parts of England this weekend after coronavirus restrictions were eased. But United have been pressing...
The human rights situation in crisis-wracked Belarus is deteriorating, the UN rights chief said Friday, highlighting mass arrests, including of journalists, and numerous allegations of torture. Michelle Bachelet said there were no signs of improvements in Belarus since an urgent debate...
It took Luis Salgado years of manual labor to save enough money to open a small fresh produce store, so when torrential floods swept away $1,500 worth of apples, bananas and other fruits, he decided there was no longer a future for him in Honduras. Salgado had already been struggling to eke...
For a man obsessed with winning, President Donald Trump is losing a lot. He’s managed to lose not just once to Democrat Joe Biden at the ballot box but over and over again in courts across the country in a futile attempt to stay in power. The Republican president and his allies continue to...
