SINGAPORE, Singapore -- Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced Sunday he will hand over power to a younger generation of leaders before the 2025 general elections. (FILES) Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong attends a bilateral meeting with Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh...
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Poppy cultivation and opium production have plunged 95 percent in Afghanistan since Taliban authorities banned the crop, according to a UN report published Sunday. Since returning to power in 2021, Taliban authorities have vowed to end illegal drug production in Afghanistan...
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea has created a new holiday to celebrate the anniversary of the successful test launch of its Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile last year, state media reported Sunday. On November 18, 2022, Pyongyang carried out what is believed to be the first full...
PARIS, France -- AFP on Saturday called on Israel for "an in-depth and transparent investigation" into the exact involvement of its army after a strike severely damaged its office in Gaza City, which has been shelled for weeks. AFP "has taken note of the recent statements from the Israeli army...
TEL AVIV, Israel -- Defence Minister Yoav Gallant vowed Saturday that Israeli forces would "find and eliminate" Yahya Sinwar, the head of Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. "We will find Sinwar and will eliminate him," Gallant told a news conference, as Israeli forces fought street...
AMMAN, Jordan -- Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday reaffirmed US support for "humanitarian pauses" in fighting between Israel and Hamas to ensure people in the besieged Gaza Strip get help. Speaking at a news conference in Amman about sparing civilians and speeding up aid deliveries,...
KYIV, Ukraine -- President Volodymyr Zelensky denied on Saturday that Ukraine's counter-offensive against Russian forces had hit a stalemate, as hours later Kyiv said it had struck a shipyard in the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula. TOPSHOT - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (L)...
TEL AVIV, Israel -- Thousands demonstrated in Israel on Saturday, as pressure mounts on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his government's lack of preparedness for the October 7 attacks and its handling of the ensuing hostage crisis. The attacks by Gaza's ruling Islamist movement Hamas took...
TEL AVIV, Israel - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that Israel has the right and obligation to defend itself as it pummels the Gaza Strip with an air and ground assault. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken "Israel has not only the right but the obligation to defend itself......
MOSCOW, Russia - Ukrainian shelling of the Russian-occupied part of the southern Kherson region killed nine people Friday, the Moscow-installed occupational authorities said. The strikes came as Kyiv is pushing a counteroffensive to retake territory from Moscow's forces, focused on the south...
MOSCOW, Russia - Russia said Friday that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas had "postponed" a trip to Moscow that was planned for this month. Mahmoud Abbas Russia -- which has working relations with Israel, with Palestinian authorities and with Hamas -- has said several times that a visit by...
TEL AVIV, Israel - Top US diplomat Antony Blinken left Israel largely empty-handed Friday after urging its leaders to do more to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza during their war to destroy Hamas. (Photo from AFP) On Saturday, he is due to hold talks in neighboring Jordan with the foreign...
