MOSCOW, Russia - Russia said Thursday that it plans to raise defense spending by almost 70 percent next year, funnelling massive resources into its Ukraine offensive to fight what it calls a "hybrid war" unleashed by the West. With Moscow's "special military operation" now dragging through its...
WASHINGTON, United States - US soldier Travis King has been freed by North Korea and is "happy" to be heading home on Wednesday, nearly three months after he ran across the border from the South, US officials said. The 23-year-old's release comes after intense behind-the-scenes diplomacy and...
MOSCOW, Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the government to respond "more promptly" to rising fuel prices Wednesday, as the cost of wholesale petrol continued to grow despite an export ban. Russia's government announced last week it was temporarily limiting exports of petrol and...
WASHINGTON, United States - The United States said Wednesday it would start letting Israelis visit without visas, after what it said were successful efforts by its ally to address concerns it discriminates against Arab Americans, an assessment contested by some lawmakers. In an achievement long...
ANGON, Myanmar - A bomb blast in northern Myanmar killed two people and wounded more than a dozen on Wednesday, a military source and a member of a local rescue organisation told AFP. "According to the initial report, two men were killed and 10 others injured by a blast" that happened around 6 pm...
DUBLIN, Ireland - A cargo ship stormed by Irish naval forces off the southern coast of Ireland was carrying a multimillion-dollar drug haul, police told reporters in Dublin Wednesday. Police and customs officials found more than 2.2 tonnes of cocaine valued at around 157 million euros ($165...
MOSCOW, Russia - Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut landed back on Earth Wednesday after spending a year at the International Space Station (ISS), Russia's Roscosmos space agency said. "Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio, who...
LOS ANGELES, United States - Republican hopefuls will hold their second presidential debate Wednesday in California but the party's runaway frontrunner, scandal-plagued former president Donald Trump, will reduce them to a sideshow by snubbing the event. Trump, 77, says he's skipping the debates --...
ROME, Italy - A 4.2-magnitude earthquake shook Italy's Campi Flegrei region west of Naples in the early hours Wednesday, in the biggest tremor in the area for 40 years, according to experts. The quake scared residents but caused no injuries or damage, according to the civil protection agency. The...
Soldiers and emergency responders among others gather around ambulances carrying wounded people after a fire broke out during a wedding at an event hall, outside Hamdaniyah general hospital in Al-Hamdaniyah, Iraq on September 27, 2023. (Photo by Zaid AL-OBEIDI / AFP) AL-HAMDANIYAH, Iraq -- At least...
US Senate building (File photo) WASHINGTON, United States -- The US Senate drafted a last-ditch short-term budget proposal Tuesday as time was running out on Congress to avoid a partial government shutdown. With just days left before the September 30 deadline, both Democratic Senate Majority leader...
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (C), shake hands with House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota during a ceremony on Parliament Hill on September 22, 2023 in Ottawa, Canada. The speaker of Canada's parliament faced growing calls to resign September 26, 2023...
