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...
KATHMANDU, Nepal - More than 60 people were killed when a shallow 5.6-magnitude earthquake hit a remote pocket of Nepal, officials said early Saturday. The tremor hit the far west of the Himalayan country late Friday and was measured by the US Geological Survey at just 18 kilometres (11 miles)...
ASTANA, Kazakhstan - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, saying "crimes against humanity" were being committed in Gaza. Erdogan has strongly supported the Palestinians in the face of Israel's war with Hamas, attending...
THAI NGUYEN, VIETNAM - More than 40 dogs, including a litter of 10-day-old puppies, were set free from a slaughterhouse in Vietnam on Friday after its owner quit the dog meat trade. An estimated five million canines are killed for meat every year in Vietnam -- the second highest in the world...
TEHRAN, Iran - Thirty-two people died when a massive blaze ripped through a drug rehab centre in northern Iran early on Friday, local media reported. "Thirty-two people have been killed in the fire" which erupted at a drug rehabilitation centre in Langarud, a city in the northern Gilan...
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories - Agence France-Presse's bureau in the Gaza Strip, which has been relentlessly bombed by Israel, was significantly damaged by a strike on the building, according to an AFP staff member who visited Friday. AFP is the only one of the world's three major...
AMMAN, Jordan - Some 5,000 Jordanians protested Friday in the capital Amman, calling on King Abdullah II to press for a ceasefire in fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, AFP correspondents said. Speaking at the demonstration, lawmaker Yanal Fraihat said protesters wanted the king "to...
PARIS, France - France said Friday it had been informed by Israel that its forces had carried out a strike on the French Institute in Gaza, adding it was demanding an explanation. "We were informed by the Israeli authorities that the French Institute in Gaza had been targeted by an Israeli...
PARIS, France - The families of nine Israeli victims of last month's Hamas attacks have lodged a complaint at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for suspected war crimes, their lawyer said Friday. The families also want Hamas prosecuted for genocide, and the ICC to issue an international...
