World

  South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung arrives at a court in Seoul on November 25, 2024. SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — South Korea\'s main opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was cleared on Monday of charges that he forced a witness to commit perjury, the Seoul Central District Court said, in the latest of a series of legal cases that could threaten his political future. Lee thanked the court after the ruling, for "bringing back truth and justice," as his supporters cheered. He had been accused of ordering a witness in a 2019 trial related to an election law violation to give false testimony. Lee, the leader of the Democratic Party, still faces several other trials, including for bribery and other charges mostly tied to a $1 billion property development...

  FILE - A boat arrives at Dzaoudzi on the Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, March 31, 2012. The Somali government said, Nov. 25, 2024, it will begin evacuating the survivors of two boats, carrying mostly Somali migrants, which capsized off the coast of Madagascar on Nov. 23. Mogadishu, Somalia — The Somali government says it will begin evacuating the survivors of two boats, carrying mostly Somali migrants, which capsized off the coast of Madagascar Saturday. Twenty-four passengers were killed while 46 others survived. The passengers were attempting to migrate in search of a better life, away from Somalia’s chronic drought, violence and food insecurity. During a news briefing in Mogadishu, Somali Foreign Minister Ahmed Moalin Fiqi confirmed...

  An activist stands with other protesters as he holds a sign that reads “Stop Plastic” in the grounds outside BEXCO, the venue for the fifth session of the UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-5), in Busan on November 25, 20 As delegates from 175 countries gathered in Busan, South Korea, on Monday for the fifth round of talks aimed at securing an international treaty to curb plastic pollution, lingering divisions cast doubts on whether a final agreement is in sight. South Korea is hosting the fifth and ostensibly final U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) meeting this week, after the previous round of talks in Ottawa in April ended without a path forward on capping plastic production. Instead, the meeting issued a direction for ...

  FILE - A boat arrives at the island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, March 31, 2012. At least 22 Somali citizens died when two boats sailing from Somalia to the French territory of Mayotte capsized. MOGADISHU/ANTANANARIVO — At least 22 Somali citizens died when two migrant boats capsized off the coast of Madagascar over the weekend, Somalia\'s Information Minister Daud Aweis said. Madagascar\'s Port, Maritime, and River Authority (APMF) said the boats had set sail from Somalia for the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte on Nov. 2, a journey of several hundred kilometers. On Saturday, the port authority reported that local fishermen discovered the first boat drifting on Friday near Nosy Iranja. They rescued 25 people, including 10 men and 15 women, but seven occupants ...

  Washington — Somali scholars, politicians and traditional leaders from across the Horn of Africa gathered in Djibouti on Monday for a three-day forum on strengthening regional stability. The annual forum, the eighth of its kind, was organized by the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies in Somalia, an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan research group in Mogadishu. Mursal Saney, executive director of the institute, said the forum is providing an opportunity for Somalis from across the region to discuss issues of concern. “We have invited nearly 300 delegates including regional experts to provide them an opportunity to discuss and exhibit constructive ideas on how the Horn of Africa region can strengthen its stability and the importance of rule of law,” Saney said. Thi...

  Bulldozers remove the rubble of a destroyed building that was hit Sunday night in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 25, 2024. Washington — The United States is close to securing a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants, according to officials from the White House and the State Department. Speaking to reporters during a press call on Monday, national security spokesperson John Kirby described recent talks in Beirut led by U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein as "constructive," adding, "We believe that the trajectory of this is going in a very positive direction." In New York on Monday, Israel\'s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said ...

  FILE - Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani addresses the "Italy Ukraine business forum" in Rome, Nov. 20, 2024. ROME — Foreign ministers from the world’s leading industrialized nations are meeting Monday, with the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East entering decisive phases and a certain pressure to advance diplomatic efforts ahead of the new U.S. administration taking over. Hopes for brokering a cease-fire in Gaza and Lebanon are foremost on the agenda of the Group of Seven meeting outside Rome that is gathering ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. On the first day of the two-day gathering Monday, the G7 will be joined by ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jorda...

  Rescuers search for missing people after a deadly landslide in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Nov. 25, 2024. KARO, Indonesia — Rescuers in Indonesia recovered 16 bodies under tons of mud and rocks or that were swept away in flash floods that hit mountainside villages on Sumatra Island, officials said Monday. Six people are still missing, officials said. Mud, rocks and trees tumbled down a mountain after torrential rains over the weekend and rivers burst their banks, tearing through four hilly districts in North Sumatra province, washing away houses and destroying farms. Police, soldiers and rescue workers used excavators, farm equipment and their bare hands to sift through the rubble looking for the dead and missing in Semangat Gunung,...

  FILE - South African writer and anti-apartheid activist Breyten Breytenbach receives the 2017 Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award at a ceremony in Warsaw, Poland, May 25, 2017. He died in Paris, his family announced on Nov. 24, 2024. JOHANNESBURG — South African writer and poet Breyten Breytenbach, a staunch opponent of the former white-minority government\'s apartheid policy of racial oppression, has died in Paris, his family announced on Sunday. He was 85. Breytenbach was a celebrated wordsmith, a leading voice in literature in Afrikaans — an offshoot of Dutch that was developed by white settlers — and a fierce critic of apartheid that was imposed against the country\'s Black majority between 1948 and 1990. He moved to Par...

  A municipal worker inspects a house damaged by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Nov. 25, 2024. Ukrainian officials said Monday a Russian attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv injured at least 19 people. Oleh Syniehubov, governor of the Kharkiv region, said on Telegram that Russian forces hit a courtyard in central Kharkiv, damaging more than 40 houses. In Ukraine’s Odesa region, Governor Oleh Kiper said a rocket attack hit the city of Odesa and that there were casualties.   This photograph taken on Nov. 25, 2024 shows damaged cars in the courtyard of a destroyed building following a missile attack in Odesa. Another Russian attack, in the Zaporizhzhia region, injured a child and damaged several houses, accordin...