World

  From left, Huang Jiangcheng of China, Fareed Mohammed Felemban of Saudi Arabia and Thanh Theerapasiri of Thailand, are pictured after speaking at a youth session during the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Nov. 18, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. BAKU, Azerbaijan — Young people who attend the U.N. climate talks have a lot to be angry about. They\'ve lost loved ones and months of school. They\'ve lost homes and family farms and connections to their families\' native lands. They haven\'t lost hope, though. Not yet. “It has become so tiring for me to be just a poster child,” said Marinel Ubaldo, who by age 16 had watched two back-to-back supersized typhoons destroy entire communities in her native Philippines. Missing a chunk of high school in the af...

  Greece Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis speaks during a plenary session at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Nov. 13, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. Greece will make an early repayment of 5 billion euros ($5.3 billion) in bailout-era debt in 2025, Mitsotakis said in Athens on Nov. 18. Athens, Greece — Greece will make an early repayment of 5 billion euros ($5.3 billion) in bailout-era debt in 2025, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told a banking conference in Athens on Monday, describing the move as a signal of the country\'s fiscal recovery. “This ... underscores our confidence in public finances and reflects our commitment to fiscal discipline,” Mitsotakis said. Finance Ministry officials say they plan to reduce debt through primary surp...

  FILE - Firefighters help a woman evacuate from a residential building destroyed by a Russian drone strike, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct. 17, 2022. Local authorities said the weapon used was an Iranian-made Shahed-136. Russia has been buying artillery shells and missiles from North Korea, buying drones and ballistic missiles from Iran and strengthening ties with the Taliban in Afghanistan to sustain its war in Ukraine. All three governments are under U.N. embargoes that prohibit arms trade and financial dealings with the countries to curtail weapons proliferation and human rights abuses. Russia, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has also provided diplomatic support to Iran and North Korea, including by vetoing sanctions. Iran Ir...

  FILE - U.S. Envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello attends a press briefing on sidelines of Sudan peace talks at the U.S. Mission in Geneva, Aug. 23, 2024. dubai/washington — The U.S. special envoy to Sudan traveled to the African country for the first time on Monday to seek an increase in the flow of aid to millions of people in need and an end to a devastating war. Tom Perriello, who was named Washington\'s envoy for Sudan in February, traveled to Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast, the de facto capital for the army-led government. It marked the first visit to the country by a senior U.S. official since the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke out in April 2023 and the U.S. embassy was evacu...

  A general view of the West Bank Jewish settlement of Efrat, Nov. 12, 2024. The U.S., on Nov. 18, 2024, imposed sanctions on organizations and firms involved in illegal settlement development in the occupied West Bank. Washington — The U.S. on Monday imposed sanctions on organizations and firms involved in illegal settlement development in the occupied West Bank, including a well-established decades-old group that has close ties with Israeli leadership. Treasury sanctioned Amana, the largest organization involved in illegal settlement development in the West Bank, and its subsidiary Binyanei Bar Amana Ltd. Already sanctioned by Britain and Canada, Amana is one of the major funders and supporters of unauthorized settlements in the Israel...

  Protesters' tents are seen in a street during a rally against the results of the parliamentary elections amid allegations that the vote was rigged in Tbilisi, Georgia, Nov. 18, 2024. tbilisi, georgia — Demonstrators in Georgia\'s capital have set up tents on a central thoroughfare and vowed Monday to stay around the clock to demand new parliamentary elections in the country. The October 26 election kept the governing Georgian Dream party in power, but opponents say the vote was rigged with Russia\'s assistance. Many Georgians viewed the election as a referendum on the country\'s effort to join the European Union. Several large protests have been held since then. President Salome Zourabichvili, who has rejected the official results,...

  FILE - Polio teams administer the vaccine in Pakistan. On Nov. 18, 2024, Poland's health authorities said they are urging vaccinations after the virus was detected in sewage water in Warsaw. (Walid Abbas/Polio Eradication Initiative, Pakistan) warsaw, poland — Poland\'s health authorities on Monday urged polio vaccinations for children after the virus was detected in Warsaw\'s sewage during regular tests this month. The state Main Sanitary Inspectorate in a statement said the presence of the virus does not necessarily mean people have been sick, but those who have not been vaccinated against polio could be at risk. The vaccinations are free in Poland for people under 19. New measures also include more intensive testing of Warsaw\'s...

  FILE - U.S. Army soldiers conduct live fire testing of early versions of the Army Tactical Missile System at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, on Dec. 14, 2021. Warsaw — Many in Ukraine see the Biden administration’s decision to allow Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied long-range missiles to strike targets inside Russian territory as a turning point in the war but welcome it with a mix of gratitude and frustration. "Strikes are not made with words," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address. "The missiles will speak for themselves." His tone reflects the high stakes involved in this decision, which comes as Ukraine braces for intensified Russian offensives following the reported deployment of 12,000...

  United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Lammy speaks during a U.N. Security Council meeting, Nov. 18, 2024, at U.N. headquarters in New York, on the eve of the 1,000th day of the war in Ukraine. London — The U.K. government hit Iran with new sanctions Monday for sending ballistic missiles and other weapons to Russia to support the war against Ukraine. The Foreign Office said it would freeze assets for Iran’s national airline and its state-owned shipping company that helped transfer weapons. The state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) will face an asset freeze for its role in supplying weapons to Russia for use on the battlefield against Ukraine, Britain said. Britain will also sanction the Russian cargo ship Port Olya-3 that delivered the missiles from ...

  Monks bow and present “khata” to teenage Buddhist lama, Jalue Dorje, at his 18th birthday and enthronement ceremony in Isanti, Minnesota, Nov. 9, 2024. ISANTI, Minn. — The young Buddhist lama sat on a throne near an altar decorated with flowers, fruits and golden statues of the Buddha, watching the celebrations of his 18th birthday in silence, with a faint smile. Jalue Dorje knew it would be the last big party before he joins a monastery in the Himalayan foothills -- thousands of kilometers from his home in a Minneapolis suburb, where he grew up like a typical American teen playing football and listening to rap music. But this was not an ordinary coming-of-age celebration. It was an enthronement ceremony for an aspiring spiritual lea...