World

  People walk past an area destroyed by the wind from Typhoon Kong-rey in Taipei, Taiwan, Nov. 1, 2024. BEIJING — Typhoon Kong-rey weakened to a tropical storm overnight and was forecast to bring heavy rain and high winds to Shanghai and other parts of China\'s east coast Friday. The storm crossed Taiwan at typhoon strength the previous day, bringing down trees and causing landslides that covered roads and damaged houses. Two people died and more than 500 others were injured. As workers and residents cleared up fallen trees and scattered scaffolding, a ride-hailing driver recounted a harrowing tale of being trapped in his vehicle after a huge tree uprooted and smashed into the passenger compartment Thursday night in Taipei, the capital c...

  FILE - Iraqi Sunni lawmaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani speaks during a news conference in Baghdad Aug. 23, 2014. After nearly a year’s deadlock, Iraq’s parliament elected a new speaker Thursday. Prominent Sunni lawmaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, who served as parliament’s speaker from 2006 to 2009, was elected by 182 of the 269 politicians in attendance. Iraq’s parliament has been without a speaker since last November, following a ruling of the Federal Supreme Court in a case that involved then-speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, the country’s most powerful Sunni politician, and fellow lawmaker Laith al-Dulaimi, also Sunni. In the lawsuit, Dulaimi claimed Halbousi forged Dulaimi’s signature on a resignation letter, according to an Associated Press r...

  A TV screen shows file images of North Korean soldiers during a news program at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 18, 2024. Washington — As North Korean troops prepare to join Russian forces in the war on Ukraine, Kyiv is stepping up a psychological warfare campaign to target the North Korean soldiers, a high-ranking Ukraine official said. The effort is liable to get a boost from a team of South Korean military observers that Seoul’s defense minister, Kim Yong-hyun, said this week will be going to Ukraine to watch and analyze the North Korean troops on the battlefield. Last week, the Ukrainian military intelligence service-run project "I Want to Live" released a Korean-language video message on YouTube and X. ...

  Children play with firecrackers on Diwali festival, the Hindu festival of lights, at an orphanage in Jammu, India, Oct.31, 2024. NEW DELHI — A thick layer of toxic smog cloaked India\'s capital on Friday as smoke from firecrackers used to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, pushed air pollution to hazardous levels. New Delhi\'s air quality index plunged into the "severe" category, according to SAFAR, India\'s main environmental monitoring agency. In many areas, levels of deadly particulate matter reached seven times the World Health Organization\'s safety limit. Authorities in the capital have banned the use and sale of traditional firecrackers since 2017, asking people to opt for environmentally friendly ones or ...

  A TV screen shows an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 31, 2024. The letters read, "North Korea launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile today." SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Friday bragged about its recently tested new intercontinental ballistic missile, calling it "the world\'s strongest." Outside experts saw the claim as propaganda, though the test did show advancement in the North\'s quest to build a more reliable weapons arsenal. A missile that North Korea launched Thursday flew higher and stayed in the air longer than any other weapon the country has so far fired. It signaled that the North has achieved progres...

  A web page on the website of the Russian news agency RIA Novosty identifies the man sitting at the right as Maxim Shugaley, and the man on the left as Samer Sueifan. There is no description of where and when the photo was taken. A shadowy Russian political operator with close ties to the notorious Wagner Group and its late founder Yevgeny Prigozhin is detained in Chad on unexplained charges, adding a fresh chapter to his long career of mystery and intrigue. Russian officials and state-controlled media maintain that Maxim Shugaley, who was detained on September 19 along with two other Russians, is an innocent sociologist who was in Chad to deliver humanitarian aid and participate in a pro-Russian event in the capital, N\'Djamena. But y...

  Iranians living in Frankfurt gather in front of the Iranian Consulate that was shut down in response to the execution of Jamshid Sharmahd, who was kidnapped in Dubai in 2020 by Iranian security forces, in Frankfurt, Germany, Oct. 31, 2024. Germany will close three Iranian consulates in response to Iran’s announcement of the execution of Jamshid Sharmahd, a German Iranian national and a U.S. resident, earlier this week. "We have repeatedly and unequivocally made it clear to Tehran that the execution of a German citizen will have serious consequences," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Thursday in announcing the closure of the consulates in Frankfurt, Munich and Hamburg. Germany will allow Iran’s embassy in Berlin ...

  The bombing of a refugee camp in Myanmar’s Paekon Township, near the Karenni and Shan state borders, destroyed buildings and killed 10 people, including seven children. Paekon Township, Myanmar / WASHINGTON — In a crowded church filled with mourners on September 6, a young high school teacher sat among friends, her face streaked with tears as she gazed at the makeshift shrouds covering the small bodies laid out before her. Among them were her students — children she had taught, known and cared for deeply. "I couldn\'t recognize some of them," she whispered to me, her voice trembling. The previous night, the war refugee camp where she lives in Myanmar\'s Paekon Township, near the Karenni and Shan state borders, had been transf...

  ADAMA, ETHIOPIA — Residents in Ethiopia’s Oromia region say access to phone communication and internet service has been disrupted for months as government forces fight against two rebel groups. The disruption of mobile phone calls and internet data has been concentrated in conflict-hit Oromia zones, where government forces have engaged in fighting against the Oromo Liberation Army, or the OLA. A resident from South Oromia of Guji Zone Wadera Wereda, who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity for safety reasons, said phone and internet data connections have been cut in his area due to the fighting. He said there was fighting on Monday and the week before in Wadera Wereda, where regional security personnel including local police were kille...

  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin hold a joint press conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun at the State Department in Washington, Oct. 31, 2024. state department — Most of the North Korean troops sent to Russia are now deployed near the Ukrainian border and are expected to join the fight against Ukraine “in the coming days,” according to top U.S. and South Korean diplomats and military officials. “We now assess that there are some 10,000 North Korean soldiers in total in Russia, and the most recent information indicates that as many as 8,000 of those North Korean forces have been deployed to the Kursk region,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Bl...