World

  FILE - Iraqi lawmakers attend a parliamentary session to vote for a new head of state president in Baghdad, Iraq, October 13, 2022. Iraqi Parliament Media Office/Handout via REUTERS BAGHDAD — The ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) came first in a parliamentary election in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, winning 39 seats, the election commission said on Wednesday, positioning it to lead the next regional government. The KDP\'s historic rival and junior coalition partner in government, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), was second with 23 seats, the commission told a news conference. It said turnout among registered voters was reported at 72%. The Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament has 100 seats with five reserved for min...

  People walk through flooded streets in Valencia, Oct. 30, 2024. BARCELONA, Spain — At least 51 people have died in Spain’s eastern region of Valencia after flash floods swept away cars, turned village streets into rivers and disrupted rail lines and highways in the worst natural disaster to hit the European nation in recent memory. Emergency services in the eastern region of Valencia confirmed the death toll on Wednesday. Rainstorms on Tuesday caused flooding in a wide swath of southern and eastern Spain. Floods of mud-colored water tumbled vehicles down streets at frightening speeds. Pieces of wood swirled with household articles. Police and rescue services used helicopters to lift people from their homes and cars. Authorities repo...

  A voter casts her ballot as an electoral official and a Botswana Police officer look on at the Gaborone Block 8 polling station in Gaborone on October 30, 2024, during Botswana's general election. Gaborone, Botswana — Southern Africa\'s diamond-rich nation of Botswana voted in general elections Wednesday with the ruling party seeking to extend its nearly six-decade rule and hand a second term to President Mokgweetsi Masisi. Polls opened at 6:30 a.m. for more than a million people registered to vote, with four presidential candidates in the race to head the region\'s oldest democracy, installed on independence from Britain in 1966 when the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) took office. "It is my time to voice my opinion. I can\'...

  A man passes by a bridge that links Lebanon to Syria, in Qusair, Syria, Oct. 27, 2024. The bridge was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike on Oct. 24, 2024. Qusair, Syria — A stream of refugees fleeing Lebanon to Syria crossed a narrow makeshift bridge on foot Sunday in the Qusair area of Syria\'s Homs province after the official border crossing was put out of commission by an Israeli strike two days earlier. Only three functioning crossings remain between the countries, which share a border 375 kilometers (233 miles) long. In late September, an Israeli airstrike hit the border crossing of Matraba in Lebanon\'s northeast, forcing it to close. A few weeks later came a strike on Masnaa, the main crossing between the two countries, putting it...

  FILE - Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman attends the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in Saint Petersburg on June 6, 2024. RIYADH — Saudi Arabia is "committed" to maintaining crude capacity at 12.3 million barrels per day, Energy Minister Prince Abulaziz bin Salman said on Tuesday. Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Riyadh, he said the world\'s largest oil exporter would maintain its crude targets while also pursuing its climate aims. "We will monetize every molecule of energy this land has, period," Prince Abdulaziz said. That policy would be carried out hand in hand with other goals, such as emission reduction, he added. "We are ...

  FILE - A young man holds an EU flag as he attends an opposition protest against the results of the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Oct. 28, 2024. TBILISI, Georgia — For some Georgians who supported the ruling Georgian Dream party in Saturday\'s disputed parliamentary election, the aspiration to go West toward the European Union had to be balanced by the brutal reality of the need to keep the peace with Russia. The opposition and foreign observers had cast the election as a watershed moment that would decide if Georgia moves closer to Europe or leans back towards Russia amid the war in Ukraine. The ruling party, which is seen as loyal to its billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, says it wants to one day join the EU but ...

  A resident stands in front of an apartment building damaged by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine October 30, 2024. Officials in Ukraine’s capital said Wednesday a Russian drone attack left at least nine people injured. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram an 11-year-old girl was among those hurt when debris from a downed drone hit an apartment building. Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said air defenses destroyed Russian drones that attacked the city from multiple directions. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday it destroyed 23 Ukrainian drones deployed in overnight attacks. The intercepts took place over the Rostov, Kursk, Smolensk, Oryol, Bryansk and...

  A Long March rocket with a Shenzhou-19 spacecraft atop takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwestern China in the early hours of Oct. 30, 2024. JIUQUAN, China — China declared a “complete success” after it launched a new three-person crew to its orbiting space station early Wednesday as the country seeks to expand its exploration of outer space with missions to the moon and beyond. The Shenzhou-19 spaceship carrying the trio blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 4:27 a.m. local time atop a Long March-2F rocket, the backbone of China’s crewed space missions. “The crew condition is good and the launch has been successful,” the state broadcaster China Central Television ann...

  FILE - An old steam locomotive take pull sugar bucket at Karanganyar, Central Java, Indonesia, in the undated file photo. Indonesian authorities arrested a formed trade minister accused of issuing a sugar import permit when Indonesia had a surplus of sugar. JAKARTA, INDONESIA — Indonesian authorities investigating graft have arrested a former trade minister turned government critic on suspicion of improperly granting a sugar import permit in 2015 that led to losses of $25 million. Thomas Trikasih Lembong was named a suspect and arrested late on Tuesday by prosecutors from the attorney general\'s office, accused of giving the permit to a private company at a time when Indonesia had a surplus of sugar, the office said. "At that time...

  FILE - The British Royal Navy submarine HMS Ambush is shown in this July 20, 2016 file photo.\\ A significant fire remains ongoing at BAE Systems\' shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness, northwest England, that builds Britain\'s new generation of nuclear submarines, but there was no nuclear risk from the incident, police said on Wednesday. UK\'s Cumbria police said in a statement that two people had been taken to a hospital after suffering from suspected smoke inhalation and that there were no other casualties. The police said that everyone else had been evacuated from the Devonshire Dock Hall facility and accounted for. BAE\'s site in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, manufactures Royal Navy\'s Astute and Dreadnought submarines, according to BAE\'s ...