World

  FILE - Gladys Kisemei, a guide, picks up tourists using an electric vehicle at the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Narok County, Kenya, July 16, 2021. The use of EVs is hampered in much of Africa because reliable sources of electricity can be scarce. NAIROBI, KENYA — Some companies are coming up with creative ways of making electric vehicles a more realistic option in power-challenged areas of Africa. Countries in Africa have been slow adopters of battery-powered vehicles because finding reliable sources of electricity is a challenge in many places. The Center for Strategic and International Studies described Africa as “the most energy-deficient continent in the world” and said that any progress made in electricity access in the last fi...

  Trainees and employees of German carmaker Audi demand higher wages during a protest march in front of the company's headquarters in Ingolstadt, Germany, Oct. 29, 2024. BERLIN — Thousands of German workers launched nationwide strikes to press for higher wages on Tuesday, compounding problems for companies worried about staying globally competitive as high costs, weak exports and foreign rivals chip away at their strengths. The strikes by unionized workers in the nearly 4-million strong electrical engineering and metal industries hit companies such as Porsche, BMW and Mercedes. Also this week, car giant Volkswagen could announce plans to shut three plants on home soil for the first time in its 87-year history, as well as mass layof...

  Supporters of Georgia's opposition parties hold a rally to protest and dispute the result of a recent parliamentary election won by the ruling Georgian Dream party, in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Oct. 28, 2024. TBILISI, GEORGIA — Georgians flooded the streets of the capital, Tbilisi, late Monday, protesting what they see as a fraudulent election that secured another term for the ruling Georgian Dream party. Tens of thousands gathered outside the parliament building on Rustaveli Avenue, with Georgian, U.S. and European flags waving and voices calling for new elections. The rally, which opposition leaders called a show of defiance, came just two days after the release of preliminary results, which reported Georgian Dream leading with 53.9% ...

  FILE - This photo taken Sept. 11, 2023, shows BYD electric cars waiting to be loaded on a ship stacked at the international container terminal of Taicang Port at Suzhou Port, in China's eastern Jiangsu Province. brussels — The European Union has decided to increase tariffs on Chinese-built electric vehicles to as much as 45.3% at the end of its highest profile investigation that has divided Europe and prompted retaliation from Beijing. Just over a year after launching its anti-subsidy probe, the European Commission will set out extra tariffs ranging from 7.8% for Tesla to 35.3% for China\'s SAIC, on top of the EU\'s standard 10% car import duty. The extra tariffs were formally approved and published in the EU\'s Official Journal o...

  FILE - An aerial view shows Ngouboua after it was attacked by Boko Haram militants, Feb. 13, 2015. An attack by the group on Oct. 27, 2024, targeted a garrison in the area housing more than 200 Chadian soldiers. N'Djamena, Chad — An attack by jihadist group Boko Haram on the Chadian army killed around 40 people overnight near the Nigerian border, the government and local sources said Monday. "A garrison housing more than 200 soldiers was targeted by members of Boko Haram" late on Sunday, a local source told AFP. The presidency said in a statement that the attack struck near Ngouboua in the west of the country, "tragically leaving about 40 people dead." Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno visited the scene...

  FILE - A picture taken on April 22, 2018, shows the headquarters of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Cairo. Abuja, Nigeria — Africa\'s football governing body has sided with Nigeria in that country\'s dispute with Libya over a canceled qualifying game. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) awarded Nigeria a 3-0 victory over Libya following accusations Libya deliberately breached competition guidelines. Libya\'s football federation is appealing. The decision by the CAF puts Nigeria at the top of their division, Group D, and in contention for a spot at next year\'s Africa Cup of Nations, or AFCON, finals, in Morocco. The CAF on Saturday said Libya violated a rule that mandates that host nations receive and manage the ...

  FILE - Pakistan Army troops observe the area from hilltop post on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, Aug. 3, 2021. Local security officials in Khyber said a gunfight between TTP assailants and security forces erupted Friday, resulting in the deaths of at least two personnel. Islamabad — Pakistani authorities said Friday that clashes with militants killed at least 14 security force officers and injured several others in a northwestern province bordering Afghanistan. The violence took place in the militancy-affected Khyber, Bannu, and Dera Ismail Khan districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, frequently ambushes military and police personnel and stages attacks against their outposts. Local secur...

  FILE - Taliban security personnel stand guard as people watch a public flogging at a stadium in Charikar, Parwan province, Afghanistan, on Dec. 8, 2022. Four people, including a woman, were similarly flogged recently, Taliban officials said on Oct. 29, 2024. ISLAMABAD — Taliban judicial officials said Tuesday that four people, including a woman, were publicly flogged in eastern Afghanistan for allegedly committing offenses such as "illicit relations" and "running away from home.” The United Nations has condemned such punishment being increasingly inflicted on Afghans under Taliban rule. The Supreme Court of the de facto radical Afghan rulers announced the latest punishments Tuesday, saying they were done in Nangarhar prov...

  Members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors hold a press conference on the release of the panel's first annual report, at the Vatican, Oct. 29, 2024. Vatican City — The Catholic Church must do a better job of handling compensation for the victims of clergy sexual abuse, the Vatican\'s child protection commission said in its first annual report on Tuesday. For decades, the Church has been shaken by scandals across the world involving pedophile priests and the cover-up of their crimes, damaging its credibility and costing it hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements. The commission said compensation went beyond money, including "a much broader spectrum of actions ... such as acknowledging mistakes, pub...

  FILE - Pham Chi Dung appears at his trial in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on Jan. 5, 2021. (Photo: Nguoi Lao Dong) Washington — A United Nations working group has found that a VOA contributing journalist imprisoned by Vietnam was arbitrarily detained prior to sentencing and incarceration. Pham Chi Dung was arrested in November 2019 and is serving a 15-year prison term for sharing what Vietnam calls “anti-state propaganda.” The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention earlier in October adopted an opinion that Pham’s “deprivation of liberty lacks a legal basis” and his “detention resulted from his exercise of his right to freedom of opinion and expression.” The 58-year-old journalist is being held in a prison in Dong Nai prov...