World

  FILE - In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Oct. 24, 2024, Russian soldiers patrol in a village on Russia's border with Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP) Kyiv, Ukraine — Russian forces thwarted an attempt at another cross-border incursion by Ukraine into southwestern Russia, a local official reported Sunday, months after Kyiv staged a bold assault on its nuclear-armed enemy that Moscow is still struggling to halt. An "armed group" sought Sunday to breach the border between Ukraine and Russia\'s Bryansk region, its governor, Aleksandr Bogomaz, said but was beaten back. Bogomaz did not clarify whether Ukrainian soldiers carried out the alleged attack but cla...

  This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows damaged buildings at Iran's Parchin military base outside of Tehran, Oct. 27, 2024. (Planet Labs PBC via AP) DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An Israeli attack on Iran damaged facilities at two secretive military base southeast of the Iranian capital, satellite photos analyzed Sunday by The Associated Press show. In the past, experts have linked one site to Tehran\'s onetime nuclear weapons program and the other to its ballistic missile program. Some of the damaged buildings sat in Iran\'s Parchin military base, where the International Atomic Energy Agency suspects Iran in the past conducted tests of high explosives that could trigger a nuclear weapon. Iran long has insisted its nuclear ...

  In this photo provided by Mandalay People's Defence, members of the Ta'ang National Liberation Army and Mandalay People's Defence Force pose for a photograph in front of a captured building in Nawnghkio township in Shan state, Myanmar, on June 26, 2024. Bangkok — Three well-armed militias launched a surprise joint offensive in northeastern Myanmar a year ago, breaking a strategic stalemate with the regime\'s military with rapid gains of huge swaths of territory and inspiring others to attack around the country. The military\'s control had seemed firmly ensconced with vast superiority in troops and firepower, plus material support from Russia and China. But today the government is increasingly on the back foot, with the l...

  WASHINGTON — The war in Sudan is likely to cause heavy economic damage in neighboring countries, the IMF\'s deputy director for Africa, Catherine Pattillo, told AFP. "What is going on there for the people in Sudan is just so heart wrenching and devastating. For all of the neighboring countries, too," she said in an interview in Washington ahead of the publication Friday of the International Monetary Fund\'s regional outlook for sub-Saharan Africa. "A number of these countries that are neighbors are also fragile countries with their own challenges," she said. "And then to be confronted with the refugees, the security issues, the trade issues, is very challenging for their growth." The IMF\'s report predicted ...

  A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child in a market in the downtown area of Lahore, Pakistan, Sept. 9, 2024. Maulana Tayyab Qureshi, the top cleric in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, has seen up close the devastating effects of polio. Two of his own kin were once paralyzed, victims of a scourge that has been vanquished worldwide yet refuses to go away from Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan. “Had their parents not neglected [to have their children vaccinated], their children wouldn’t be disabled today,” Qureshi said of his relatives. As the chief khateeb, or Friday prayer leader, of the northwestern province, Qureshi preaches this message at every opportunity — Friday sermons at his 17th century Mahabat Khan Mos...

  Leader of Social Democrats Vilija Blinkeviciute listens to the media after the second round of general elections, in Vilnius, Lithuania, Oct. 27, 2024. VILNIUS, Lithuania — The opposition Social Democrats took an early lead in the second round of Lithuania\'s parliamentary election on Sunday, with voters focusing on concerns over the cost of living and potential threats from neighboring Russia. Official government data showed the center-left grouping leading with 33 seats after 64% of the vote was counted on top of 20 secured in the first round, in the 141-member assembly, ahead of the ruling Homeland Union Party which led in six constituencies in addition to 18 first-round wins. The Baltic country of 2.9 million people has a hybrid v...

  FILE - A man searches the internet in New Bonako village, Cameroon, March 28, 2017. After an internet blackout in Chad in October 2024, caused by broken cables in Cameroon, Chad has intensified efforts to connect to a regional fiber-optic network. Yaounde — Officials in Chad are stepping up efforts to connect the central African state to a regional fiber-optic network after cable breakages caused by flooding in neighboring Cameroon caused a protracted internet blackout. Authorities in the country have been unable to reestablish internet connections since the blackout began 10 days ago. The central African state lost internet access when fiber-optic cables in Cameroon, the southern neighbor via which landlocked Chad is digitally network...

  FILE - This picture shows closed shops on an empty street in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbeck on Oct. 19, 2024. Baalbek, Lebanon — Since war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah, the famed Palmyra Hotel in east Lebanon\'s Baalbek has been without visitors, but long-time employee Rabih Salika refuses to leave — even as bombs drop nearby. The hotel, which was built in 1874, once welcomed renowned guests including former French President Charles de Gaulle and American singer Nina Simone. Overlooking a large archaeological complex encompassing the ruins of an ancient Roman town, the Palmyra has kept its doors open through several conflicts and years of economic collapse. "This hotel hasn\'t closed its doors for 150 years," S...

  A villager takes a photo of a damaged car after a recent landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines leaving thousands homeless and several villagers dead on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. TALISAY, Philippines — As a storm pounded his rural home, Raynaldo Dejucos asked his wife and children to stay indoors and keep safe from possible lightning strikes, slippery roads or catching a fever. One thing the 36-year-old didn\'t mention was landslides. In the lakeside town of Talisay in the northeastern Philippines, the 40,000 inhabitants have never experienced them in their lifetime. But after leaving home last Thursday to check his fish cages in nearby Lake Taal, an avalanche of mud, boulders and toppl...