World

Germany recalls ambassador to Iran over execution of German-Iranian national
World

Germany recalls ambassador to Iran over execution of German-Iranian national

  FILE - Jamshid Sharmahd attends the first hearing of his trial in Tehran on Feb. 6, 2022. (Photo by Koosha Mahshid Falahi / Mizan News Agency / AFP) Berlin — Germany has recalled its ambassador to Iran over the reported execution of German-Iranian national Jamshid Sharmahd and summoned the Iranian charge d\'affaires to voice Berlin\'s protest against the killing, the German foreign office said on Tuesday. "We have sent our strongest protest against the actions of the Iranian regime & reserve the right to take further action," the foreign ministry said in a post on X. Germany\'s ambassador in Tehran demarched to the Iranian foreign minister and protested in the strongest possible terms the murder of Jamshid Sharmahd, the po...
Taiwan details record surge in Chinese warplanes involved in war games
Asia-pacific

Taiwan details record surge in Chinese warplanes involved in war games

  FILE - A man watches a news program about Chinese military drills surrounding Taiwan, on a giant screen outside a shopping mall in Beijing on October 14, 2024. Taipai, Taiwan — Taiwan\'s defense ministry on Tuesday detailed the surge in Chinese warplane activity around the island during war games the previous day, saying it had detected a record 153 Chinese military aircraft. China held a single day of what it called "Joint Sword-2024B" drills on Monday as a warning to "separatist acts," following last week\'s national day speech by Taiwan President Lai Ching-te that Beijing denounced. In its daily update on Chinese military activity around the island in the previous 24 hours, Taiwan\'s defense ministry said it spott...
Bogus bomb threats torment Indian aviation industry
World

Bogus bomb threats torment Indian aviation industry

  FILE - A man is silhouetted against an airport window with Air India planes parked in the background in New Delhi, Oct. 31, 2023. Ahead of the busiest annual travel season in India, more than 400 hoax bomb threats have triggered domestic and international travel chaos during the past two weeks, with Indian airlines grounding and diverting planes and incurring huge financial losses. Some flights were escorted to safety by fighter jets as the unprecedented wave of bogus threats caused disruption to scores of flights and India’s air travel industry. The threats created panic among air passengers, authorities said. Heightened security measures were enforced at most airports shortly after the first spate of threats surfaced in the second wee...
France, Morocco announce major investments as Macron visits Rabat 
World

France, Morocco announce major investments as Macron visits Rabat 

  Morocco's King Mohammed VI, right, and French President Emmanuel Macron wave to crowds during the latter's official visit to Morocco, in Rabat, Oct. 28, 2024. RABAT, Morocco — Morocco\'s King Mohammed VI welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron to Morocco on Monday, kicking off a state visit with a series of bilateral agreements, including major investments in renewable energy and transportation. Macron\'s trip to Morocco — his first in six years — comes as immigrants, including North Africans, face continued scrutiny in France and while France reassesses its role in its former colonies throughout Africa. Morocco has historically been a key economic and security partner, but relations between the two countries have often been...
Fireworks explosion injures more than 150 people at a temple in India
World

Fireworks explosion injures more than 150 people at a temple in India

  Police personnel stand at the spot where an explosion occurred Monday night when a fireworks storage facility caught fire injuring several people during a festival at Veerarkavu Hindu temple, at Neeleswaram, Kasargod district, Kerala, India, Oct.29, 2024. NEW DELHI — A huge explosion of fireworks injured more than 150 people at a religious festival in a temple in southern India, a report said Tuesday. The explosion occurred Monday night when a fireworks storage facility near Veerarkavu temple caught fire, the Press Trust of India reported, citing the police. It happened in Kasargod, which is nearly 580 kilometers (360 miles) northwest of Thiruvananthapuram, the Kerala state capital, The injured were treated at various hospitals in Kasar...
Guinea authorities dissolve dozens of political parties with no election date set
World

Guinea authorities dissolve dozens of political parties with no election date set

  FILE - Guinea junta leader Col. Mamady Doumbouya, leaves a meeting with an ECOWAS delegation in Conakry, Guinea, Sept. 10, 2021. Authorities recently dissolved dozens of political parties. CONAKRY, Guinea — Guinea authorities dissolved dozens of political parties and placed two major opposition ones under observation late Monday, while the transitional government has yet to announce a date for elections. The West African country has been led by a military regime since soldiers ousted President Alpha Conde in 2021. The West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS has pushed for a return to civilian rule and elections are scheduled for 2025. The mass dissolution of 53 political parties and required observation of 54 others for three months ...
Taiwan blames China for South Africa's order to move liaison office
Asia-pacific

Taiwan blames China for South Africa's order to move liaison office

  Taiwanese officials said on Oct. 18, 2024, that South Africa has ordered Taiwan to move its Taipei Liaison Office — shown here on Nov. 16, 2022 — from the capital, Pretoria, to Johannesburg. TAIPEI, TAIWAN — South Africa has ordered Taiwan\'s representative office to relocate outside of the capital, a Taipei Foreign Ministry official said Friday, blaming Chinese pressure for the decision. China considers self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and has sought to whittle down the number of countries that recognize its claim to statehood. "We have been asked to move our representative office out of the capital [Pretoria]," an official from Taiwan\'s Foreign Ministry told AFP on condition of anonymity. "Our reasonable conc...
Gunmen kill 5 workers at southwest Pakistan dam 
World

Gunmen kill 5 workers at southwest Pakistan dam 

  ISLAMABAD — Officials in Pakistan\'s violence-stricken Balochistan province said Tuesday that gunmen attacked workers at the site of a dam, killing five and wounding two others. The deadly shooting occurred in the Panjgur district of the sparsely populated Pakistani province renowned for its abundant natural resources. Residents reported that the assailants fled the scene on motorcycles immediately after the attack. A provincial government spokesperson, Shahid Rind, confirmed casualties, saying district authorities launched an investigation into the attack. The two injured men and bodies have been transferred to a local hospital, he said. There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the violence in Balochistan, where several sepa...
DR Congo wants UN peacekeepers gone, but war around minerals complicates that
World

DR Congo wants UN peacekeepers gone, but war around minerals complicates that

  FILE - A United Nations MONUSCO peacekeeper deployed near Kibumba, north of Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Jan. 28, 2022. GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — The end of one of the world\'s deadliest and yet most shadowy wars is as difficult to predict as the end of the large peacekeeping force meant to contain it. Congo desperately wants stability in its mineral-rich east, of intense interest to the global economy. But political friction means the government wants the longtime United Nations peacekeeping force there to get out. That would leave the vast region, overrun with dozens of armed groups including one affiliated with the Islamic State organization, with even less defense for millions of displaced civilians. But frustr...
Taiwan says live fire China drills may be part of a 'deterrence' effect
Asia-pacific

Taiwan says live fire China drills may be part of a 'deterrence' effect

  FILE - People look at the view from an observation point in Nangan Township, in the Matsu Islands, Taiwan, on October 15, 2024. taipei, taiwan — Taiwan\'s defense ministry said on Tuesday that live fire Chinese drills in a province facing the island are part of routine annual drills but also possibly part of China\'s "deterrence effect" in the waters of the Taiwan Strait. China\'s Maritime Safety Administration, in a notice late Monday, said an area around Niushan island in Fujian province would be closed off for four hours beginning at 9 a.m. on Tuesday for live fire drills. Niushan also sits just south of the Taiwan-controlled Matsu islands. Taiwan\'s defense ministry said in a statement that those exercises were part of rou...