International

Pakistan’s new prime minister, former cricket player Imran Khan, is in Saudi Arabia as part of his first official overseas trip. Khan arrived in the kingdom on Tuesday and will later travel to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.   While in Saudi Arabia, Khan traveled to Medina and visited the Prophet’s Mosque. He then flew to ...

The death toll in the Philippines from Typhoon Mangkhut has climbed to 81 and could hit triple digits as searchers dig through a landslide where dozens are presumed dead, authorities said Wednesday. Mangkhut swamped farm fields in the nation’s agricultural north and smashed houses when it tore through at the weekend with violent winds and heavy rains.   Since then ...

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the North’s leader Kim Jong Un opened a new round of talks at a summit in Pyongyang on Wednesday with the North Korean nuclear arsenal high on the agenda, but Seoul warned they may not reach an agreement. Moon is on a three-day trip to the North Korean capital for his third summit with ...

 New Zealand plans to increase the number of refugees it takes each year from 1,000 to 1,500. Liberal Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Wednesday that the new quota will take effect from 2020.   The country has previously been criticized for not taking enough refugees after the annual quota remained at 750 for three decades before it was raised ...

An Afghan official says at least nine members of the local police force were killed when another policeman opened fire and shot them at a checkpoint in northern Balkh province, the latest in so-called “insider” attacks in Afghanistan. Mohammadudin Khanjer, a police official in the district of Char Boldak, says one policeman was wounded and three others were missing after ...

Iranian media are reporting that at least 21 people died in a road accident when a bus overturned following a collision with a tanker on a road in central Iran. Tuesday’s report by the semi-official Tasnim news agency says the accident happened late on Monday on the road linking the cities of Kashan and Natanz, about some 250 kilometers, or ...

Russia’s military says one of its aircraft with 14 people on board has disappeared over Syria’s Mediterranean Sea coast. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Tuesday that the Il-20 jet went off radar 35 kilometers (22 miles) away from the coast late Monday as it was returning to the Russian base near the city of Lattakia. The military ...

At least 27 members of the Afghan security forces have been killed in multiple Taliban attacks on checkpoints as well as police and military bases in different parts of the country, according to officials. The attacks on Sunday and Monday in three separate provinces – Farah, Badghis and Baghlan – and the high casualty toll underscore the difficulties government forces ...

About 15 police personnel have been killed in fierce clashes in two Afghan western provinces, authorities said Monday.   Jamshid Shahabi, spokesman for the Badghis governor, said around 22 Taliban fighters were killed and 16 others were wounded during the gunbattle there, reports AP.    The insurgents issued no statements on these attacks and no group immediately claimed responsibility but ...

An American-French law professor arrested while protesting against the demolition of a Palestinian village in the West Bank says an Israeli court has revoked a deportation order against him.   Frank Romano, who teaches law at the Paris Nanterre University, was released late Sunday on the orders of the Jerusalem magistrates court and spoke in a video posted on social ...