Rio de Janeiro’s drug war hit a bloody crescendo Monday when at least 11 suspected criminals and two soldiers were reported killed in a huge military sweep through impoverished favelas and during a rush-hour police car chase.   The military command heading security in Brazil’s second biggest city said the two troops killed were the first lost since conservative President ...

At least 19 people have been killed in an Islamist militant attack on a village in north-east Nigeria, a survivor of the attack said. The strike is the latest blow to Nigeria’s efforts to defeat insurgencies by the Nigerian Islamist Boko Haram group and Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA).   In recent months, the military has suffered its heaviest ...

The Royal Household Bureau, Thailand’s Queen Sirikit, center, is visited by her children King Maha Vjiralongkorn and Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn at the Chitralada Palace on the Queen’s 86th birthday in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018. Bangkok, Aug 20 : Thailand’s Queen Sirikit is being treated in a hospital for the flu, the royal palace announced Monday. The ...

Muslim pilgrims have gathered in the valley of Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia for a day of prayer that marks the pinnacle of the annual hajj.   Some 2 million pilgrims packed shoulder to shoulder early Monday for an emotional day of repentance and supplication.  It was on this day some 1,400 years ago that Islam’s Prophet Muhammad is said ...

In this April 23, 2018, file photo a car is filled with gasoline at a station in Windham, N.H. Washington, Aug 20 : Conserving oil is no longer an economic imperative for the U.S., the Trump administration declares in a major new policy statement that threatens to undermine decades of government campaigns for gas-thrifty cars and other conservation programs. The ...

In this May 23, 2017, file photo former CIA Director John Brennan testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington before the House Intelligence Committee Russia Investigation Task Force. Washington, Aug 20 :  Former CIA Director John Brennan said Sunday that he is considering taking legal action to try to prevent President Donald Trump from stripping other current and former officials’ security ...

A view of the partially collapsed Morandi highway bridge, in Genoa, Italy, Sunday, Aug. 19, 2018. The unofficial death toll in Tuesday’s collapse rose to 43 Saturday. Rome, Aug 20 : The Italian engineer who designed the Genoa bridge that collapsed and killed dozens warned four decades ago that it would require constant maintenance to remove rust given the effects ...

In this June 16, 2018 file photo, Taliban fighters gather with residents to celebrate a three-day cease fire marking the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr, in Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan. Kabul, Aug 20 : Afghan officials say the Taliban have taken more than 100 people, including women and children, hostage in an ambush in the country’s north. This ...

In this July 30, 2018, file photo, Indonesian soldiers and rescue team gather to prepare for evacuating tourists from Mount Rinjani, seen in the background, at Sembalun in East Lombok, Indonesia. Sembalun, Aug 20 : Multiple strong earthquakes killed at least a dozen people on the Indonesian islands of Lombok and Sumbawa as the region was trying to recover from ...

London, Aug 19 : The co-founder of the fashion brand Superdry said Sunday he has donated 1 million pounds ($1.28 million) to a group seeking a new referendum on Britain’s departure from the European Union, as the U.K. government prepares to publish its assessment of the impact of leaving the bloc without an agreement on future relations. Julian Dunkerton, whose ...