World

  FILE - Vietnamese fishermen fix nets on their boat as while docked at Tho Quang port, Danang, Vietnam, after a fishing trip in the South China Sea, March 27, 2016. Ho Chi Minh City — Vietnam is taking a more outspoken and transparent approach in response to China’s recent detention of Vietnamese fishermen in the South China Sea, analysts tell VOA. Hanoi is also moving forward with the construction of a new airstrip on a reef in its exclusive economic zone to further assert its sovereignty and challenge Beijing’s claims. Late last week, deputy spokesperson for Vietnam\'s foreign affairs ministry Doan Khac Viet called on China to release the fishermen who were captured with their fishing vessels in waters surrounding the Paracel Islands. ...

  Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Oct. 27, 2024. (West Asia News Agency/Handout via Reuters) Foreign adversaries used increasingly sophisticated meddling operations to target the November 5 U.S. presidential race between Democratic party candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and her Republican party opponent, former President Donald Trump. Iran has sought to influence and interfere with the results of the poll by promoting disinformation narratives favorable to its own foreign policy goals. The societal division in the U.S. and predictions of "post-election unrest," as well as depictions of the United States’ support for Israel in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war as American...

  FILE - A general view on the Spasskaya tower of the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, May 16, 2024. The FBI said more than 50 election sites across five battleground states received hoax bomb emails on Election Day in the U.S., and the emails in four of these states came from a Russian domain. None of the threats sent to polling sites in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Arizona were deemed credible, and while causing a brief disruption, they did not affect the voting, the FBI said. “We identified the source, and it was from Russia,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a news conference, adding that the Russians “don’t want us to have free, fair and accurate elections, and if they could m...

  The memorial plate for Tatyana Millard, American volunteer, is seen among Ukrainian and American flags placed in honor of fallen servicemen in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Nov. 5, 2024. Ukraine’s military said Wednesday it shot down 38 of the 63 aerial drones that Russian forces launched in overnight attacks. The Ukrainian air force said it intercepted the drones over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Zhytomyr and Zaporizhzhia regions. Vitaliy Kim, the governor of Mykolaiv, said on Telegram that Russia’s attack damaged energy infrastructure, but did not hurt anyone. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday it destroyed two Ukrainian drones over the Kursk region and another drone over Oryol. Russian officials sa...

  Houses are seen damaged from the eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki in East Flores, Indonesia, Nov. 4, 2024. JAKARTA, Indonesia — The Indonesian government plans to permanently relocate thousands of residents after a series of eruptions of Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano which killed nine people and damaged thousands of houses, officials said. Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki, located on Flores Island in East Nusa Tenggara province, erupted on Sunday night, followed by smaller eruptions on Monday and Tuesday, and remains on the highest volcanic alert status. Permanent relocation is considered as "long-term mitigation measures" to anticipate similar eruption in the future, said Suharyanto, the head of Indonesia\'s disaster agency i...

  German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reacts at a media briefing following his bilateral talks with Somali's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud at the Chancellery in Berlin, Nov. 5, 2024. berlin — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz\'s coalition faces a make-or-break moment on Wednesday as leaders of the three parties convene to forge compromises between their differing visions on rescuing the economy from decline. Relations between Scholz\'s center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and free-market Free Democrats (FDP) have sunk to new lows over the past week as they aired their respective strategies without consulting one another. The FDP, long the odd-one-out in the ideologically mismatched and fractious coalition, has doubled down on its ...

  This undated image provided by the U.S. Army shows Sgt. Quandarius Stanley, 23. He was injured in May while working on a pier to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. He died last Thursday.(U.S. Army via AP) washington — A U.S. Army soldier who was injured in May while working on the American-built pier to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza has died. Sargeant Quandarius Stanley, 23, was a motor transport operator and was critically injured when high winds and heavy seas damaged the pier, causing four Army vessels to become beached. Two other service members also were injured but later returned to duty. U.S. military officials have not provided details on how exactly Stanley was injured but have noted it was not in combat. He died last Thurs...

  This photograph taken on November 4, 2024 shows patient Balram Kumar holding his chest x-ray at a special pollution clinic in the government-run Ram Manohar Lohia hospital of New Delhi. NEW DELHI — A toxic smog shrouded the Indian capital on Tuesday, driving air quality in some areas into the "severe" range ahead of winter, when cold air traps pollutants and brings a spike in respiratory illnesses. The mix of smoke, emissions, and dust is an annual problem for authorities in New Delhi, with vehicles, construction dust, and smoke from farm fires in the adjoining northern states of Punjab and Haryana among the major contributors. "The outlook for the subsequent six days: the air quality is likely to be in the \'very poor\' ...

  FILE - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy participates in a video conference from his office in Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 20, 2023. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that his country’s forces have engaged in battle with the North Korean troops that were deployed to Russia to assist in its war on Ukraine. "The first battles with North Korean soldiers open a new page of instability in the world," Zelenskyy said Tuesday in his daily address — his first official acknowledgement of the encounter between the two forces. Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s defense minister, also has confirmed the arrival of the North Korean forces. In an interview with South Korea’s pu...

  Demonstrator throws a flare towards riot police during a protest in front of the City Hall building in Novi Sad, Serbia, Nov. 5, 2024. NOVI SAD, Serbia — Protesters threw flares and red paint Tuesday on the City Hall building in the Serbian city of Novi Sad in rage over last week\'s collapse of a concrete canopy at the railway station that killed 14 people. Police responded by firing tear gas canisters. The protesters surrounded the building in central Novi Sad, breaking windows and throwing stones and other objects despite calls by organizers to remain calm. Special police troops were deployed inside the building. Some of the angry protesters wearing masks, believed to be soccer hooligans who are close to the populist government, tri...