World

  FILE - People watch a TV news broadcast about the nomination of Pakistan's army chief, General Asim Munir, at a market in Karachi, Pakistan, Nov. 24, 2022. Parliament on Nov. 4, 2024, extended the terms of the heads of the armed forces from three years to five years. Islamabad — Pakistan’s ruling coalition lawmakers approved a series of bills Monday that extend the terms of the heads of the armed forces, including the military, from three years to five years, despite noisy opposition protests. The legislative action ensures that Army Chief General Asim Munir, who has been in office for two years, will continue to lead the country’s powerful military at least until November 2027. The parliamentary proceedings, telecast live, witness...

  FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are pictured at the Pyongyang Sunan International Airport outside Pyongyang, North Korea, June 19, 2024. (Kremlin pool photo via AP) washington — Pyongyang may have bet all its chips on its relationship with Moscow by committing the lives of its soldiers to fight for Russia’s war efforts against Ukraine, according to analysts. North Korean soldiers are gearing up for an anticipated battle in the Russian border region of Kursk. According to the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine on Saturday, more than 7,000 North Korean soldiers in the front line near the border were armed with various weapons by Russia. They included 60 mm mortars, AK-12 rifles and rocket-propelled...

  Moderator Hadley Gamble, left, looks on as UAE Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Suhail al-Mazrouei speaks in a panel during the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 4, 2024. abu dhabi, united arab emirates — The United Arab Emirates opened its annual oil-and-gas summit on Monday as it plans to increase the country\'s energy output as global prices stay volatile and world politics remain uncertain ahead of the U.S. presidential election. The massive Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference comes after the UAE just last year hosted the United Nations COP28 climate talks. Those talks ended with a call by nearly 200 countries to move away from planet-war...

  FILE - Iran's national flag waves in Tehran, Iran, March 31, 2020. tehran, iran — Iran on Monday executed a Jewish citizen convicted of murdering another man in 2022 following a personal dispute, reports said. It was a rare case of an execution of member of a religious minority in the predominately Muslim nation. Mizanonline.ir, a website affiliated with Iran\'s judiciary, said 23-year-old Arvin Ghahremani was put to death after the country\'s Supreme Court affirmed the capital punishment handed down in the case earlier last year. The report quoted Hamid Reza Karimi, the prosecutor of the western city of Kermanshah, as saying the court and the convicted man\'s lawyers and relatives had failed to convince the victim\'s family to ab...

  FILE - In this image provided by Armed Forces of the Philippines, a Chinese Coast Guard holds an axe as they approach Philippine troops on a resupply mission in the Second Thomas Shoal at the disputed South China Sea on June 17, 2024. MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine military opened two weeks of combat drills Monday that will include seizing an island in the disputed South China Sea and likely be frowned upon by China. More than 3,000 Filipino army, navy and air force personnel will take part in the maneuvers, which Philippine military officials said were not directed against any country. China has rapidly expanded its military and has become increasingly assertive in pursuing territorial claims in the South China Sea, which Beijin...

  FILE - A Soyuz-2.1b rocket blasts off at the Vostochny Cosmodrome outside Tsiolkovsky, Amur region, Russia, Feb. 29, 2024. Russia will launch two Iranian satellites into orbit using a Soyuz launcher on Nov. 5. (Roscosmos) Russia will launch two Iranian satellites into orbit using a Soyuz launcher on Tuesday, Iran\'s ambassador to Moscow said Monday, as the two U.S.-sanctioned countries deepen their scientific relationship. "In continuation of the development of Iran-Russia scientific and technological cooperation, two Iranian satellites, Kowsar and Hodhod, will be launched to a 500 km orbit of Earth," Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali said in a post on X. The development of Kowsar, a high-resolution imaging satellite...

  A girl observes the market area of al-Roj Camp, where mostly women from western countries believed to be part of the former IS are held Northeast Syria, on Oct. 13, 2024. (Yan Boechat/VOA) "Sometimes I feel like there\'s no hope, you know?" says Soulay. "We are living for no reason. My life has no meaning." Soulay has been imprisoned since he was captured at 16 years old, holding an AK-47 with men who appeared to be seasoned foreign militants. Initially, Kurdish regional authorities put him in an adult jail, but he was soon transferred to al-Houri Rehabilitation Center, which holds boys from IS families who have not been accused of crimes. Al-Houri is surrounded by thick concrete walls, topped with barbed wire and armed guards. It also has a school that tea...

  The Russian Navy corvettes "Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov," left, and "Rezkiy" are seen docked at North Jamrud pier of Tanjung Perak port for a five-day joint military exercise between Indonesia and Russia, in Surabaya, Nov. 4, 2024. Indonesia and Russia began their first-ever joint naval exercises Monday in the Java Sea. These bilateral drills work to support an Indonesian foreign policy agenda that prioritizes nonalignment in the face of conflict between world powers. The drills have been divided into two phases and will take place over the course of five days near Indonesia\'s Surabaya city, east of the capital, Jakarta. In the beginning “harbor phase,” Indonesia and Russia have focused on inc...

  FILE - The outside of the Department of Justice building in Washington. A Russian internet propaganda campaign that spread disinformation in the U.S. and relied on artificial intelligence has been disrupted, the department said recently. miami — A Turkish businessman was arrested Monday in Miami and charged with helping Venezuela\'s state-run oil company circumvent U.S. sanctions. Taskin Torlak, 37, was arrested while attempting to return to Turkey, the Justice Department said in a statement. According to court documents, Torlak operated several companies involved in the shipment of sanctioned oil. Starting in 2020, he allegedly started working with unnamed co-conspirators and companies from Ukraine, China, Indonesia and elsewhere to tr...

  Troops take part in training at a base of the Korean People's Army's special operations forces, at an undisclosed location in North Korea, in this picture taken Oct. 2, 2024, and released by the Korean Central News Agency via KNS on Oct. 4, 2024. New York — Russia refused to confirm its plans for North Korean troops it reportedly plans to deploy in its fight against Ukraine, during a confrontation with the United States Monday at the U.N. Security Council. “I heard the statement [of the Russian envoy], as did others in this room, but the one question still remains that that statement does not address, and that is whether there are DPRK troops on the ground in Russia,” U.S. Deputy U.N. Ambassador Robert Wood told council membe...