Air strikes near Damascus kill at least 80 people: activists
Rights group claims Syrian government airstrikes hit market place, killing at least 80 and wounding more than 200. Sean Carberry reports.
Rights group claims Syrian government airstrikes hit market place, killing at least 80 and wounding more than 200. Sean Carberry reports.
Britain's governing Conservative Party is suffering heavy losses as local election results pour in Friday, piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of a U.K. general election in which the main opposition Labour Party appears increasingly likely to return to power after 14 years. Labour won control of councils in England it hasn't held for decades and was successful in a special by-election for Parliament. Its only negative appears to have been in some areas with large Muslim populations where the party's candidates suffered as a result of leader Keir Starmer 's strongly pro-Israel stance in the conflict in Gaza.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized the container ship MSC Aries, with a crew of 25, in the Strait of Hormuz on April 13, days after Tehran vowed to retaliate for a suspected Israeli strike on its consulate in Damascus. Iran had said it could close the crucial shipping route. “The seized ship, which turned off its radar in Iran's territorial waters and jeopardized the security of navigation, is under judicial detention,” Amirabdollahian said, according to a foreign ministry post on X late Thursday night.
Zay Yar Tun fills his truck with water for delivery to refugees in the parched hills of war-ravaged eastern Myanmar, where a heatwave is adding to the misery of life in displacement camps.Now, a heatwave that has sent the mercury in Myanmar to 48 degrees Celsius (118 Fahrenheit) in some places has added to uncertainties of life in the camps.
Henriette Berthelsen was separated from her family at 11 and forced to wear a contraceptive coil, a trauma she buried until she and 142 other Greenlandic women sued the Danish state.Now 66, Berthelsen is one of the 143 Greenland Inuits who have sued the Danish state for violating their rights during its forced contraception campaign from the 1960s to 1980.
Defense chiefs from the U.S., Australia, Japan and the Philippines vowed to deepen their cooperation as they gathered Thursday in Hawaii for their second-ever joint meeting amid concerns about China's operations in the South China Sea. The meeting came after the four countries last month held their first joint naval exercises in the South China Sea, a major shipping route where Beijing has long-simmering territorial disputes with a number of Southeast Asian nations and has caused alarm with its recent assertiveness in the waters. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters at a news conference after their discussion that the drills strengthened the ability of the nations to work together, build bonds among their forces and underscore their shared commitment to international law in the waterway.
It's a dilemma no business owner should have to face: whether to reopen after a mass shooting. The answer didn't come easily to Justin and Samantha Juray. The Lewiston venue has undergone a complete makeover, giving it a vibrant, airy feel.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs' signing of the repeal of a Civil War-era ban on nearly all abortions was a stirring occasion for the women working to ensure that the 19th century law remains in the past. Current and former state lawmakers and reproductive rights advocates crowded into the 9th floor rotunda outside Hobbs' office Thursday afternoon, hugging and taking selfies to capture the moment. “It’s a historic moment, and it’s a place and time where thrilling moments all come together," Democratic Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton said during the signing ceremony.
Georgia has been engulfed by huge protests triggered by a proposed law that critics see as a threat to media freedom and the country’s aspirations to join the European Union. Here is a look at the bill and the protests it has ignited: WHAT IS THE NEW BILL? The bill would require media and nongovernmental organizations and other nonprofits to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of funding from abroad.
This Orthodox Easter season, an extraordinary new church is bringing spiritual comfort to war-weary residents of the Ukrainian village of Lypivka. Almost 100 residents sheltered in a basement chapel at the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary while Russian troops occupied the village in March 2022 as they closed in on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, 40 miles (60 kilometers) to the east. “The fighting was right here,” the Rev. Hennadii Kharkivskyi said.
This story was first published on May 13, 2021.
A highly anticipated trial began in Massachusetts this week involving a woman accused of striking her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV and leaving him for dead in a snowbank. John O’Keefe died in a suburb about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Boston on Jan. 29, 2022. The 16-year police veteran was found unresponsive outside the home of a fellow Boston police officer.
South Korean semiconductor giant SK Hynix said Friday its entire 2024 production of high-end memory chips was sold out and most of next year's line was gone too, reflecting the huge demand for cutting-edge AI hardware.SK Hynix also said this week it would be starting mass production of its top-of-the-line fifth-generation HBM chips in the third quarter.
When Oklahoma and national officials held a press conference Monday to discuss the scale of devastation following tornadoes two days earlier, Kathy John did what she always does: She showed up to report on it for the town’s weekly newspaper, the Sulphur Times-Democrat. Sulphur suffered Oklahoma's worst destruction during an outreak of severe weather when a tornado plowed through downtown in the community of about 5,000 residents south of Oklahoma City. Kathy John's husband, James John, joined the staff in 1968, after his father ran it for 27 years.
From its earliest days, the Soviet Union's intelligence services — whether known as the Cheka or by the names of any of its successor agencies like the KGB — kept the government in power by pursuing its opponents no matter where they lived. Intelligence experts say that policy is still followed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, himself a product of the KGB who does not disguise his scorn for perceived traitors, defectors and other political enemies abroad. The Kremlin has routinely denied involvement in such attacks.
Police have arrested nearly 2,200 people during pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses across the United States in recent weeks, sometimes using riot gear, tactical vehicles and flash-bang devices to clear tent encampments and occupied buildings. One officer accidentally discharged his gun inside a Columbia University administration building while clearing out protesters camped inside, authorities said. No one was injured by the officer's mistake late Tuesday inside Hamilton Hall on the Columbia campus, the NYPD said Thursday.
China is preparing to launch a lunar probe Friday that would land on the far side of the moon and return with samples that could provide insights into geological and other differences between the less-explored region and the better-known near side. The unprecedented mission would be the latest advance in the increasingly sophisticated and ambitious space exploration program that is now competing with the U.S., still the leader in space. China already landed a rover on the moon's far side in 2019, the first country to do so.
Colombia has become the latest Latin American country to announce it will break diplomatic relations with Israel over its military campaign in Gaza, but the repercussions for the South American nation could be broader than for other countries due to longstanding bilateral agreements over security matters. Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Wednesday described Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide” and announced his government would end diplomatic relations with Israel effective Thursday.
With student protests over the Israel-Hamas war disrupting campuses nationwide, several major universities are intent on ensuring that commencement ceremonies — joyous milestones for graduates, their families and friends — go off without a hitch this weekend. Colleges are hiring extra security, screening attendees at venues and emphasizing that significant disruptions by pro-Palestinian protesters won't be tolerated. “Milestone is a perfect word,” said Ken Burdick of Tampa, Florida, describing his daughter's graduation Saturday at the University of Michigan.
Russia will face consequences for a cyber attack allegedly orchestrated by a group with ties to its military intelligence, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Friday. Germany has been among the Western nations providing Ukraine military support in its war with Russia, with President Vladimir Putin saying in December that ties between the two countries stay largely frozen.
The prosecution's star witness has yet to take the stand in Donald Trump's hush money trial. The second week of testimony in the case will wrap up Friday after jurors heard a potentially crucial piece of evidence: a recording of Trump and Cohen, then his attorney, discussing a plan to pay off an ex-Playboy model who claimed to have an affair with Trump. Prosecutors have spent the week using detailed testimony about meetings, email exchanges, business transactions and bank accounts to build on the foundation of their case accusing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee of a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election.