Syrian regime shells civilian neighborhoods
Rebel-held territory in Syria devastated by regime airstrikes, according to videos posted on social media. Sean Carberry reports.
Rebel-held territory in Syria devastated by regime airstrikes, according to videos posted on social media. Sean Carberry reports.
The father of a boy accused of stabbing two Christian clerics in Australia saw no signs of his son’s extremism, a Muslim community leader said on Wednesday as police prepared to file charges against rioters who besieged a Sydney church demanding revenge. The 16-year-old boy spoke in Arabic about the Prophet Muhammad after he stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and the Rev. Isaac Royel during a church service on Monday night that was being streamed online. Lebanese Muslim Association secretary Gamel Kheir, an advocate for Sydney’s largest Muslim community, said he spent two hours with the boy’s distraught father at the family home soon after the attack.
An international conference of far-right politicians and supporters resumed in Brussels on Wednesday after the organizers launched a legal challenge against the authorities in the Belgian capital who feared the event could pose a threat to public order. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was due to speak at the National Conservative conference, a gathering of stridently nationalist and fundamentalist Christians, a day after Nigel Farage, the man credited with taking Britain out of the European Union, addressed the crowd.
Lightning and heavy rains led to 14 deaths in Pakistan, officials said Wednesday, bringing the death toll from four days of extreme weather to at least 63. Most of the deaths were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in Pakistan's northwest. Collapsing buildings have killed 32 people, including 15 children and five women, said Khursheed Anwar, a spokesman for the Disaster Management Authority.
European leaders’ discussions at a summit in Brussels were set to focus on the bloc’s competitiveness in the face of increased competition from the United States and China. Tensions in the Middle East and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine decided otherwise and the 27 leaders will dedicate Wednesday evening talks to foreign affairs. As the unprecedented attack by Iran on Israel ratcheted up regional tensions and raised fears of a wider war, EU leaders will urge “all parties to exercise utmost restraint and refrain from any action that may increase tensions in the region,” according to a draft of their summit conclusions.
Inflation in the U.K. fell to its lowest level in two and a half years in March after a further easing in food prices, official figures showed Wednesday. Consumer prices rose by 3.2% in the year to March, down from 3.4% in February, the Office for National Statistics said. Inflation is still running higher than the Bank of England’s target of 2% but the direction of the move appears clear.
France's far-right National Rally is banking on its youthful and charismatic party leader to be a major asset as it scents massive gains in upcoming European elections.But since taking over as National Rally (RN) party leader, Bardella has become an increasingly visible presence in French politics and forming an effective tandem with Le Pen who leads its MPs in parliament.
A newborn Bornean orangutan was born via C-section at Florida's Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.
Dubai's giant highways were clogged by flooding and airport passengers were urged to stay away on Wednesday as the glitzy financial centre reeled from record rains.Dubai's flagship Emirates airline cancelled all check-ins on Wednesday as staff and passengers struggled to arrive and leave, with access roads flooded and some metro services suspended.
Dame Touré rushed to quickly gather what she could as bulldozers rolled into her neighborhood in Ivory Coast's fast-growing economic hub of Abidjan. The Touré home was among hundreds crushed in a February wave of demolitions targeting Abidjan's underdeveloped areas. The government says it's because of public health concerns as the poor areas — built along a lagoon in this port city of 6.3 million on West Africa's southern coast — suffer deadly floods during the rainy season.
The six-week national election will start Friday with polling scheduled in 21 states in the first phase. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has been trying to make inroads in the state where regional parties have dominated for decades. In the 2019 elections, DMK won 38 out of 39 parliamentary seats in Tamil Nadu.
At a South African wine farm, dry, uprooted grapevines are stacked at the bottom of a hilly stretch of brown fallow land. To better deal with heavy rains, the new grapevines are being laid out to conform with the hilly landscape.
Croatia is voting Wednesday in a parliamentary election after a campaign centered on a bitter rivalry between the president and prime minister that has sparked a political crisis in the small European Union and NATO member. The ballot pits the ruling conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) led by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic against an alliance of centrist and left-wing parties informally led by populist President Zoran Milanovic and his Social Democratic Party (SDP).
What was supposed to be a time of celebration for Asna Tabassum – the University of Southern California’s 2024 valedictorian – has turned to disappointment after the university denied her the chance to give a speech at commencement over security concerns.
Dutch tech giant ASML, which supplies chip-making machines to the semiconductor industry, on Wednesday reported a drop in net profits and orders amid a high-tech trade spat between China and the West.ASML announced this year that it had been blocked from exporting "a small number" of its advanced machines to China, amid reports of US pressure on the Dutch government.
Asian shares were trading mixed Wednesday, as expectations resurfaced that U.S. interest rates may stay high for a while. The mixed reaction came after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said at an event Tuesday that the central bank has been waiting to cut its main interest rate, which is at its highest level since 2001, because it first needs more confidence inflation is heading sustainably down to its 2% target. “Appetite for risk-taking remains weak, with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell validating a later timeline for rate cuts, alongside a raft of Fed speakers calling for more patience in easing,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market analyst at IG.
Remains discovered in rural Oklahoma have been positively identified as belonging to Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley, who were reported missing last month, authorities said.
Croatia began voting in a parliamentary election on Wednesday after a bitter campaign between a prime minister seeking a new term and a populist president who wants to be head-of-government despite a court warning.- 'Russian world' - But Milanovic canvassed across Croatia despite the country's top court ruling that he could only stand in the election if he steps down as president first.
The U.S., South Korea and Japan are pushing for a new multi-national panel of experts, possibly outside the U.N., to ensure sanctions enforcement against North Korea after Russia and China thwarted monitoring activities at the world body, three sources said on Wednesday. The push came after Russia rejected the annual renewal of the U.N. panel of experts that has over the past 15 years monitored the implementation of sanctions aimed at curbing North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes.
The Biden administration has signaled that it could reimpose oil sanctions on Venezuela on Thursday in response to what U.S. officials see as President Nicolas Maduro's failure to meet his commitments for free and fair elections this year. Barring any last-minute concessions by Maduro, the U.S. has made clear it is not likely to renew a six-month license that granted the OPEC member partial sanctions relief from October, following an election deal reached between the government and the Venezuelan opposition. Washington had repeatedly threatened in recent months to reinstate punitive measures on Venezuela's vital oil and gas sector unless Maduro made good on his promises, including allowing the opposition to run the candidate of its choice against him in the July 28 election.
A year’s worth of rain unleashed immense flash flooding in Dubai Tuesday as roads turned into rivers and rushing water inundated homes and businesses.