JERUSALEM – Israel is upgrading its F-35 fighter jets to be capable of hitting Iranian targets without need of refueling, according to The Jerusalem Post newspaper. The paper did not provide further details about the Israeli move, but said the upgrading is part of Israeli preparations for any “future strike against Iran’s nuclear c...
HOUSTON, Texas – A fourth-grader who survived the Texas mass shooting last month testified before a US House of Representatives gun violence panel. “I don’t want it to happen again,” said Miah Cerrillo, 11, who smeared a classmate’s blood on her face and hands and played dead during the Robb Elementary School massacre. The 18-year-old [&...
WASHINGTON – China and Russia have sought to explain their vetoes on a new Security Council resolution that would have tightened sanctions on North Korea for its repeated ballistic missile tests. China blamed the US for simmering tensions on the Korean Peninsula in the first such instance of a permanent Council member explaining their de...
GENEVA – There is a “real” risk of monkeypox becoming established in non-endemic countries, the World Health Organization has warned, while also reiterating that the COVID-19 pandemic “is not over.” “More than 1,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox have now been reported to WHO from 29 countries that are not endemic for the disease,” said WHO [&he...
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria – Nigeria’s ruling party elected former Lagos State Governor Ahmed Tinubu as its presidential candidate ahead of the general election early next year. Tinubu emerged the winner of the All Progressive Congress (APC) party’s electoral college after securing 1,271 votes from 2,322 party delegates in the nation’...
ANKARA – US sanctions have “returned like a boomerang,” affecting the American and European economies, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said. In an exclusive interview, Maduro said “it is very difficult” when he was asked about the possibility of the lifting of US sanctions against Venezuela. “Because...
PARIS – France is the second-largest European investment destination for Qatar after the UK, with assets of more than 25 billion euros ($26.7 billion), according to a recent study. The Gulf country has 42 companies in France through direct holdings or firms mostly managed by the sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority, a study c...
LONDON (AA) – Britain on Thursday condemned the death sentences issued to two of its citizens by a court in Russian-backed Donetsk. “I utterly condemn the sentencing of Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner held by Russian proxies in eastern Ukraine,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement. Claiming that the men whom the cour...
WASHINGTON (AA) – At least three people were killed after a gunman opened fire Thursday at a manufacturing facility in the US state of Maryland, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies responded to the shooting at Columbia Machine Inc. in the town of Smithsburg at approximately 2.30 p.m. Eastern Time (1830GMT)...
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) – Somalia’s newly elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was officially inaugurated on Thursday. The inauguration ceremony was attended by regional leaders, including Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh and Egyptian Prime Minister Kama...
