JERUSALEM — Iran said Saturday it had conducted a successful satellite launch into its highest orbit yet, the latest for a program the West fears improves Tehran’s ballistic missiles. The announcement comes as heightened tensions grip the wider Middle East over Israel’s continued war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and just days after Iran … Read more
BANGKOK — A fire broke out in dorms at a boarding school for elementary students in central Henan province, and 13 people died in the blaze, China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported Saturday. It was not immediately clear how many of the dead were students. One person rescued from the scene was being treated in the … Read more
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan’s Defense Ministry issued an alert Tuesday saying China has launched a satellite and urging caution days before the island’s elections. Taiwan holds presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday that China has described as a choice between war and peace. The bilingual alert sent to residents’ mobile phones cautioned in English that … Read more
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan’s Defense Ministry says a Chinese military surveillance balloon was spotted in the Taiwan Strait, as well as a large-scale dispatch of military aircraft and ships. The ministry said the balloon passed southwest of the northern port city of Keelung on Thursday night, then continued east before disappearing, possibly into the Pacific … Read more
PARIS — French investigations into a fatal weekend attack near the Eiffel Tower were looking Monday into the mental health of the suspected assailant, who swore allegiance to the Islamic State group before stabbing a German-Filipino tourist to death and injuring two other people with a hammer. The French national taken into police custody, Armand … Read more
PARIS — A 71-year-old Romanian yoga guru and 14 others were handed preliminary charges by a Paris magistrate on a raft of counts linked to an international ring that for years allegedly subjected followers seeking enlightenment to sexual exploitation. The Paris prosecutor’s office said that six of the 15 people interrogated were ordered held on … Read more
THITU ISLAND, South China Sea — The Philippines inaugurated a new coast guard monitoring base Friday on an island occupied by Filipino forces in the disputed South China Sea and plans to expand joint patrols with the United States and Australia to counter China’s “pure bullying” in the strategic waterway, a Philippine security official said. … Read more
A fire in a coal company building in a northern Chinese city has killed 25 people and injured a few dozen more ByThe Associated Press November 16, 2023, 12:15 AM BEIJING — A fire burned in a coal company building Thursday in a northern Chinese city, killing 25 people and injuring a few dozen more. … Read more
ABOARD THE BRP CABRA — As a U.S. Navy surveillance plane flew in circles, keeping a close watch, dozens of Chinese coast guard and accompanying ships chased and encircled Philippine vessels in the latest confrontation in one of the most dangerous flashpoints in the South China Sea. At the height of Friday’s four-hour faceoff in … Read more
BEIRUT — The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group said Saturday his fighters have introduced new weapons, including a missile with a heavy warhead in the ongoing fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border, adding that they will keep using the tense frontier to pressure Israel. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah also blasted the United States over the Israel-Hamas … Read more