International

Super Typhoon Mangkhut tore through Asia over the weekend, its destructive power caught in videos of swaying buildings, shattered skyscrapers, and dramatic rescues. As the storm ripped through the Philippines, on Sept. 15, footage emerged of the raging floodwaters that had wrecked homes and triggered landslides. One video shared with Reuters shows a man stranded […]

HONG KONG—Mangkhut weakened from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it moved deeper into southern China on Monday, leaving death and destruction from Hong Kong to the Philippines. The storm was still affecting southern China’s coast and the provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan and rain and strong winds were expected to continue through […]

GHAZNI, Afghanistan/KABUL—Afghanistan’s poorly armed and underpaid police are usually on the frontlines against Taliban militants and they lost 90 men defending the strategic city of Ghazni last month, underlining chronic weaknesses that are likely to face further tests. The four days of intense fighting in Ghazni have highlighted problems, including resentment of the regular military, […]

A senior researcher has quit his job at Google in protest over the company’s leaked plans to create a censored web search app for China, codenamed “Dragonfly.” Jack Poulson, 32, who worked for the research and machine-intelligence department, left Google on Aug. 31 after discussing his concerns with his bosses for several weeks. He felt […]

Typhoon Mangkhut slammed Hong Kong and China after tearing through the Philippines over the weekend. The storm had 107 mph maximum sustained winds and had gusts of 138 mph, according to the Hong Kong Observatory, according to CNN. “Rainbands of Mangkhut will still bring heavy squally showers to Hong Kong. Sea will be high with […]

Super Typhoon Mangkhut, an extremely dangerous Category 5 cyclone in the Pacific known as Super Typhoon Ompong in the Philippines, made landfall in the Philippines on Sept. 15. Philippine weather agency PAGASA reported that the storm hit Baggao, Cagayan. Thousands of people had evacuated the area before the storm’s landfall. CNN reported the storm has […]

VATICAN CITY—Pope Francis has ordered an investigation of an American bishop accused of sexual misconduct with adults and accepted his resignation, deepening a worldwide clerical abuse scandal. The Vatican and U.S. Church officials announced the investigation on Sept. 13 as the pope was meeting U.S. Catholic Church leaders to discuss a scandal that has shaken […]

There are several other tropical disturbances in the Atlantic other than Hurricane Florence, including Tropical Storm Joyce and Tropical Storm Helene. Helene Update Helene, once a hurricane, is maintaining tropical storm strength and is slated to bring heavy winds and rains to the Azores islands over the weekend. A tropical storm warning was issued for […]

Two men accused by the British government of being Russian spies who used a military-grade poison to try to kill a turncoat ex-KGB colonel and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury have gone on Russian television to say they were merely tourists. The suspects, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, believed by Scotland Yard […]

BEIJING–11 people were killed and 44 injured after a car plowed into a crowded square in southern China and the driver attacked people with a knife and spade seeking “revenge” on society for previous criminal convictions, reports said on Sept. 13. The car drove into the square in Mishui town, part of Hengyang city in […]

Hurricane Helene is forecast to weaken over the eastern Atlantic Ocean, and interests in the Azores islands should monitor the storm’s progress. The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Helene has 90 mph winds, meaning it is a Category 1 storm. The storm is located about 1,350 miles south-southwest of the Azores, and it is […]

MOSCOW—President Vladimir Putin says that Russia has identified the two men that Britain is seeking as suspects in the poisoning of a former Russian spy, and he insists that they are civilians. Britain last week charged the two Russians they allege are military intelligence agents in absentia with the Novichok poisoning of former Russian spy […]

ISLAMABAD—Kulsoom Nawaz Sharif, the wife of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has died in London on Sept. 11 at the age of 68, officials said. She died after months in a coma, having been diagnosed with lymphoma last year, barely a month after her husband was removed from office by the Pakistan Supreme Court, which […]

GENEVA—U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called on China on Sept. 10 to allow in monitors after “deeply disturbing” allegations of large re-education camps in which Uyghurs are detained in Xinjiang. Her appeal for access came as Human Rights Watch reported that the Turkic, mostly Muslim Uyghur minority in Xinjiang face arbitrary detentions, daily restrictions […]

A Qantas flight from Perth to London turned around two hours after takeoff due to a disruptive passenger. The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner took off from Perth and was slated to land in London after a 17-hour flight. According to passengers, the person locked himself in the bathroom for an hour. “He locked himself in the […]

KABUL, Afghanistan—Taliban insurgents have launched separate attacks on Afghan security forces in the country’s north, killing at least 37, provincial officials said Monday. Mohammad Yusouf Ayubi, head of the provincial council in Kunduz province, said that at least 13 security forces were killed in an attack on a checkpoint they were manning in Dashti Archi […]

President Donald Trump thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un following reports that a military parade held in Pyongyang didn’t feature any intercontinental ballistic missiles. To mark the 70th anniversary of its founding, the communist regime staged a military parade on Sept. 9 focused on conventional arms, peace, and economic development. Unlike the prior years, […]

U.S. ambassadors to El Salvador, Panama, and the Dominican Republic were called back to the United States over the three countries’ decision to break ties with Taiwan. Panama cut diplomatic relations with the small island nation in June last year, followed by the Dominican Republic in May, and El Salvador last month, leaving just 17 nations with […]

SINGAPORE—Global stock markets mostly fell on Sept. 7 as traders mulled over the effects of possible U.S. tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods and looked ahead to U.S. jobs data. In Europe, France’s CAC 40 fell 0.3 percent to 5,230, while the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares gave up 1 percent to […]

LONDON—The Russian state has unleashed an online campaign of false information after the UK published proof that the novichok nerve-agent attacks in Salisbury were carried out by Russian assassins. The British government has identified dozens of false narratives created by Russia and its proxies that push back against allegations that agents of the Russian GRU military […]