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Hong Kong riot police have arrested at least 15 people in clashes with dozens of pro-democracy protesters who targeted a mall near the border with China to demonstrate against mainland tourists and shoppers. On Saturday afternoon, masked plain-clothed officers wielding batons arrested 14 people, including a 14-year-old girl, who were …

Protesters broke into Iraq’s southern Nassiriya oilfield on Saturday and forced employees to cut off electricity from its control station, taking the field offline until further notice, a security source and two oil sources said. The oilfield produces 90,000 barrels a day (BPD) of crude. Protesters chanted “no homeland, no …

A well known Moroccan YouTuber has been jailed for four years and fined about $4,000 (£3,000) after being found guilty of insulting the country’s king. Mohamed Sekkaki was arrested earlier this month after criticizing King Mohammed’s speeches and for calling Moroccans donkeys. He plans to appeal against the verdict. Separately, …

The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), better known as name Hashd al-Sha’abi, says it has fought off an attack by the Daesh terrorist group against an area south of the Iraqi city of Samarra. In a statement on Friday, the Hashd al-Sha’abi said the Daesh elements were trying to infiltrate through …

A 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck southwestern Iran early Friday morning in a region which houses the country’s first nuclear power plant. The quake occurred just after 5 a.m. local time, 44 kilometers (27 miles) southeast of the city of Borazjan in Bushehr province, at a depth of 38.3 kilometers (23.7 …

Italy’s Supreme Court has ruled that small-scale domestic cultivation of cannabis is legal, in a landmark decision triggering calls for further legalization from weed advocates and anger from the country’s conservatives. Called on to clarify previous conflicting interpretations of the law, the Court of Cassation decreed that the crime of …

A Turkish court on Friday handed down jail sentences to seven journalists and other staffers at opposition newspaper Sozcu over aiding a network that Ankara says orchestrated a failed coup in 2016, the paper said. Sozcu, long a pillar of Turkey’s secularist establishment, described the verdict as a black mark …

A passenger plane carrying nearly 100 people crashed soon after take-off near the city of Almaty in Kazakhstan on Friday, slamming into a house in an accident that killed 12 people and injured dozens. The Fokker 100 aircraft, operated by Bek Air, got into trouble shortly after departing from Almaty, …

Japan’s broadcaster NHK reported a missile launch from North Korea, stating the projectile was estimated to have fallen some 2,000 km off Hokkaido’s coast. The news, however, was retracted shortly afterward. The erroneous report of the missile launch was issued by Japan’s national broadcaster late on Thursday. A few minutes …

A typhoon that lashed the central Philippines on Christmas Day has killed at least 16 people and caused damage to homes and tourist areas. Typhoon Phanfone, known locally as Typhoon Ursula, first made landfall on Eastern Samar province on Tuesday, bringing heavy rain and storm surges. It hit as the …

China says it is to dispatch a guided-missile destroyer to the joint naval drills with Iran and Russia — which are to be held to hone the trio’s maritime security and anti-piracy prowess but are also interpreted as a show of their close alliance. Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian announced …

Troops from India and Pakistan have exchanged heavy fire and mortar shelling along the restive Line of Control (LoC) that divides Kashmir between the two countries, with a total of six soldiers reportedly killed from both sides. The Pakistani armed forces said two of their soldiers were killed and one …

Iraqi Ministry of Immigration and Displaced revealed on Thursday, the return of (3,905) Iraqi refugees from Syria and Turkey to the country during the current year. “The ministry has returned (3,905) Iraqis from Syria and Turkey voluntarily within its free weekly voluntary return program,” noting that “the return trip for …

Iraqi President Barham Salih has submitted his resignation to parliament after he refused to designate the nominee for the premiership, Assad al-Eidani, arguing that he would rather step down than appoint the position to a figure strongly rejected by protesters. Salih handed his resignation to the Council of Representatives of …

A carbon monoxide leak at a church in Carlepont, in the northern French department of Oise, hospitalized at least 21 people who attended a Christmas Mass service, the French newspaper Le Parisien reported. According to the French newspaper Le Parisien, emergency services received a call to the Saint-Eloi church at …

House Judiciary Committee lawyers on Monday told a federal appeals court that the panel might consider recommending “new articles of impeachment” against President Trump if former White House counsel Don McGahn testifies and provides fresh evidence, The Washington Post reports. Democrats who lead the committee have been fighting in court …

Helicopters on Wednesday dropped water on the outskirts of the Chilean port city of Valparaiso to extinguish a fire that destroyed about 150 homes. Dozens of people living in the city’s Rocuant and San Roque hills sifted through the ruins of their homes after the fire, fanned by strong winds, …

Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara will consider deploying soldiers to help the United Nations-backed government in Libya fight off rival factions in the civil war-torn country. Erdogan made the comment in a meeting with Tunisian President Kais Saied during a surprise visit to Tunisia on Wednesday. We …

A military jet has crashed in the vicinity of Sabalan Mountain in Iran’s northwestern Ardabil Province, with no information still available on the fate of the crew. The CEO of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) in Ardabil Province said the plane had crashed at Baba Maqsood peak somewhere between …

The governor of Basra, Assad Al Eidani, was nominated on Wednesday to serve as Iraq’s next prime minister, reports said, despite the public’s refusal to accept a political figure to head the next government. Rising public anger at the poor quality of public services, corruption and unemployment have led to …