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Russia and China have commenced four-day joint naval drills in the Sea of Japan with the participation of several warships and at least a dozen military aircraft, the Russian military says. In a statement on Thursday, Russia’s Pacific Fleet said that “The Joint Sea 2021 Russian-Chinese naval drills are running …

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the United States triggered an arms race after its unilateral withdrawal from the landmark Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty almost two decades ago. Speaking at a forum in Russia’s capital, Moscow, the president said the weapon race between the Cold War foes “is on the move.” …

Russian President Vladimir Putin asserts that the United States’ invasion of Afghanistan led to tragedy as it took place in defiance of the Afghan people’s culture and history. “Freedom and democracy, they cannot be disconnected from the culture and traditions of a certain people,” the Russian head of state told …

California firefighters scrambled overnight Wednesday to battle a fast-moving blaze that has scorched more than 13,400 acres and prompted evacuation orders since it started Monday, according to local authorities. Burning in a dry, scrub-filled canyon about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Santa Barbara, the Alisal Fire is just five …

Japan dissolved its parliament on Thursday, setting the stage for an election at the end of the month that will pit new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida against unpopular opposition in a battle over who can better fix the pandemic-battered economy. Kishida enjoys reasonable public support 11 days into the job, …

Norwegian police have arrested a man suspected of killing five people and injuring two others in a series of bow-and-arrow attacks. In a statement on Thursday, police said the suspect was a 37-year-old Danish citizen who lives in the Norwegian town of Kongsberg, southwest of the capital, Oslo, where the …

Newly released footage shows another African American man shot and killed by US police. The footage was released on Wednesday one week after the tragedy occurred in a supermarket in New York. New York Attorney General Letitia James released two videos from body-worn cameras, showing an officer enters the grocery …

The Russian ambassador to international organizations in Vienna says his country believes, unlike the European Union, there are no reasons to be pessimistic about the fate of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, whose revival depends on a removal of all anti-Iran sanctions. According to reports, Mikhail Ulyanov made the remarks …

Chilean opposition lawmakers have launched impeachment proceedings against President Sebastian Pinera over possible irregularities in the sale of a mining company revealed in the so-called Pandora Papers. Pinera used “his office for personal business,” Congressman Tomas Hirsch said on Wednesday as he presented the impeachment charge in the lower house …

At least 46 people have lost their lives and dozens more have been injured in a fire that broke out in a residential building in southern Chinese Taipei, officials say. The fire occurred in the 4-decade-old Cheng Chung Cheng building in the Yancheng district of the southern city of Kaohsiung …

The vicinity of the Palace of Justice in Beirut, specifically the Tayouneh area, where protesters gather to head towards the sit-in against Judge Tariq Al-Bitar, witnessed heavy shooting. The protesters had called to carry out a sit-in against the investigating judge in the Beirut port explosion, Judge Tariq Al-Bitar, and …

A Taliban delegation led by Afghanistan’s foreign minister will hold talks in Turkey on Thursday with Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said. NATO member Turkey maintained its embassy in Afghanistan after Western countries withdrew following the Taliban takeover, and has urged those countries to step …

A 37-year-old Danish citizen is suspected of killing five people with a bow-and-arrow and other weapons in the Norwegian town of Kongsberg in a rare incident of mass killing in Norway, police said on Thursday. Two people, including an off-duty police officer, were wounded in the Wednesday evening attacks, which …

More people were forced to leave their homes on Wednesday evening as flows of molten rock pouring from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma threatened to engulf another neighborhood. With no end in sight to the eruption, which is in its fourth week, authorities expected …

A fire in a residential building in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung has killed 46 people and injured another 41, the government said on Thursday. The fire broke out in the 40-year-old building in Kaohsiung’s Yancheng district in the early hours of the morning and was extinguished around dawn. …

Heavy gunfire was heard in Beirut on Thursday near an area where the Lebanese were gathering to protest against the judge investigating last year’s catastrophic port explosion. People ran for cover as shots and ambulance sirens could be heard in a live broadcast by Lebanon’s al-Jadeed TV. Its reporter at …

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have warned Western diplomats that insisting on sanctions as a means to pressure their governance could undermine security and trigger a wave of economic refugees. The acting foreign minister of the Taliban government, Amir Khan Muttaqi, told the US and European envoys during recent talks in Qatar …

Hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons have launched a hunger strike in protest against the regime’s intensified crackdown on detainees. The Palestinian Prisoners Club said in a statement on Wednesday that some of the Islamic Jihad captives were on a hunger strike, demanding an end to repressive measures imposed …

Facebook Inc will now count activists and journalists as “involuntary” public figures and so increase protections against harassment and bullying targeted at these groups, its global safety chief said in an interview this week. The social media company, which allows more critical commentary of public figures than of private individuals, …

A massive fire broke out in the main hall of the El Gouna Film Festival site in Egypt on Wednesday, one day ahead of the opening ceremony of the fifth edition, according to social media videos and local media reports. The festival will go on as scheduled on Thursday, organizers …