Egypt hosted a historic number of tourists last year —15.7 million, despite regional challenges — surpassing records set in 2023 and 2010. Around the city of Luxor, Cairo-based photojournalist Hamada Elrasam captured newly unearthed antiquities showcased this month. Captions by Elle Kurancid. …
PARIS — A Frenchman held in Iran since October 2022 on Monday revealed his identity in an audio message broadcast on a French radio station, saying he was becoming increasingly exhausted over his ordeal. Olivier Grondeau, 34, had previously only been identified by his first name and French authorities had not released details of his case. …
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Around 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and 2,700 others injured in Russia’s war in Ukraine, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers in a closed briefing Monday. The National Intelligence Service said it had participated in the interrogation of several North Korean troops who were captured by Ukrainian forces. The briefing came days after …
Read more “South Korea says 300 North Korean soldiers killed in Ukraine”
Niamey, Niger — An Austrian woman has been kidnapped by gunmen in Niger’s Agadez city, residents and the Austrian Foreign Ministry said Sunday. It is the first time a European citizen is known to have been kidnapped in the conflict-hit West African nation since a military junta took power in 2023. The ministry said the Austrian …
Read more “Austrian woman kidnapped in Niger’s Agadez city, authorities say”
London — Hundreds of Londoners headed down to the Underground on Sunday afternoon, stripped down to their underwear and travelled around a bit, trying to look as though nothing unusual was going on. As if. This was the Official No Trousers Tube Ride, an annual event with no point other than injecting a little levity into …
Read more “London subway riders bare their legs in ‘No Trousers Tube Ride’”
Belgrade, Serbia — Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters in Belgrade on Sunday switched on the lights on their mobile phones and stood in silence for 15 minutes to commemorate victims of a railway station roof collapse for which they blame authorities. The protest was organized and led by students from Belgrade state university who are …
New York — On a quiet weekend in movie theaters, while much of Hollywood’s attention was on the wildfires that continue to rage in Los Angeles, Lionsgate’s “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” debuted atop the box office with $15.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. Mid-January is often a slow moviegoing period, and that was slightly …
Read more “‘Den of Thieves 2’ is No. 1 at box office as ‘Better Man’ flops”
BUCHAREST — Tens of thousands protested in Romania’s capital on Sunday against a top court’s decision last month to annul the presidential election after an outsider candidate unexpectedly emerged as the frontrunner. Many of the demonstrators in Bucharest honked horns and waved Romania’s blue, yellow, and red flags, while others brandished placards bearing slogans such as …
Read more “Tens of thousands protest in Romania’s capital against annulled presidential race “
Rome — Italy’s justice minister has asked an appeals court to revoke the arrest of an Iranian citizen wanted by the U.S. over a drone attack in Jordan that killed three Americans a year ago. Mohammad Abedini is scheduled to appear at a Milan court on Wednesday in connection with his bid for house arrest pending …
Read more “Italy’s justice minister seeks to revoke arrest of Iranian based on US warrant “
STOCKHOLM — Sweden will contribute up to three warships to a NATO effort to increase the alliance’s presence in the Baltic Sea as it tries to guard against sabotage of underwater infrastructure, the government said Sunday. The Swedish military also will contribute an ASC 890 surveillance aircraft, the government said in a statement. And the country’s …
Read more “Sweden to contribute up to 3 warships to reinforced NATO presence in Baltic”
KYIV — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on allies on Sunday to honor all promises to supply Ukraine with weapons, including those to counter Russian air attacks. Zelenskyy said that over the past week Russian forces had launched hundreds of strikes on Ukraine and nearly 700 aerial bombs and over 600 attack drones were used. Ukrainian …
Read more “Zelenskyy calls on allies to honor promises on arms supplies to Ukraine “
MAPLE GROVE, Minnesota — Ice crystals clung to the eyelashes, parka hood, beanie hat and headscarf of Ruqayah Nasser as she took a break after her first-ever snow tubing runs in a Minnesota park on a -18 Celsius January morning. She had joined two dozen other members of a group founded by a Somali-American mother in …
Read more “Scarves over headscarves, Muslim women’s outdoors group tackles snow tubing in Minnesota”
ZAGREB, CROATIA — Croatia’s incumbent President Zoran Milanovic was the overwhelming favorite to win reelection as he faced a candidate from the ruling conservative party in a runoff presidential vote on Sunday. The left-leaning Milanovic comfortably won the first round of voting on December 29, leaving his main challenger, Dragan Primorac, a forensic scientist who had …
Read more “Croatia’s President Milanovic overwhelming favorite to win reelection in runoff vote”
KYIV, UKRAINE — For weeks, Ukrainian troops braced for an unfamiliar enemy: North Korean soldiers sent to bolster Moscow’s forces after Ukraine launched a lightning-fast incursion and seized territory in Russia’s Kursk region over the summer. Their arrival marked a new and alarming phase in the war. And while initially inexperienced on the battlefield, North Korean …
MAMOUDZOU, FRANCE — Residents of the French territory of Mayotte braced Saturday for a storm expected to bring strong winds and heavy rain less than a month after the Indian Ocean archipelago was devastated by a deadly cyclone. Mayotte was placed on a red weather alert from 1900 GMT on Saturday in anticipation of the passage …
Read more “Cyclone-ravaged Mayotte on red alert as it braces for new storm”
RIESA, GERMANY — The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party set out a radical program Saturday at a party congress ahead of next month’s snap general election as thousands of protesters took to the streets to voice their opposition to the party. Demonstrators shouting “No to Nazis” outside the venue in the eastern town of Riesa …
Read more “German far-right outlines radical program as protesters rally”
LOS ANGELES — After ripping through thousands of buildings, wildfires in Los Angeles were looming Saturday toward the celebrated Getty Center and its priceless collection. Nestled in the mountains above Los Angeles, the famed art museum is within a new evacuation warning zone as the Palisades Fire roars east. Dubbed a “beautiful fortress” and constructed of …
Read more “Braced with defenses against fire, Getty art center faces LA flames”
ISTANBUL — A delegation from one of Turkey’s biggest pro-Kurdish political parties met a leading figure of the Kurdish movement in prison Saturday, the latest step in a tentative process to end the country’s 40-year conflict, the party said. Three senior figures from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) met the party’s former co-chairperson, Selahattin …
Read more “Turkey’s Kurdish leaders meet jailed politician; 2 sides inch toward peace”
PARIS — France starts 2025 with a further drawdown of its military presence in its former African colonies, and fresh tensions ignited this week with controversial remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron. Chad, Senegal and now Ivory Coast have followed Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso in asking France to withdraw its troops from their soil. The …
Read more “France starts 2025 with fresh controversy, questions over Africa”
MOSCOW — Ukraine launched drone attacks across several regions of Russia, striking two residential houses in the Tambov region and injuring at least three people, Russia said on Saturday. The regional head, Evgeny Pervyshov, said on the Telegram messaging app people were treated for injuries resulting from shattered windows as drones hit two houses in the …
Read more “Russia says Ukrainian drones injure 3 in Tambov region”
BETHANY BEYOND THE JORDAN, JORDAN — The Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, on Friday consecrated a new church at a place on the banks of the Jordan River that the Catholic Church officially recognizes as the site where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. Parolin inaugurated and consecrated the Church of the Baptism of the …
Read more “Top Vatican diplomat consecrates Catholic church at Jesus’ baptism site”
BERLIN — Germany was racing Saturday to secure a heavily loaded tanker stranded off its northern coast, towing the stricken ship it said was part of Russia’s sanctions-busting “shadow fleet” away from shore to avert an oil spill. The 274-meter-long Eventin was sailing from Russia to Egypt with almost 100,000 tons of oil on board when …
Read more “Germany races to secure stricken ‘Russian shadow fleet’ oil tanker”
Russia accused Ukraine of conducting a deadly missile strike Friday on a supermarket in the Moscow-controlled city of Donetsk, while Kyiv reported a massive wave of Russian drone attacks on several regions and fierce fighting near the strategic logistics hub of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine. The fighting on Friday came a day after the Ukraine …
Read more “Russia blames Ukraine for deadly supermarket strike”
The Famine Review Committee report on Sudan is backed by expert investigation and analysis proving millions are in acute need of food. …