In the days after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, fears ran high of a regional war. The conflict would not be contained in Gaza, the thinking went –  Hezbollah would attack Israel from the north, the Houthis from Yemen, and Iranian proxies from Iraq. Israel would be forced to…

Russia has captured the key eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, ending months of resistance and underscoring the scale of Kyiv’s challenge as it heads into its third wartime winter. Ukraine’s military confirmed its withdrawal from Vuhledar Wednesday, noting Russia had managed to send reserves on the flanks, leading to the “threat of encirclement.” The decision to withdraw,…

The 47-year-old German national, who has been identified by local media as Christian Brueckner, is on trial at the Braunschweig state court in northern Germany over offenses he is alleged to have committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017. Closing arguments in the trial that opened in February started on Wednesday. Prosecutor…

An Israeli military reservist who survived the Nova festival massacre has been hailed as a “hero” by the country’s security minister, for confronting two gunmen behind Tuesday’s shooting and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv. Seven people were killed and 16 wounded in the attack on Jerusalem Boulevard in Jaffa, a…

International concern is growing over the arrest of a prominent Cambodian journalist who helped expose human trafficking fueling online scam centers, with several governments and rights groups calling for his immediate release. Mech Dara was arrested Monday by Cambodian police and charged with incitement “to provoke serious social chaos” over…

Two people have died after a typhoon slammed into southwestern Taiwan, deluging the major port city of Kaohsiung with heavy rain and forcing the island to shut down for a second day. With winds of up to 135 kilometers per hour (85 miles per hour), Typhoon Krathon made landfall along southern…

A North Korean defector who escaped to the South more than a decade ago was detained after attempting to cross back into North Korea on a stolen bus, police said. The area is heavily guarded by military forces due to its proximity to the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas,…

Georgian parliamentary speaker Shalva Papuashvili said in a Facebook post on Thursday that he had signed into law a “family values” bill curbing LGBT rights, just weeks before a high-stakes parliamentary election. Lawmakers from the ruling Georgian Dream party last month approved the bill, which bans gender transitions and could…

China’s Coast Guard claimed it entered waters of the Arctic Ocean for the first time as part of a joint patrol with Russia – in the latest sign of enhanced coordination between the two in a region where Beijing has long wished to expand its footprint. The statement came a…