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Ecuador’s Interior Minister Monica Palencia addresses the media after Colin Armstrong, a businessman and Britain’s former honorary consul in Guayaquil, was rescued by police after he was kidnapped, in Quito, Ecuador, on Wednesday. Police in Ecuador rescued a prominent British businessman on Wednesday morning, four days after he was kidnapped, …

WARSAW — Polish state TV channel TVP Info has been taken off air after Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s new government moved to depoliticize public media. Parliament in Warsaw backed a resolution on Tuesday night calling for independence, objectivity and pluralism in public TV and radio. The new culture minister has …

Australia has rejected a US request for a warship to help protect international shipping lanes in the Red Sea, with Defense Minister Richard Marles saying the nation’s strategic focus had to remain on the Indo-Pacific. Marles, who is also deputy prime minister, told Sky News on Thursday that Australia wouldn’t …

In this photo released by Arlington National Cemetery, workers remove the Confederate Memorial statue at the cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on Wednesday. The US Army was on Wednesday working to remove a controversial Confederate memorial in Arlington National Cemetery as part of efforts to change names and take down monuments …

GENEVA — A sub-variant of the Omicron strain of coronavirus has been classified as a “variant of interest” by the World Health Organization, because of “its rapidly increasing spread”. JN.1 has been found in many countries around the world, including India, China, UK and the United States. The risk to …

Homeland Security Investigations worked on the case. December 19, 2023, 5:00 PM ET • 3 min read Two men were charged with illegally procuring American technology for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ drone program, according to court documents unsealed by the Justice Department. Iranian national Hossein Hatefi Ardakani and co-defendant …

Two Palestinians were injured at dawn Wednesday after the Israeli occupation forces raided the town of Al-Yamoun, west of Jenin, in the northern West Bank.According to Palestinian news agency (WAFA), the two Palestinians were injured by live fire during confrontations with the Israeli occupation forces who fired live ammunition and …

SYDNEY — An Australian businessman has been found guilty by a Melbourne court of covertly working for the Chinese Communist Party, the first verdict of its kind under the country’s foreign influence laws. Di Sanh Duong, 68, a prominent figure in the Chinese community in Melbourne, was convicted by a …

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas’ top leader arrived in Cairo on Wednesday for talks on the war in Gazawhere the militant group is putting up stiff resistance after more than 10 weeks of heavy Israeli bombardment and fierce urban combat that has killed nearly 20,000 Palestinians. The visit …

Ghana, the world’s second biggest cocoa producer, faces a growing risk to its harvest — and blow to its crisis-hit economy — from illegal mining and smugglers, industry officials, farmers and activists warn.Top producer Ivory Coast and Ghana, together with other West African neighbours, produce two thirds of the world’s …