The driver who drove into throngs of strollers along Barcelona’s famed Las Ramblas avenue was shot dead by Spanish police on Monday. Police said they tracked 22-year-old extremist Younes Abouyaaqoub to a rural area near Barcelona and shot him after he held up what looked like an explosives belt. His
President Donald Trump is likely to open the door to a modest increase in US troop numbers in Afghanistan when he lays out his strategy on Monday for America’s longest military conflict, US officials said. Trump will give a prime-time address to the nation at 9 pm (0100 GMT, Tuesday) to detail
Colombia offered asylum Monday to Venezuela’s sacked chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega, who fled her country after defying President Nicolas Maduro as a deadly political crisis rages on. A former loyalist of the socialist leadership, the 59-year-old Luisa Ortega had become Maduro’s most high
Floods in South Asia have left more than 800 people dead and over a million displaced in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Seasonal monsoon rains, a lifeline for farmers across South Asia, typically cause loss of life and property every year between July and September, but officials say this year’s
For Palestinian fisherman Jihad al-Soltan, it was a surprise summer catch — a message in a bottle that he netted off a Gaza beach, reported Reuters. It had bobbed its way in the Mediterranean for nearly 800 km (500 miles) from the Greek island of Rhodes, placed in the water by a vacationing Br
French oil company giant Total is buying Denmark’s AP Moller Maersk’s oil and gas business for $7.45 billion. The deal will strengthen Total’s operation in the North Sea and boost earnings and cash flow, announced the French company. Total expects its biggest oil deal since it acquired Elf in 2000 t
Lebanese Interior Minister Nuhad al-Mashnouq said Monday that the Internal Security Force’s Information Branch has played a major role in foiling a plot to bring down an Emirati passenger plane that was supposed to take off from Australia. Mashnouq told reporters that four Lebanese-Australian
An 18-year-old Moroccan has been identified as the main attacker in the stabbing rampage in Finland last week. Asylum seeker Abderrahman Mechkah will appear in court on Tuesday over the knife attack in the western city of Turku that left two women dead and eight wounded. He is being investigated for
Spanish authorities confirmed on Monday the identity of the driver of the deadly van attack in Barcelona, extending the search for him and saying that he is the last member of the 12-man extremist cell still at large. Catalan interior minister Joaquim Forn told Catalunya Radio that 22-year-old Moroc
The US Embassy in Russia said Monday it will suspend issuing nonimmigrant visas in Moscow for eight days and will stop issuing visas at its consulates elsewhere in Russia in response to the Russian decision to cap embassy staff. The embassy said in a statement that it made the decision after the Rus
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari took to state TV on Monday in his first speech since returning from a long medical absence in Britain, saying separatists calling for the breakup of Nigeria have crossed a red line and the country’s unity is not negotiable. “I was distressed to notice
Ten US sailors were missing and five injured early Monday after their destroyer collided with an oil tanker east of Singapore. The guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain arrived in Singapore Monday afternoon with a large hole torn towards its stern, as an air and sea search involving three cou
It will be President Donald Trump’s turn on Monday night to address a problem that vexed his two predecessors when he details America’s strategy for the war in Afghanistan, almost 16 years after it began. In a prime-time speech to the nation, Trump may announce a modest increase in US tr
The wreckage of a US warship that was sunk by a Japanese submarine in World War II was found on Saturday more than 18,000 feet (5.5 kilometers) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, the Navy said. The USS Indianapolis was sunk by Japanese torpedoes in the final days of the war. The heavy cruiser,
Spanish police were on Sunday in the hunt for the suspected driver in the ramming attack that took place last week in the city of Barcelona. The city was in mourning on Sunday for the victims of two attacks that struck the city. As investigators scrambled to piece together the attacks which killed 1
Indian officials were on Sunday investigating the cause of a train crash that left 23 people dead and more than 120 injured overnight. Rescuers using cutting torchers and cranes worked through the night to pull apart 14 coaches of a crowded train that went off the tracks in Uttar Pradesh state in no
Over a million pilgrims have arrived in Saudi Arabia to perform the annual Hajj, announced the Passport General Department on Sunday, reported the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). It said that as of Saturday, a total of 1,070,951 pilgrims had arrived in the Kingdom. This marks an increase of 204,302 pilgri
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with Russian President Vladmir Putin next week to discuss “the latest developments in the region,” the premier’s office announced in a statement. The two officials will meet on Wednesday in the Russian Black Sea resort town of Sochi. Israel and Rus
Venezuela’s former top prosecutor Luisa Ortega arrived in Colombia on Friday after she was fired by the new controversial Constituent Assembly that has continued to defy international condemnation in its attempts to clamp down on dissent in the South American country. Ortega broke with sociali
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced on Sunday that Iraqi security forces have launched an operation to liberate the town of Tal Afar from the clutches of the ISIS terrorist group. “The city of Tal Afar will be liberated and will join all the liberated cities,” Abadi said in an
