News

NAIROBI — Much of the world takes daily weather forecasts for granted. But most of Africa’s 1.3 billion people live with little advance knowledge of what’s to come. That can be both deadly and expensive, with damage running in the billions of dollars. The first Africa Climate Summit opens Monday in Kenya to highlight the continent […]

GABORONE, BOTSWANA — The elephant population in southern Africa has increased by 5% since 2016 to nearly 228,000, according to results of a first ever aerial census conducted last year. However, there are concerns over the animals’ mortality rate. The elephants are mostly found in a large conservation area, the Kavango Zambezi Trans-Frontier Conservation Area, or […]

ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA — With China’s crackdown on religious minorities as a backdrop, Pope Francis joined Mongolian shamans, Buddhist monks and a Russian Orthodox priest Sunday to highlight the role that religions can play in forging world peace, as he presided over an interfaith meeting highlighting Mongolia’s tradition of religious tolerance. Francis listened intently as a dozen […]

NEW DELHI — India’s moon rover has completed its walk on the lunar surface and been put into sleep mode less than two weeks its historic landing near the lunar south pole, India’s space mission said. “The rover completes its assignments. It is now safely parked and set into sleep mode,” with daylight on that part […]

TEHRAN, IRAN — Iran’s air force has received a batch of advanced Russian combat trainer jets to “improve the training and combat capability of the air force,” local media reported Saturday. “A number of Yak-130 training aircraft entered the country and joined the Shahid Babaei Air Base in Isfahan” in central Iran, according to Tasnim news […]

BENGALURU, INDIA — A little over a week after India became the first country to land on the moon’s south pole, it launched a rocket to study the sun, marking another milestone in its space exploration program that is growing in ambition. The rocket blasted off shortly before noon on Saturday from the Satish Dhawan Space […]

WASHINGTON — More than a dozen people nationally have been charged with threatening election workers by a Justice Department unit trying to stem the tide of violent and graphic threats against people who count and secure the vote. Government employees are being bombarded with threats even in normally quiet periods between elections, secretaries of state and […]

Russian officials said Friday that air defenses intercepted drones heading toward three of the country’s western regions, while satellite images indicated that a major drone barrage earlier in the week destroyed at least two Ilyushin Il-76 military transport planes at a Russian air base. Regional governors said defense systems stopped three drones in the Kursk, […]

SYDNEY — Releasing helium balloons and the use of thick shopping bags will be banned starting Friday in parts of Australia as state authorities there impose more restrictions on single-use plastic. Releasing helium balloons into the sky is now banned in the Australian state of Queensland. Research has shown that plastic balloons are a significant threat […]

Anderson Cooper has recalled a ‘mortifying’ moment on stage with Madonna. During the most recent instalment of Kelly Ripa’s Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast, the journalist said he is still “mortified” about being spanked by the pop star during her Rebel Heart concert in Brooklyn, New York in 2015. “That (moment,) I choose to forget. […]