ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) — People in Madagascar trickled to polling stations Thursday as voting opened in a presidential election boycotted by the majority of candidates following weeks of unrest and court battles.In the capital of Antananarivo, where a night-time curfew ended two hours before voting started, many people said they were heeding calls by a
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Long-haul carrier Emirates said Thursday it will purchase 15 additional Airbus A350-900s worth $6 billion after a spat between the airline and the European manufacturer went unusually public during this week’s Dubai Air Show. The Emirates’ order, far smaller than initially expected, came after the airline and its sister
BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s national railway operator ran a drastically reduced schedule on Thursday as a union called a 20-hour strike aimed at increasing the pressure in a bitter dispute over pay and working hours.The strike by drivers and other workers in the GDL union began at 10 p.m. on Wednesday and was scheduled to
GUWAHATI, India (AP) — More than half of the estimated 5,000 refugees who had fled the heavy fighting in Myanmar’s western Chin state and had entered northeastern India have begun returning home, Indian officials said Thursday.Sunday and Monday saw heavy fighting between the rebels and the Myanmar military in the Chin state across the border
BERLIN (AP) — German police raided 54 locations across the country on Thursday in an investigation of a Hamburg-based center suspected of promoting Iranian ideology and supporting the activities of Hezbollah, the government said.The Interior Ministry said the Islamic Center Hamburg, or IZH, has long been under observation by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency. It said
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — The night a blast struck his family’s home in the Gaza Strip, Ahmed al-Naouq was more than 2,000 miles away but he still jolted awake, consumed with inexplicable panic. He reached for his cellphone to find that a friend had written — and then deleted — a message. Al-Naouq
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces dropped leaflets warning Palestinians to flee parts of southern Gaza, residents said Thursday, signaling a possible expansion of operations to areas where hundreds of thousands of people who heeded earlier evacuation orders are crowded into U.N.-run shelters and family homes.Meanwhile, soldiers continued searching Shifa Hospital in the
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The Turkish Parliament’s foreign affairs committee was scheduled on Thursday to start debating Sweden’s bid to join NATO, drawing the previously non-aligned country closer to membership in the Western military alliance.Once green-lighted by the committee, Sweden’s accession protocol will need to be ratified by Parliament’s general assembly for the last stage
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares have retreated after Wall Street added a bit more to its big rally from a day before, while U.S. futures and oil prices were lower. Any lift in sentiment from a meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping appeared to fade after Biden, pressed by a
SIEM REAP, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia on Thursday inaugurated its newest and biggest airport, a Chinese-financed project meant to serve as an upgraded gateway to the country’s major tourist attraction, the centuries-old Angkor Wat temple complex in the northwestern province of Siem Reap.The Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport is located on 700 hectares (1,730 acres) of
