LISBON, PORTUGAL — Lisbon will this week play host to Europe’s biggest annual tech conference, Web Summit, where industry leaders and lawmakers will weigh the pros and cons of Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Senior executives from firms such as Apple, Microsoft, and Meta will join high-ranking officials from Europe for debates about the future of artificial intelligence, social media regulation, and the impact …
Vietnam says Temu, Shein must register with government or be blocked
HANOI, VIETNAM — Vietnam said Chinese online retailers Shein and Temu need to register with the government before the end of November or it will block their internet domains and apps from being used in the country. Vietnam’s government and local businesses have expressed concern about the impact of Chinese online platforms on local markets due to deep discounting. The trade ministry has also said it …
Taiwan businessman Tsao to sue Chinese officials over sanctions
TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Taiwanese businessman Robert Tsao said on Monday he would sue in a Taiwan court senior Chinese officials over sanctions they had placed on him, saying he was seeking to counter China’s intimidation of lawful activity. China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, last month said it would punish and sanction Tsao, the retired founder of chipmaker UMC, for alleged criminal and pro-Taiwan …
USAID teaches Ukrainian women veterans yachting
For many soldiers on the front lines, the trauma of war can be as hard to fight as the war itself. To help, the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, has created a program to support Ukrainian women veterans, the families of internally displaced persons, and military relatives. The program is part of the USAID Self-Reliance Learning Agenda. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story. …
Olaf Scholz signals willingness for earlier German confidence vote
Berlin — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Sunday that he would be willing to call a vote of confidence in parliament before Christmas, a move that would pave the way for snap elections following the collapse of his three-way governing coalition. The timing is earlier than the January date he had proposed last week and follows increasing pressure from politicians and the public for a quicker …
Australian gold company confirms arrest of CEO, 2 executives in Mali
Dakar, Senagal — The CEO and two executives of Australian gold mine Resolute in Mali have been arrested while in Bamako to discuss ongoing disputes with authorities, the company confirmed Sunday. CEO Terence Holohan and his two colleagues “were in Bamako to discuss with mining and tax authorities the company’s business practices in Mali generally and to make progress on ongoing claims against Resolute, which continues …
Biden to lobby Trump not to walk away from Ukraine
Washington — U.S. President Joe Biden will discuss top domestic and foreign policy priorities with President-elect Donald Trump when the two meet Wednesday, and will urge him not to abandon Ukraine, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday. Republican Trump will take office on Jan. 20 after defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 presidential election. Biden invited Trump to come to the Oval …
China delimits contested South China Sea shoal in dispute with Philippines
Beijing — China has published baselines for a contested shoal in the South China Sea it seized from the Philippines, a move that’s likely to increase tensions over overlapping territorial claims. The Foreign Ministry on Sunday posted online geographic coordinates for the baselines around Scarborough Shoal. A nation’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zone are typically defined as the distance from the baselines. Both China and …
California farmers enjoy pistachio boom, with much of it headed to China
Lost Hills, California — In a sprawling plant in the heart of California’s farmland, millions of shells rush down a metallic chute and onto a conveyor belt where they are inspected, roasted, packaged and shipped off to groceries around the world. Pistachios are growing fast in California, where farmers have been devoting more land to a crop seen as hardier and more drought-tolerant in a state …
Saudi armed forces chief of staff in Iran for talks with officials
Dubai, United Arab Emirates — The chief of staff of Saudi Arabia’s armed forces, Fayyad al-Ruwaili, visited Tehran on Sunday to meet with his Iranian counterpart and discuss defense ties, state media reported the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff as saying. The visit follows the election of Donald Trump, who will take office for a second term as U.S. president in January, and who has promised …
Israeli airstrikes kill dozens in Lebanon, Gaza
Israeli airstrikes killed dozens of people in Lebanon and northern Gaza on Sunday, even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump have been discussing the way forward for when Trump takes office in January. The Israeli leader said he has spoken with Trump three times since the U.S. presidential election last week and that they “see eye-to-eye on the Iranian threat …
Paris deploying extra police for France-Israel soccer match following Amsterdam violence
Paris — Paris police said Sunday that 4,000 officers and 1,600 stadium staff will be deployed for a France-Israel soccer match to ensure security in and around the stadium and on public transportation a week after violence against Israeli fans in Amsterdam. France and Israel are playing in a UEFA Nations League match Thursday. “There’s a context, tensions that make that match a high-risk event for …
Amsterdam police detain pro-Palestinian protesters at banned demonstration
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Police detained several people Sunday for taking part in a demonstration in central Amsterdam that had been outlawed following violence targeting fans of an Israeli soccer club, a local broadcaster reported. Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema banned all demonstrations over the weekend in the aftermath of the grim scenes of youths on scooters and on foot attacking Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters on …
Philippines to evacuate 2,500 villages ahead of severe storm Toraji
Manila — The residents of 2,500 villages were ordered to evacuate their homes as severe tropical storm Toraji approached the northern Philippines, the government said Sunday, after three massive cyclones battered the country in less than a month. Nearly 700,000 people are still sheltering at evacuation centers or with relatives after their homes were destroyed by tropical cyclones Trami, Kong-rey and Yinxing, according to government figures …
King Charles III and Kate attend remembrance event as both slowly return to duty
London — King Charles III led the nation Sunday in a two-minute silence in remembrance of fallen service personnel in central London as the Princess of Wales looked on, a further sign the royal family is slowly returning to normal at the end of a year in which two of the most popular royals were sidelined by cancer. Remembrance Sunday is a totemic event in the U.K., …
IAEA chief to visit Iran on Wednesday
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi will visit Iran next Wednesday and start consultations with Iranian officials the following day, state media reported on Sunday. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Wednesday he might head to Iran in the coming days to discuss its disputed nuclear program and that he expected to work cooperatively with U.S. President-elect …
Vietnam detains pro-democracy activist: state media
Hanoi, Vietnam — Vietnamese authorities arrested a pro-democracy activist, state media said, the latest in a crackdown on political dissidents in the southeast Asian country. Tran Khac Duc, 29, was held on charges of “creating, storing, distributing or disseminating information, documents and items aimed at opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” according to the publication Safeguarding the Law. He was arrested in September, but authorities only …
Indonesia’s new leader calls for collaboration with China before heading to US
BEIJING — Indonesia’s new leader called for collaboration rather than confrontation with China after the signing of $10 billion in new deals at a business forum on Sunday in the Chinese capital before heading to the U.S. President Prabowo Subianto told the forum that his country wants to be part of China’s emergence as not only an economic but also a “civilizational power.” “We must give …
Report finds Church of England covered up ‘horrific’ abuse at summer camps decades ago
london — The Church of England covered up “horrific” abuse by a lawyer who volunteered at Christian summer camps in the 1970s and 1980s, and the ceremonial head of the Anglican Communion failed to report him to authorities when he learned of the abuse in 2013, according to an independent review released Thursday. John Smyth, who died in South Africa in 2018 at age 75, physically, …
Ukraine attacks Moscow with 32 drones, biggest strike on the Russian capital
MOSCOW — Ukraine attacked Moscow on Sunday with at least 32 drones, the biggest drone strike on the Russian capital since the start of the war in 2022, forcing flights to be diverted from three of the city’s major airports and injuring at least one person. Russian air defenses shot down 32 drones flying toward Moscow over the Ramenskoye and Kolomensky districts of the Moscow region, …
Under monthlong Israeli siege, hunger reaches dire levels in North Gaza
JERUSALEM — With virtually no food allowed into the northernmost part of Gaza for the past month, tens of thousands of Palestinians under Israeli siege are rationing their last lentils and flour to survive. As bombardment pounds around them, some say they risk their lives to search for cans of food in the rubble of destroyed homes. Thousands have staggered out of the area, hungry and …
Royal Air Force veteran, 100, joining UK Remembrance Day for 1st time
LONDON — Michael Woods has visited his wife, Mary, every day since she moved into a nursing home two years ago. But on Sunday, the 100-year-old Royal Air Force veteran will skip the daily get-together so he can fulfill another duty — honoring the men he served with during World War II. For the first time since he left the RAF in 1947, Woods will take …
Israelis fear for hostages as Qatar says Gaza mediation on hold
Tel Aviv, Israel — Israeli protesters expressed concern for the hostages in Gaza on Saturday, after Qatar said it was pausing as a key mediator for a cease-fire that would help bring the captives home. Thousands of people rallied in Tel Aviv holding signs reading “400,” the number of days since the hostages were taken when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Efforts …
2 Saudi military personnel killed in Yemen attack: state media
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — Two Saudi military personnel have been killed in an attack in Yemen, Saudi state media said Saturday, reporting that the assailant was affiliated with Yemen’s defense ministry. “An officer and a non-commissioned officer were martyred, and an officer was injured as a result of a treacherous and cowardly attack” Friday inside a military camp in the city of Seiyun, the official Saudi …