President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that Iran appeared to be “standing down’’ after retaliatory missile attacks on military bases accommodating U.S. forces in Iraq on Tuesday evening.

Facebook Inc said on Thursday, ahead of the U.S. presidential election that it was making some changes to its approach to political ads, including allowing users to turn off certain ad-targeting tools. However, the updates stop far short of critics’ demands and what rival companies have pledged to do. The world’s biggest social network has […]

Ethiopia’s parliament passed legislation on Thursday aimed at curbing gun ownership after a surge in regional ethnic violence blamed on the proliferation of small arms in private hands. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government said last April that it had seized 21 machine guns, more than 33,000 handguns, 275 rifles and 300,000 bullets in different parts […]

South Korea’s Samsung Group, whose leader faces trials over a bribery scandal involving former president Park Geun-Hye, has appointed external experts to a new oversight panel to stamp out criminal conduct, the chief of the committee said on Thursday. The move came after a judge overseeing Samsung leader Jay Y. Lee’s bribery case in October […]

Britain’s royal family was hurt and disappointed by the shock announcement by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan that they will step back from their senior roles and spend more time in North America, a royal source said. Harry and Meghan’s announcement, made on social media on Wednesday evening, took Queen Elizabeth, Harry’s grandmother, and […]

A Ukrainian airliner was on fire immediately before it crashed southwest of Tehran, killing all 176 onboard, according to an initial report by Iranian investigators. The Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800, flying to Kiev and carrying mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians, crashed shortly after taking off on Wednesday from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport. The report, by […]

Australian authorities on Thursday called for another mass evacuation across the heavily populated southeast following a return of hot weather fanned huge bushfires threatening several towns and communities. Victoria State Premier Daniel Andrews urged communities to be on alert ahead of the extreme conditions. “If you receive instructions to leave, then you must leave,” Andrews […]

China’s Vice Premier Liu He, head of the country’s negotiation team in Sino-U.S. trade talks, will sign a “Phase 1” deal in Washington next week, the Commerce Ministry said on Thursday. Liu will visit Washington on Jan. 13-15, said Gao Feng, spokesman for the commerce ministry. Negotiating teams from both sides remain in close communication […]

Mexico’s President Andres Obrador on Wednesday said that he would like to see a conflict between the U.S. and Iran resolved peacefully via dialogue, and asked those involved to say “no to war.” Iranian forces fired missiles at military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq on Wednesday in retaliation for the U.S. killing of a […]

President Donald Trump pulled back from the brink of war with Iran on Wednesday, saying that Tehran appeared to be “standing down” after firing missiles — without causing casualties — at US troops based in Iraq. In a televised address to the nation from the White House, Trump emphasized there were “no Americans harmed” in […]