Russia said on Wednesday it had seen a significant jump in the number of men signing contracts to join the military since last month’s deadly attack on a concert hall near Moscow where gunman killed at least 144 people.Russia has repeatedly sought to blame the attack on Ukraine, its opponent…

A crowd of people, some weeping, gathered at a rain-soaked amusement park in South Korea to bid farewell to a beloved giant panda before her departure to China on Wednesday.Fu Bao has been a major attraction at the Everland theme park near Seoul since she was born there in 2020…

Congo’s army says extremist-linked rebels have killed at least a dozen people in a raid on a rural community in the volatile east, in the latest violence near the border with Uganda.Allied Democratic Forces rebels with ties to the Islamic State group have long operated in the border area. The…

A 12-year-old student suspected of fatally shooting a classmate and wounding two others in Finland told police that he was bullied at school, officials said Wednesday, as a nation shocked by the attack held a day of mourning.The suspect, a sixth grader who attended the school in the city of…

Amid a renewed surge of violence in Haiti this week, armed gangs were reported to have looted the country’s national library in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. The library’s director, Dangelo Neard, told AFP that Haiti’s “documentary collection are in danger.” “We have rare documents over 200 years old, with importance to…

SAN SALVADOR (AP) — At least 241 people have died in El Salvador prisons since the start of President Nayib Bukele’s “war on gangs” two years ago, according to the organization Humanitarian Legal Relief.Ingrid Escobar, director of the rights organization, said they received 500 reports of deaths in state custody,…

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir on Wednesday warned lawmakers “not to cling to power” just weeks after his former rival turned deputy proposed a postponement of elections expected to be held in December.Kiir said an extension of the period of transition to elections would deny…

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina said Wednesday that it had cut 15,000 state jobs as part of President Javier Milei’s aggressive campaign to slash spending, the latest in a series of painful economic measures that have put the libertarian government on a collision course with angry protesters and powerful…

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Luis Rubiales, the disgraced former president of Spain’s soccer federation who kissed a player on the lips without her consent at the Women’s World Cup final, was arrested Wednesday as part of a separate corruption probe by Spanish police before being released.The Civil Guard said that…

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A $62 million project to dredge Puerto Rico’s biggest and most important seaport began Wednesday amid fierce opposition from environmentalists and a pending lawsuit.Crews with California-based Curtin Maritime will remove nearly 3 million cubic yards (76 million cubic feet) of marine floor to open…