Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will visit the U.S. this week — the first leader from Japan to make a state visit in nearly a decade.President Joe Biden and Kishida will hold a summit on Wednesday where they are expected to upgrade their defense alliance.Biden, Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand…

Russians in the city of Orsk gathered in a rare protest Monday, calling for compensation following the collapse of a dam and subsequent flooding in the Orenburg region near the border with Kazakhstan.Protests are an unusual sight in Russia where authorities have consistently cracked down on any form of dissent…

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations spoke out forcefully against the notion of Palestinian statehood during a U.N. Security council meeting on Monday, going so far as to suggest that the U.N. had backtracked on its original goal of preventing the spread of Nazi ideology by supporting Palestinian statehood.  While…

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The National Weather Service on Monday confirmed a fifth tornado touched down during severe storms that barreled across West Virginia last week. That’s more than double the state’s average for an entire year.STORMS, FLOODING IN WEST VIRGINIA KILL 1, DAMAGE 200-YEAR-OLD GRAVEYARDWest Virginia saw an average…

A young woman was stabbed to death while walking with her baby in Bradford, England, according to authorities.Oldham resident Kulsuma Akter, 27, was stabbed during a walk at around 3:21 p.m. on Saturday. West Yorkshire Police said that she was “taken to hospital but subsequently died from her injuries.”Akter was…

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council on Monday revived the Palestinian Authority’s hopes of joining the United Nations as a full member.But the United States said relations between Israel and the Palestinians are far from ripe. That all but quashes the Palestinian Authority’s U.N. membership hopes for now.BLINKEN:…

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister Monday accused the United States of giving Israel the “green light” for a strike on its consulate building in Syria that killed seven Iranian military officials including two generals.Hossein Amirabdollahian reiterated Tehran’s vows that it will respond to the attack, widely blamed on…

NEW YORK (AP) — A retired three-star Venezuelan army general who twice tried to mount coups against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was sentenced Monday to over 21 years in prison after he admitted providing weapons to drug-funded rebels.Cliver Alcalá, 62, of Caracas, Venezuela, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Alvin…

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis met Monday with relatives of hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, marking the six-month anniversary of the attack in southern Israel with an hour-long audience.The Vatican released photos of the encounter, showing relatives of several of the hostages sitting in a semicircle in…

44 million voters in South Korea head to the polls on Wednesday to elect a new 300-member parliament.Up to 30% to 40% of voters are politically neutral and could determine the results of the election.Many voters have deemed domestic concerns, such as the prices of agricultural products, to be the…