Washington, D.C. – Last month, twins Ziv and Gali Berman were average Israeli citizens. They cheered for Maccabi Tel-Aviv Soccer Club, worked for a sound and lighting company, and enjoyed traveling for concerts when they were able.Now, the Israeli Defense Forces believe the 26-year-old brothers were taken from their own…

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her Chinese counterpart will meet in San Francisco on Thursday to start two days of talks aimed at making progress on a slew of economic issues when competition has markedly intensified between their countries.Yellen’s talks with Vice Premier He Lifeng are designed to help lay…

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is accusing the West Thursday of being “too weak to even call for a cease-fire” in the Israel-Hamas war, a report says. Erdogan, who previously has called Israel a “war criminal” for its military actions against Hamas, made the comment during a meeting of the 10-member…

A prominent Belarusian dissident author who lives abroad said Thursday that his father was arrested on unclear grounds after police broke into his parents’ apartment.The seven police officers, armed with automatic weapons, also took electronics and data files from the Minsk apartment, said Sasha Filipenko. His father was taken away…

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s approval of a supplementary budget earmarking millions of dollars for a presidential yacht and sport utility vehicles for his wife and top government officials has again stoked anger among ordinary Nigerians over what they see as a growing economic disparity.Tinubu on Wednesday signed into law the…

An underwater volcano erupted off Japan’s coast three weeks ago, giving birth to a new island.The unnamed undersea volcano, located about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) south of mainland Japan and a kilometer from Iwo Jima (half a mile) off the southern coast of Iwo Jima, began erupting on October 21.Yuji…

Greece’s state ombudsman said Thursday that it’s launching an independent investigation into the coast guard’s handling of a maritime tragedy in June in which hundreds of migrants trying to reach Europe in an overloaded boat are feared to have drowned.The independent authority said it took the decision following “the expressed…

A women’s prison in Mexico plagued by food poisoning and poor medical care has now been hit by a wave of eight suicides in the last 4 1/2 months, authorities confirmed Thursday.The federal prisons bureau confirmed the suicides in a statement, and said it was taking steps to improve the…

Diwali is the most important festival of the year in India — and for Hindus in particular.It is celebrated across faiths by more than a billion people in the world’s most populous nation and the diaspora. Over five days, people take part in festive gatherings, fireworks displays, feasts and prayer.NYC…

U.S. forces conducted a self-defense airstrike Wednesday on a Syrian weapons storage facility in response to a series of recent attacks targeting American personnel in Iraq and Syria.The strike was conducted by two F-15 fighter jets targeting the Maysulun weapons storage facility in eastern Syria, the Department of Defense said.”The…