A Mexican drug cartel was so bold in operating frauds that target elderly Americans that the gang’s operators posed as U.S. Treasury Department officials, U.S. authorities said Thursday.The scam was described by the department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC. The agency has been chasing fraudsters using call centers…

Hamas militants released eight more Israeli hostages and three bodies Thursday as a cease-fire with Israel was expected to expire. The Israeli military said six Israeli hostages had been released from captivity in the Gaza Strip and transferred to Egypt by the Red Cross late Thursday. They arrived hours after two…

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s government said Thursday it has asked media and market competition officials to investigate whether a potential Abu Dhabi-backed takeover of The Telegraph newspaper would impact press freedoms.Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said she issued a “public interest intervention notice” after considering the possible impact of the offer…

Former Burmese Information Minister Ye Htut has been sentenced to 10 years in prison over Facebook posts that allegedly spread false or inflammatory news.Ye Htut, 64, often used social media as a platform to criticize Burma’s military junta.The country has seen fierce crackdowns against political dissidents since the military’s overthrow…

Former British finance minister Alistair Darling, a central figure in the U.K.’s response to the 2008 financial crisis who later helped organize the campaign against Scottish independence, has died. He was 70.Darling had been treated for cancer and died in a hospital in Edinburgh, his family said in a statement…

Visitors to the Edinburgh Zoo had their final chance to see and bid farewell Thursday to a pair of popular giant pandas who are returning home to China after more than a decade in Scotland.Yang Guang and Tian Tian are leaving in early December after a 12-year stay. They have…

Russia’s Supreme Court has banned LGBTQ+ activism, labeling it an extremist organization and banning it in response to a lawsuit filed by the Justice Ministry.The ruling follows a series of anti-LGBTQ+ laws in Russia, including the “gay propaganda” law in 2013 and constitutional reforms outlawing same-sex marriage in 2020.The exact…

An alternative healer who advocates a technique known as “slapping therapy” was charged Thursday over the death of a woman at one of his workshops in England seven years ago.Hongchi Xiao was charged with manslaughter by gross negligence in the October 2016 death of Danielle Carr-Gomm, Wiltshire Police said.British police…

One of the first Israeli hostages to have been freed by Hamas is now saying she confronted the terrorist group’s Gaza leader in a tunnel underneath the territory during her time in captivity. Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, told the Israeli newspaper Davar that Yahya Sinwar paid the hostages a visit and “was…

The United Nations will investigate sexual violence Israel claims Hamas terrorists committed against Israeli women and girls during their invasion on Oct. 7, satisfying a long-requested plea from Israel.U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said Wednesday that such reports of rape and sexual assault “must be vigorously investigated,” breaking weeks of silence…