World

KABUL, Afghanistan—A motorcycle rigged with explosives detonated at an election rally in northeastern Afghanistan on Oct. 13, killing at least 14 people, including civilians and security forces, officials said. Khalil Aser, spokesman for the provincial police chief in Takhar province, said 32 others were wounded when the explosives-laden motorbike parked near the rally in Rustaq […]

BELFAST—Brexit hardliner Boris Johnson, a former British foreign minister, called on Prime Minister Theresa May on Oct. 13, to rebuff the European Union’s demand for a special “backstop” deal to avoid a hard border in Ireland after Brexit. “The only way to put things back on the right track is to ditch the backstop and […]

MELBOURNE—The Australian Defence Force said on Oct. 13, its deliveries of F-35 fighter jets from the United States were still on track, despite the planes being grounded after one of the aircraft crashed in September. All U.S. and international F-35 jets made by Lockheed Martin Corp were grounded this week so that fuel tubes could […]

PARIS—Scuba divers found two people dead inside an upended car lolling on a beach after torrential rains wrought havoc along France’s Riviera coast in the night of Oct. 10, when flash floods also killed 10 on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca. Meteorologists said major downpours were a classic phenomenon at this time of year but […]

Mexico has the largest number of street dogs in Latin America.

A young mother in Australia was covered in cuts and bruises after she shielded her 4-month-old daughter from a dangerous supercell tornado. The massive storm ripped through southeast Queensland on Oct. 11, with reports of tennis-ball-sized hail. Fiona Simpson was inside her car with her grandmother and baby daughter Clara when the tornado hit in […]

RUSE, Bulgaria—Hundreds of Bulgarians queued silently at a church in Ruse on Oct. 12, to pay their last respects to Viktoria Marinova, the television journalist whose brutal rape and murder shocked the country and triggered debates over freedom of the press. The body of the 30-year-old Marinova, a host of a regional current affairs show […]

Turkish officials have audio and visual evidence that missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was tortured and killed inside the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul, according to multiple reports. An unnamed source told CNN that foreign intelligence, which received a briefing on the evidence from Turkish officials, found the material “shocking and disgusting.” Khashoggi, a vocal critic of […]

BEIJING—Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit China from Oct. 25 to 27 in the first official visit by a Japanese leader in seven years, China said on Oct. 12. Visits by Abe in recent years to attend multilateral events in China have not been considered official visits. Abe’s October meeting with Xi, officially confirmed on […]

SYDNEY—A Chinese property developer was sentenced to at least two-and-a-half years in jail by an Australian court on Oct. 12 for nonconsensual intercourse with a woman after a Sydney dinner party hosted by billionaire JD.com-founder Richard Liu. Xu Longwei, who pleaded not guilty, was convicted in July of forcing himself on the woman in an […]

LONDON—When he spotted a knife-wielding figure breach the security barrier at London’s Houses of Parliament, Sir Craig Mackey had no gun, no stab vest, taser, or radio. But as the nation’s most senior policeman, his decision to then lock himself in his car during last year’s Westminster terror attack is now under the microscope, with […]

NIORT, France—Two years of Brexit uncertainty have given British citizens in France sleepless nights and a bureaucratic headache, with thousands of them hurrying to apply for nationality to secure their status before the divorce date set for next year. Amanda and Robin Holmes are pillars of the community in their tiny village of Crezieres, nestled […]

A Turkish court has ruled for the release of American evangelical Christian pastor Andrew Brunson, after months of spiraling relations between the country and the United States over his incarceration. The ruling passed on Oct. 12 over a 3 year, 1 1/2 month sentence on Brunson, who had been charged with unsubstantiated terrorism offenses by Turkey. The court said […]

The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) is issuing advisories for Hurricane Leslie, Tropical Storm Nadine, Tropical Storm Sergio, and post-tropical storm Michael. Leslie Hurricane Leslie has remained a hurricane with 85 mph winds and is “racing across the eastern Atlantic” Ocean. The storm could bring impacts to Spain and Portugal by the weekend, the NHC […]

WASHINGTON—Justin Trudeau says Canada has been and continues to be clear and strong with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia about defending human rights. The prime minister also says Canada has “serious issues” with the reports surrounding the disappearance of U.S. journalist Jamal Khashoggi, although he says there is still more to learn before he’ll comment further. […]

Pakistan will execute convicted rapist and murderer Imran Ali, authorities announced on Oct. 12. An anti-terrorism court in Lahore issued multiple so-called black warrants and scheduled the execution for Oct. 17. “Today’s warrants were issued after President Arif Alvi rejected Ali’s appeal for clemency in the Zainab case on October 10,” said prosecutor Abdul Rauf […]

The British government has its sights set on cutting calories in pizzas and other foods as part of a plan to fight obesity. A standard pizza for one should contain no more than 928 calories, according to the new plan, called “Calorie reduction: The scope and ambition for action.” This is significantly less than is […]

BERLIN—The five nations in the world’s leading intelligence-sharing network have been exchanging classified information on China’s foreign activities with other like-minded countries since the start of the year, seven officials in four capitals said. The increased cooperation by the Five Eyes alliance–grouping Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the United States–with countries such as Germany […]

LONDON—Britain will cut the incentives available to those buying plug-in hybrid vehicles as it focuses on pure electric models, sparking anger from an industry trade body as carmakers already face declining sales in Europe’s second-biggest autos market. Buyers of vehicles which emit less than 50 grams/km of CO2 and have a zero-emission range of at […]

A bakery in Northern Ireland won an appeal in a discrimination case, locally nicknamed the ‘gay cake’ case, when the UK Supreme Court ruled on Oct. 10 that the bakers were within their rights—as protected by the law—to refuse a cake order that carried a message supportive of gay marriage. The bakers were Christian. The […]