World News

Highlighting the dangers of old infrastructure during summer flood season, two dams in northwest China collapsed following torrential rains on Sunday, Reuters reports. Local residents were evacuated and there were no casualties, China’s Ministry of Water Resources said.

The Pentagon announced Tuesday that the United States launched its first airstrike in Somalia under President Joe Biden.

Britain said on Tuesday it would permanently deploy two warships in Asian waters after its Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier and escort ships sail to Japan in September through seas where China is vying for influence with the United States and Japan.

The U.S. and Russia on Monday traded shots over the development and deployment of hypersonic missiles, with each nation accusing the other of using the cutting-edge weapons in a “destabilizing” way that could lead to conflict.

Russian aircraft makers on Tuesday unveiled a prototype of a new fighter jet that features stealth capabilities and other advanced characteristics and will be offered to foreign buyers.

As travel innovation speeds ahead, so does a new train in China capable of traveling over 370 mph.

Hungary’s government has denied wrongdoing after a worldwide investigation showed authorities infected cellphones to spy on critical journalists, politicians, and business figures.

Rescue crews were racing to find survivors of floods that devastated parts of western Europe, killing more than 150 people and leaving at least hundreds of people still missing. In the Netherlands, a low-lying seafaring nation, authorities declared an emergency in the south.

US President Joe Biden’s administration is weighing fresh sanctions targeting Iranian crude oil sales to China if Tehran hinders ongoing talks aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, a report said Monday.

Ethiopia has nearly completed the filling of a huge dam on the Blue Nile River for a second year, state media reported on Monday, a move that has already angered Egypt.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and Navy held joint amphibious landing exercises near Taiwan on Friday, in what should be considered as warnings and a deterrent to the US and to “Taiwan secessionists,” China’s Communist Party-backed Global Times said on Sunday. The exercises were conducted a day after a military plane landed in Taiwan for the second time this year.

England celebrated the end of many grueling months of COVID-19 restrictions as of midnight Monday, but the lifting of all restrictions came amid a surge in infections and warnings about supermarket shortages, Ynet News reports. Following an intense nationwide inoculation drive, 87% of the UK population has now received at least one dose of the vaccine; 68% of the population is fully vaccinated.

A United States drone attack targeted a truck of an Iran-backed militia in eastern Syria on Sunday, destroying the vehicle without causing any casualties, two Iraqi militia officials said.

At least 130 people were confirmed dead, and as many as 1,300 people remained missing as devastating floods hit Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Violence erupted as Lebanon plunged into political and economic turmoil Friday following the sudden resignation of the prime minister-designate.

Last week, Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum said his country needed technological assistance from its European partners to fight jihadis. He complained of swaths of territory in Mali and Niger being taken over by the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) — known also as ISIS — and its affiliates.

The South African government plans to deploy 25,000 troops after days of widespread looting and violence.

Laboratory accidents “happen” and are “common”, the head of the World Health Organisation has said as he called on China to be more transparent about the origins of COVID-19.

The World Economic Forum kicked off its annual Cyber Polygon exercise Friday, which gives companies and governments the opportunity to participate in a simulation of a “Cyber Pandemic”.

NASA has warned in a new study that a “moon wobble” which occurs normally every 18.6 years will contribute to an increase in severe flooding to most US mainland coastlines in the mid-2030s, Sky News reports. The warning was given by NASA’s Sea Level Change Science Team in a study published by Nature Climate Change.