world
Russia launches barrage of 99 drones and missiles on Ukraine's energy system, officials say
Moscow launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure Friday, with a mass barrage of 99 drones and missiles hitting regions across the country, Ukraine's armed forces said.
Syria reports Israeli airstrikes near the city of Aleppo. A war monitor says 44 people are dead
The Syrian army says Israeli airstrikes on Friday near the northern city of Aleppo killed or wounded ''a number of'' people and caused damage. A war monitor said the strikes killed 44, most of them Syrian troops.
US-funded Radio Free Asia closes its Hong Kong bureau over safety concerns under new security law
The president of U.S.-funded Radio Free Asia said its Hong Kong bureau has been closed because of safety concerns under a new national security law, deepening concerns about the city's media freedoms.
Leader of Northern Ireland's main unionist party steps down as he is charged with sexual offenses
The leader of Northern Ireland's largest unionist party has stepped down from the top job after being charged with sexual offenses of a historic nature, the party said in a statement on Friday.
In Jerusalem, Palestinian Christians observe scaled-down Good Friday celebrations
Hundreds of Christians participated in a customary Good Friday procession through the limestone walls of Jerusalem's Old City, commemorating one of the faith's most sacred days with noticeably thinner crowds amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Investigators search for bodies of Easter pilgrims in bus that crashed off a bridge in South Africa
Forensic investigators in South Africa were searching Friday for the bodies of victims after a bus carrying pilgrims to an Easter gathering plunged off a bridge and caught fire. An 8-year-old child was the only survivor of the crash that killed at least 45.
Chinese investigators arrive in Pakistan to probe suicide attack that killed 5 of its nationals
A team of Chinese investigators arrived in Pakistan on Friday to join a probe into a suicide attack that killed five of its nationals earlier this week, officials said, as Pakistan continued its own investigations into the attack.
45 injured in northwest Cambodia as train hits bus at crossing without barrier
Forty-five people were injured, five of them critically, when a train crashed into the side of a bus at a rail crossing in northwestern Cambodia Friday, police said.
5 dead and over 100 hospitalized from recalled Japanese health supplements
Five people who took a Japanese health supplement have died and more than 100 have been hospitalized as of Friday, a week after a pharmaceutical company issued a recall of the products, officials said.
A moderately strong earthquake has struck southern Greece. No injuries are reported
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck southwestern Greece off the coast of the western Peloponnese on Friday. Minor damage but no injuries were reported from the quake, which was also felt in the Greek capital and as far away as the southern island of Crete.
Thai court acquits dozens of protesters who shut down Bangkok's airports in 2008
A Thai court on Friday acquitted nearly 70 people of all charges related to mass protests that shut down Bangkok's two airports in 2008 for about 10 days.
Ukraine and India, a historical ally of Russia, hold talks to strengthen ties
India's foreign minister held talks Friday with his Ukrainian counterpart, who was visiting to strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation with New Delhi, which considers Russia a historic ally from the Cold War-era.
Former South Africa leader Jacob Zuma is barred from running in elections, election authority says
Former South African President Jacob Zuma is not eligible to run in upcoming elections, the Independent Electoral Commission has ruled.
9 detained in Tajikistan in relation to Moscow concert hall attack, Russian state media report
Nine people have been detained by Tajikistan's state security service over suspected contact with the perpetrators of last week's attack by gunmen on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed 144 people, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said Friday.
A growing number of Americans end up in Russian jails. The prospects for their release are unclear
A journalist on a reporting trip in a Ural Mountains city. A corporate security executive traveling to Moscow for a wedding. A dual national returning to her hometown in Tatarstan to visit her family.
A Lebanese nun's request to pray for Hezbollah fighters highlights schisms over the group's weapons
The nun stood in front of a group of young students at a Lebanese Christian school and asked them to pray for the ''men of the resistance'' in southern Lebanon who she said were defending the country.
A Filipino villager is nailed to a cross for the 35th time on Good Friday to pray for world peace
A Filipino villager has been nailed to a wooden cross for the 35th time to reenact Jesus Christ's suffering in a brutal Good Friday tradition he said he would devote to pray for peace in Ukraine, Gaza and the disputed South China Sea.
Bus plunges off a bridge in South Africa, killing 45 people. An 8-year-old is the only survivor
A bus carrying worshippers on a long-distance trip from Botswana to an Easter weekend church gathering in South Africa plunged off a bridge on a mountain pass Thursday and burst into flames as it hit the rocky ground below, killing at least 45 people, authorities said. The only survivor was an 8-year-old child who was receiving medical attention for serious injuries.
Stock market today: Asian shares are mostly higher after another set of Wall St records
Asian shares ended mostly higher in quiet, Good Friday holiday trading, while European and U.S. markets were closed.
Thailand steps up border control of livestock after anthrax outbreak is reported in neighboring Laos
Thailand's government has ordered officials to closely monitor livestock along the border with Laos after more than 50 people were reported to have contracted anthrax in the neighboring country.