As World Cup Kicks Off, Russia Aims To Prove A World-class Host Again

TALISAY, Philippines — The number of dead and missing in massive flooding and landslides wrought by Tropical Storm Trami in the Philippines has exceeded 100 and the president said Saturday that many areas remained isolated with people in need of rescue. Trami blew away from the northwestern Philippines on Friday, leaving at least 81 people dead and 34 others missing in in one of the Southeast Asian archipelago’s deadliest and most destructive storms so far this year, the government’s disaster-response agency said.

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel attacked military targets in Iran with a series of pre-dawn airstrikes Saturday in retaliation for the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired upon Israel earlier in the month. The Israeli military said its aircraft targeted facilities that Iran used to make the missiles fired at Israel as well as surface-to-air missile sites.

In the deadliest period for journalists in modern history, at least 131 media workers have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of Israel’s retaliation for the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023. In almost all cases, Israel has maintained that the killings journalists were unintentional. But international media groups are alarmed by Israel’s naming six Al Jazeera journalists as terrorists. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) this week claimed the six are fighters for Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

In elections earlier this year, incumbent leaders and parties in India, South Africa, France, and Britain took a beating. America’s President and Japan’s Prime Minister were pushed to step aside before their parties face voters. Germany’s Chancellor is lucky his country won’t hold national elections until next year. Voters everywhere, it seems, want change.

MANILA, Philippines — Tropical Storm Trami blew away from the northwestern Philippines on Friday, leaving at least 82 people dead in landslides and extensive flooding that forced authorities to scramble for more rescue boats to save thousands of terrified people, who were trapped, some on their roofs. But the onslaught may not be over: State forecasters raised the rare possibility that the storm — the 11th and one of the deadliest to hit the Philippines this year — could make a U-turn next week as it is pushed back by high-pressure winds in the South China Sea. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] A Philippine provincial police chief said Friday that 49 people were killed mostly in landslides set off by Trami in Batangas province south of Manila.

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s president on Thursday raised the possibility of supplying Ukraine with weapons while stressing that his government “won’t sit idle” as North Korea allegedly sends troops to support Russia’s aggression toward its neighbor. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol spoke to reporters after a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda that came a day after U.