Britain’s Conservative Party has chosen Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss as the two finalists in an election to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The pair came first and second in a vote of Conservative lawmakers on Wednesday. Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt came third and was eliminated. The race pits Sunak, a former Treasury chief who steered Britain’s economy through the pandemic, against Truss, who has led the U.K.’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as foreign secretary. The two contenders will spend the next few weeks campaigning for the votes of about 180,000 Conservative Part

Iraqi Kurdish officials and Iraq's military say eight tourists have been killed and over 20 wounded after Turkish airstrikes struck northern Iraq. The Wednesday attack hit a resort area in the northern semi-autonomous Kurdish region. All casualties in the attack were Iraqis. Turkey regularly carries out airstrikes into northern Iraq and has sent commandos to support its offensives targeting elements of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party or PKK. Wednesday's attack marked the first time that tourists had been killed in the frequent attacks by Turkey in the area, the officials said. Ankara ha

The U.K. weather office says Britain has shattered its record for highest temperature ever registered, with a provisional reading of 39.1 degree Celsius (102.4 degrees Fahrenheit) in Charlwood, England. The highest temperature previously recorded in Britain was 38.7 C (101.7 F), a record set in 2019. The high Tuesday came as the country sweltered in heat wave that also scorched mainland Europe for the past week. Travel, health care and schools were disrupted in a country not prepared for such extremes. Parts of England are under a “red” alert, a warning for extreme heat that poses a risk

France and the United Arab Emirates have signed an agreement on energy cooperation to ensure oil and gas supplies from the Gulf country. The deal announced by the French economy ministry Monday comes as Europe prepares for the possibility of a total cutoff of Russian natural gas in retaliation for sanctions over the war in Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting the UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Paris. Oil and gas supplies to France and the European Union are top of the agenda as the 27-member bloc scrambles to prepare for winter. France has been in discussions wi

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired the head of the country’s security service and its prosecutor general on Sunday, citing hundreds of criminal proceedings into treason and collaboration by people within their departments. “In particular, more than 60 employees of the prosecutor’s office and the SBU have remained in the occupied territory and work against our state,” Zelenskyy said. “Such an array of crimes against the foundations of the state’s national security, and the links recorded between Ukrainian security forces and Russian special services raise very serious que

WHO South-East Asia Regional Director Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh said that the region has been on alert for monkeypox and that nations have been taking steps to diagnose it quickly and prevent its spread. "The region has been on alert for monkeypox. Countries have been taking measures to rapidly detect and take appropriate measures to prevent the spread of monkeypox," she said. "Monkeypox requires collective attention and coordinated action to stop its further spread. In addition to using public health measures and ensuring health tools are available to at-risk populations and shared fairly, i

President Joe Biden touched down in Saudi Arabia on Friday. It is Biden's first visit to Saudi Arabia since taking office, and his first meeting with the kingdom's crown prince and presumed heir to the throne, Mohammed bin Salman. Biden has refused to speak with Mohammed bin Salman until now. Biden has declined to say whether he would raise the 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S.-based journalist and critic of the kingdom. Biden was expected to sit down first with King Salman before participating in a larger meeting that would include Prince Mohammed and other senior Saudi officials, as we

Ivana Trump, the first wife of Donald Trump, has died in New York City, the former president announced on social media Thursday. She was 73. The former president posted on his social media app that she died at her Manhattan home. “I am very saddened to inform all of those that loved her, of which there are many, that Ivana Trump has passed away at her home in New York City,” Trump posted on Truth Social.The couple shared three children, Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric. “She was a wonderful, beautiful, and amazing woman, who led a great and inspirational life,” he wrote on Truth Social. She

Australia's Health Minister Mark Butler has warned that "millions" of people could get infected with coronavirus in the coming weeks amid a winter surge. Butler recently asked the Australians to wear masks and work from home when needed to mitigate the impact of a wave of BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariant infections. There were 316,574 active COVID-19 cases in Australia by Wednesday -- a figure Butler said could increase within weeks. "I think this is a very concerning wave. This is the third wave just this year that Omicron has thrown at Australia," he said on the TV program Sunrise on Wednesd