Police in the Belgian city of Waregem told some 12,000 locals to stay indoors, while schools and public buildings were put on lockdown as they search for an armed man. One person has been arrested, according to city officials. According to local reports, an armed 18-year-old man known to police …

Iraqi High Electoral Commission and the security forces began preparing the electoral centers today for the special voting day, which will start tomorrow morning. Alghadeer News agency correspondent reported that security cordons were imposed around the polling stations deployed in the military units and the headquarters of the security services …

Iraq signed an agreement with a consortium led by Norway’s Scatec to build a 525-megawatt solar project, the oil ministry said on Thursday. Iraqi oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said the value of the agreement stood at around $500 million. The consortium also includes Egypt’s Orascom Construction and Iraqi private …

Ukraine on Thursday said it will build a factory to produce Turkish armed drones that Kiev previously bought to use against pro-Russian separatists in the east, a deal that risks irritating Moscow. “A land plot on which the factory will be built has already been chosen,” Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro …

On Thursday, the CIA announced the creation of a new center focused specifically on China. US Marines and special-operations forces have been training Taiwan’s military for at least one year, according to a report published Thursday. Citing US officials, the Wall Street Journal said that there were around 24 US …

COVID-19 aid supplies have arrived in North Korea but are being held in quarantine in its seaport of Nampho, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday, as the isolated nation shows few signs of easing strict border lockdowns. North Korea sealed its borders when the coronavirus pandemic began last …

India will reopen for tourists from October 15 after being closed for more than a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the government said Thursday. “After considering various inputs, the MHA (home ministry) has decided to begin granting fresh Tourist Visas for foreigners coming to India through chartered flights with …

Suspected militants shot and killed two teachers in a government school in Indian Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar on Thursday, the latest in a spate of targeted killings in the heavily militarized Himalayan region. Gunmen stormed into the Government Boys Higher Secondary School in Srinagar’s Eidgah area and shot two …

Moscow plans to host international talks on Afghanistan on Oct. 20, President Vladimir Putin’s special representative on Afghanistan said on Thursday. Zamir Kabulov, the representative, did not provide further details on the planned talks in comments carried by Russian news agencies. Moscow hosted an international conference on Afghanistan in March …

Moroccan police thwarted an attempt by several hundred migrants to force their way into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on the northern African coast, officials said Thursday. The large group of men gathered on the Moroccan side of the border after nightfall Wednesday and threw stones at police who moved …

The head of a French delegation of senators on Thursday called Taiwan a “country” during a visit to Taipei, risking fury from China which has strongly protested against the trip. Alain Richard, a former defense minister, arrived on Wednesday for a five-day visit despite repeated warnings from the Chinese embassy …

Pfizer Inc and BioNTech said on Thursday they had asked US regulators to approve emergency use of their COVID-19 vaccine for children aged from five to 11, Pfizer said in a post on Twitter. “We and BioNTech Group officially submitted our request to US FDA for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) …

Amnesty International called on the Premier League on Thursday to focus on human rights issues and “sportswashing” as Newcastle United’s proposed sale to a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) inched closer. The PIF – chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – wants to buy …

An earthquake of magnitude 5.7 hit southern Pakistan in the early hours of Thursday, killing 20 people, most of them women and children, and injuring about 300, at a time when many victims were asleep, authorities said. The earthquake struck at a shallow depth of about 20 km (12 miles), …

A buildup of ash and dust from the erupting Cumbre Vieja volcano on the runway forced authorities in Spain’s La Palma to close the island’s airport on Thursday, air traffic operator AENA said. Other airports in the Canary Islands’ archipelago off North Africa remained open, however, and an AENA spokesperson …

Indonesia’s parliament approved a law on Thursday for one of the country’s most ambitious tax overhauls, including raising VAT next year, a new carbon levy and cancelling a planned corporate tax cut. The law is aimed at optimising revenue collection and improving tax compliance after state coffers took a big …

A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 jolted Tokyo and surrounding areas late on Thursday, stopping train lines and causing sporadic power cuts, but there were no reports of major damage, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said. The tremor, at 10:41 p.m. (1341 GMT), registered “strong-5” on Japan’s intensity …

Tanzanian novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature “for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee,” the award-giving body said on Thursday. Based in Britain and writing in English, Gurnah, 72, joins Nigeria’s Wole Soyinka as the only …

NATO has expelled eight Russian diplomats over espionage allegations, with Moscow lambasting the extraordinary decision for undermining efforts to normalize ties between the US-led military alliance and the Kremlin. In a press conference on Thursday, NATO head Jens Stoltenberg announced that the military alliance withdrew the accreditation of eight Russian …

Israeli settlers, under the protection of the regime’s forces, have once again broken into the al-Aqsa mosque compound in the occupied al-Quds to “perform silent prayers,” after an Israeli judge facilitated such moves. Over 60 settlers stormed the site on Thursday morning when they engaged in measures against Palestinians and …