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German FM stuck in Abu Dhabi after another government plane problem

Germany's foreign minister was waiting in Abu Dhabi on Monday after a technical problem on her government plane — the latest in a succession of such incidents — forced it to return to the airport rather than continue to Australia.

Annalena Baerbock was due to arrive in Canberra on Monday night at the start of a visit to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. But her German air force Airbus A340 had to return to Abu Dhabi after a refueling stop because of "a mechanical problem with the landing flaps," ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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Crews search for possible missing after mudslide in Italian Alps

Rescue crews in an Italian Alpine city were searching Monday for any possible missing people and clearing mud-caked roads after a mountain mudslide sent water and debris pouring into town, bursting riverbanks. Authorities said all residents were accounted for.

The streets of Bardonecchia, a city near Turin in the Val di Susa mountain valley, were coated in thick gray mud following the violent mudslides late Sunday. Witness video showed a huge wave of dirt and debris toppling a gate and residents running away as the muck rushed down a city street; other videos showed thick mud coursing through the river banks that pass through town.

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Floods and landslides in India's Himalayan region leave at least 22 dead

Heavy monsoon rains triggered floods and landslides in India's Himalayan region, leaving at least 22 people dead and many others trapped, officials said Monday.

A cloudburst in mountainous Himachal Pradesh state's Solan district on Sunday night killed nine people in the area, and nine more bodies were pulled out from under mud and debris after two landslides in Shimla, the state's capital, authorities told the Press Trust of India news agency.

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2 years after Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, women and girls pay the price

The are entrenched in Afghanistan after of rule. Women and girls pay the price

The Taliban have settled in as rulers of Afghanistan, two years after they seized power as U.S. and NATO forces withdrew from the country following two decades of war.

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Kim increases missile production, days before US-South Korea drills

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again toured major munitions factories and ordered a drastic increase in production of missiles and other weapons, state media said Monday, as the South Korean and U.S. militaries announced they will begin major drills next week to hone their joint capability against the North's evolving nuclear threats.

Kim's push to produce more weapons also comes as U.S. officials believe Russia's defense minister recently talked with North Korea about selling more weapons to Russia for its war with Ukraine.

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Once calm and peaceful, criminals now walk the streets of Ecuador

Belen Diaz was walking home from college one evening when a motorcycle carrying two men made a menacing U-turn.

Terrified that she was about to be robbed for the eighth time in three years, the teaching student banged on a cab window until the driver drove her home. Diaz got away safe, but there was an unrelated fatal shooting the next day outside her gated community of two-story homes on the edge of the Ecuadorian port city of Guayaquil.

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Gunman in southern Iran kills 1, wounds 8 at prominent Shiite shrine

A gunman has opened fire at a prominent shrine in southern Iran, killing one person and wounding eight others in an attack that followed another assault there months earlier, authorities said.

Officials offered no immediate motive for the attack in the city of Shiraz at Shah Cheragh, which draws Shiite pilgrims to its domed mosque and the tomb of a prominent member of the faith from its earliest days.

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Niger's coup leaders say will prosecute President Bazoum for 'high treason'

Niger's mutinous soldiers say they will prosecute deposed President Mohamed Bazoum for "high treason" and undermining state security, in an announcement hours after the junta said they were open to dialogue with West African nations to resolve the mounting regional crisis.

If found guilty, Bazoum could face the death penalty, according to Niger's penal code.

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Hawaii offers prayers for dead and missing in devastating Maui wildfires

Parishioners mourned the dead and prayed for the missing Sunday in Hawaii churches as communities began looking ahead to a long recovery from last week's wildfire that demolished a historic Maui town and killed more than 90 people.

Maria Lanakila Church in Lahaina was spared from the flames that wiped out most of the surrounding community, but with search-and-recovery efforts ongoing, its members attended Mass about 10 miles up the road, with the Bishop of Honolulu, the Rev. Clarence "Larry" Silva, presiding.

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Chinese Defense Minister to visit Russia despite West's objections

Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu is visiting Russia and Belarus in a show of support for those nations which the West has sought to isolate over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Li departed Monday on the six-day trip, during which he will deliver an address at the Moscow Conference on International Security and meet with defense leaders from Russia and other nations, the Defense Ministry said on its social media account, citing spokesperson Col. Wu Qian.

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