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In Paris' outskirts, a bright-eyed young girl is eager for the Olympic and Paralympic Games to end.
That's because the swimming club where 10-year-old Lyla Kebbi trains will inherit an Olympic pool. It will be dismantled after the Games and trucked from the Olympic race venue in Paris' high-rise business district to Sevran, a Paris-area town with less glitter and wealth. There, the pieces will be bolted back together and — voila ! — Kebbi and her swim team will have a new Olympic-sized pool to splash around in.
Full StoryA yearlong war in Sudan has devastated the country and pushed its people to the brink of famine. Top diplomats and aid groups are meeting Monday in Paris to drum up humanitarian support for the northeastern African nation to prevent further collapse and misery.
Sudan descended into conflict in April last year when simmering tensions between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum and elsewhere across the country.
Full StoryTehran on Monday called on Western nations to "appreciate Iran's restraint" towards Israel after it attacked its regional foe in response to a deadly strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.
"Instead of making accusations against Iran, (Western) countries should blame themselves and answer to public opinion for the measures they have taken against the... war crimes committed by Israel" in its war on Gaza, said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani.
Full StoryAirports in Tehran and elsewhere in Iran resumed operations Monday, state media said, after a temporary suspension due to an aerial attack on arch for Israel that heightened regional tensions.
Flights were suspended after Iran launched late Saturday its first-ever direct attack on Israeli territory, using drones and missiles, in retaliation for a deadly April 1 air strike on Tehran's consulate in Damascus which was widely attributed to Israel.
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Countries around the world condemned Iran's strikes on Israel late Saturday, warning the attack threatened to further destabilize the Middle East.
Full Story"The situation on the eastern front has deteriorated significantly in recent days," Ukraine's commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Saturday.
"This is primarily due to a significant intensification of the enemy's offensive after the presidential elections in Russia," he said, adding that decisions were "made to strengthen the most problematic defence areas with electronic warfare and air defense."
Full StoryAustralian police on Saturday said they had received reports that "multiple people" were stabbed at a busy shopping centre in Sydney.
The incidents occurred at the sprawling Westfield Bondi Junction mall complex, which was packed with Saturday afternoon shoppers.
Full StoryPolice have detained two girls and two boys -- all teenagers -- in western Germany on suspicion that they were planning an Islamist attack, prosecutors said on Friday.
Three arrested in North Rhine-Westphalia state are "strongly suspected of planning an Islamist-motivated terror attack and of having committed to carrying it out", Duesseldorf prosecutors said in a statement.
Full StoryArgentina's highest criminal court has reported a new development in the elusive quest for justice in the deadliest attack in the country's history — the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center headquarters — concluding Iran had planned the attack and Lebanon's Hezbollah had executed the plans.
In a ruling obtained by The Associated Press, Argentina's Court of Cassation deemed Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah responsible for the bombing in Buenos Aires that leveled the community center, killing 85 people, wounding 300 and devastating Latin America's biggest Jewish community. The court said the attack came in retaliation for Argentina reneging on a nuclear cooperation deal with Tehran.
Full StorySoaring green onion prices. Striking doctors. A politician's allegedly sexist jab at a female candidate.
These are among the issues animating voters in South Korea as they go the polls on Wednesday to elect a new 300-member parliament. Many are choosing to focus on jobs and other domestic worries as the most important election issues, staying away from traditional topics such as North Korean nuclear threats and the U.S. security commitment for South Korea.
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