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The tiny Indian Ocean island nation of Seychelles declared a state of emergency Thursday after a huge blast at an explosives depot occurred after deadly flooding hit other parts of the country. Three people died in the flooding, the president said. More than 100 were injured in the explosion in the industrial area of Providence, around 4.3 miles southeast of the capital, Victoria, on Seychelles' main island of Mahe. The blast destroyed buildings and flattened trees in the vicinity. National TV showed people at hospitals and clinics bloodied with injuries after the blast. No deaths were reported from the explosion. The blast happened around 2 a.m. Thursday morning and followed heavy rain and flooding late Wednesday night, which mostly hit the northern part of Mahe. Houses were flooded, parts of roads were washed away, and the water caused landslides in some areas. AT LEAST 76 DEAD, THOUSANDS MAROONED AS FLOODS SWEEP KENYA Two of the people who died in the flooding were trapped ...

China said on Thursday that Biden administration plans to limit Chinese content in batteries eligible for generous electric vehicle tax credits from next year violate international trade norms and will disrupt global supply chains. The plans will make investors in the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) supply chain ineligible for tax credits should they use more than a trace amount of critical materials from China, or other countries deemed a "Foreign Entity of Concern" (FEOC). "Targeting Chinese enterprises by excluding their products from a subsidy's scope is typical non-market orientated policy," said He Yadong, a commerce ministry spokesperson. "Many World Trade Organization members, including China, have expressed concern about the discriminatory policy of the U.S., which violates the WTO's basic principles," he said. CONGRESSIONAL REPORT CALLS FOR END TO 'HEMORRHAGING' OF US TECH TO CHINA China's dominant position in the global bat...

A new lower house of the Dutch parliament was sworn in Wednesday, two weeks after the far-right party of lawmaker Geert Wilders won a general election in a seismic shift that reverberated through Europe . While the newly configured Second Chamber is now installed, talks to form a new ruling coalition remain at an early stage, with a "scout" still talking to leaders about possible combinations to succeed the last four-party administration led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte. The scout is expected to send a report to parliament before a debate, likely next week, on the next step in the coalition formation process. HARD-RIGHT FIREBRAND GEERT WILDERS WINS ELECTION IN NETHERLANDS: 'DUTCH DONALD TRUMP' Rutte, the Netherlands' longest serving premier, will remain in office until a new coalition is formed and sworn in. Talks to form Rutte's final coalition took some nine months, a record. Wilders' anti-Islam, anti-immigration Party for Freedom won 37 seats in th...

A cargo ship broke down in Egypt's Suez Canal on Wednesday and crashed into a bridge over the crucial waterway, authorities said, adding that the incident did not disrupt canal traffic. The Singapore-flagged One Orpheus went off course after its rudder broke down before ploughing into the Mansi Bridge, near the port city of Ismailia, according to Adm. Ossama Rabei, head of the Suez Canal Authority. The incident happened in a newly expanded section of the waterway, where there are two separate shipping lanes, Rabei said in a statement. Following the incident, all ships began using the second, original shipping lane. FETTERMAN DEMANDS SEN. MENENDEZ TO BE EXPELLED FROM SENATE ON ‘THE VIEW’: ‘SENATOR FOR EGYPT NOT NEW JERSEY’ Later Wednesday, the government body said the vessel’s rudder was fixed and that One Orpheus had resumed its journey north, en route from Singapore to the Netherlands. The extent of the damage to the bridge remained unclear. The incident was the latest of s...

Charities and NGOs supplying military aid to Ukraine's armed forces are facing delays of several weeks to critical supplies of drones, electronics and pickup trucks due to border protests by Polish truckers, three industry sources told Reuters. Thousands of trucks carrying commercial goods have been backed up for weeks at Poland's border crossings with Ukraine because of the protests, which began on Nov. 6. Hauliers in Slovakia began a similar blockade on Dec. 1. The protesters want to end Ukrainian truckers' permit-free access to the EU , saying Ukrainian drivers are undercutting their prices. Kyiv says the volume of wartime traffic makes a truck permit system impracticable. EUROPE FACING ‘HUGE RISK OF TERROR ATTACKS’ DURING CHRISTMAS SEASON, EU WARNS While the protesters say they allow humanitarian and military aid through, many resources required by Ukraine's armed forces are bought by civilian organizations and transported on commercial trucks, which are not al...

The father of a young woman whose murder galvanized Italian outrage against violence targeting women implored men during her funeral Tuesday in the northern city of Padua to be "agents of change" to a culture that often "undervalues the lives of women." Outside, thousands of mourners rang bells and shook keys, part of a campaign to "make noise" against gender violence that has grown in intensity in the weeks since 22-year-old Giulia Cecchetin was found dead, her throat slit, in a ditch in a remote area of the Alpine foothills on Nov. 18. She had disappeared along with her ex-boyfriend a week earlier after meeting him for a burger. MASS PROTESTS ERUPT ACROSS ITALY AFTER EXTRADITION OF COLLEGE STUDENT'S SUSPECTED KILLER Filippo Turetta, 21, was later arrested in Germany , and is being held in an Italian jail during an investigation to bring charges. Turetta has not commented publicly, but his lawyer told reporters that he admitted to the crime under ...

Kim Jong Un delivered a speech honoring North Korean mothers this week, praising their role in shaping good communists for the regime. The supreme leader spoke at the Fifth National Conference of Mothers on Monday, honoring recipients of the Communist Mother Honour Prize. "The credit for the brilliant today of our country goes to our mothers who are ordinary and simple and the strongest before any difficulties and have become the genuine models of always devoting themselves unhesitatingly to the road of patriotism as well as the roots for bringing up a large number of heroes in all parts of the country," the dictator said, according to a transcription of the remarks printed in Korean Central News Agency. NORTH KOREA WARNS US THAT HARM TO SPY SATELLITE WOULD BE DECLARATION OF WAR KCNA is a media outlet owned and operated by the North Korean government. "All mothers should fulfill their responsibility and duty assumed before society and families with confidence in a...

The Israeli military has assembled several large pumps it could use to flood the Hamas tunnels beneath the Gaza Strip with seawater, driving out terrorists hiding there, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. officials. Construction of five large seawater pumps was completed in November about one mile north of the Al-Shati refugee camp. Each pump is capable of drawing water from the Mediterranean Sea and can move thousands of cubic meters of water per hour, which would flood the tunnels within weeks, the report said. Israel has not yet committed to the plan, and it is unclear whether it would attempt to flood the tunnels while there are still hostages, including Americans, held by Hamas. The Palestinian terror group took some 240 people captive during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and brought them back to the Gaza Strip.  According to the report, Israel has identified about 800 tunnels beneath Gaza that Hamas has used to move fighters, store weapons and plan terror attack...

Mexico’s president said Friday the country’s minimum wage will rise by 20% in 2024, to the equivalent of about $14.25 per day. MEXICAN GOVERNMENT FORCES FREIGHT LINES TO PRIORITIZE PASSENGER RAIL About one-third of Mexico’s registered workers report earning the minimum wage, which will amount to about $1.75 per hour starting Jan. 1. In pesos, the minimum will rise from about 207 pesos to about 248 pesos. The minimum is higher in areas along the northern border, where living costs are higher. There, the 20% increase would take the minimum to about 375 pesos, or about $21.50. Part of the increase in dollar terms comes from the peso's appreciation against the dollar in the last year. The Mexican currency has risen by about 10% in value against the dollar since December 2022. That increase is largely attributable to the high inflow of remittances and high domestic interest rates, which make the peso attractive for investors. from Latest World News on Fox News https://ift.tt/D...

A group armed with explosives and guns killed 11 people in eastern Iraq , security officials said Friday. The attack took place Thursday night in the area of Muqdadiyah in Diyala province. A roadside bomb exploded and gunmen then opened fire on rescuers and bystanders at the scene, two security officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The victims were all civilians, the officials said. IRAN-BACKED MILITIA HITS US FORCES AT IRAQ AIR BASE, INJURING 8, PROMPTING RETALIATION The gunmen fled and no group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Diyala province has seen periodic attacks by Islamic State cells and sporadic violence due to sectarian tensions between Shiites and Sunnis, as well as fighting between rival militias and their tribal and political allies struggling over influence and lucrative racketeering networks. The province, which borders both Iran and Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, is a pri...

Pakistani authorities have arrested four people who allegedly killed an 18-year-old woman in the purported name of honor after a picture of her sitting with a boyfriend went viral on social media, police said Thursday. The woman's father and three other men were detained days after the slaying in Kohistan, a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. Police said they told about the killing on Nov. 24 and officers were still investigating. According to the local police chief, Masood Khan, the four arrested men apparently killed the woman on orders from village elders, who thought she had brought shame to her family by posing for pictures with a boy. PAKISTANI JOURNALIST'S WIDOW FILES WRONGFUL DEATH SUIT AGAINST ELITE KENYAN POLICING UNIT Khan said the investigation determined that the photo of the couple that went viral had been edited by someone before it was shared on the social media. He said investigators are trying to trace whoever edited and posted...

An alternative healer who advocates a technique known as "slapping therapy" was charged Thursday over the death of a woman at one of his workshops in England seven years ago. Hongchi Xiao was charged with manslaughter by gross negligence in the October 2016 death of Danielle Carr-Gomm, Wiltshire Police said. British police first sought to arrest Xiao in 2019. He was detained after being extradited from Australia . Xiao promotes paida lajin therapy, in which patients are slapped or slap themselves repeatedly, ostensibly to release toxins from the body. Patients often end up with bruises or bleeding. The technique has its roots in Chinese medicine, but critics say it has no scientific basis. CANADIAN MAN GETS LIFE IN PRISON FOR 'INCEL'-RELATED MASSAGE PARLOR MURDER RULED A TERRORIST ACT Xiao, who is originally from China and runs the California-based Pailala Institute, has led paida lajin workshops around the world. Carr-Gomm, 71, died at Cleeve House country hot...

One of the first Israeli hostages to have been freed by Hamas is now saying she confronted the terrorist group's Gaza leader in a tunnel underneath the territory during her time in captivity.  Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, told the Israeli newspaper Davar that Yahya Sinwar paid the hostages a visit and "was with us three to four days after we arrived," according to Reuters.  "I asked him how he is not ashamed to do such a thing to people who all these years have supported peace," she reportedly said. "He didn't answer. He was silent."  Lifshitz was freed by Hamas on Oct. 23 in one of the first hostage releases of the war.  LIVE UPDATES: ISRAEL AT WAR WITH HAMAS   Prior to their capture from their home in the Nir Oz kibbutz near the Israel-Gaza border, Yocheved and her 83-year-old husband Oded – who remains in captivity – were activists who helped sick Gazans receive medical care in Israel, her grandson Daniel Lifshitz previously told Reuters. ...

A woman swimming in a mermaid costume had a narrow escape from drowning after her tail became stuck at the bottom of a massive aquarium tank in a shopping mall, with the terrifying moment captured on video. The woman, a professional mermaid from South Africa, had seconds to react with her quick thinking saving her from a potentially deadly and tragic situation.  The terrifying moment unfolded inside a shopping mall in Randburg, South Africa, on Saturday while the woman was swimming inside the tank in front of shoppers.   'LITTLE MERMAID' REMAKE CONDEMNED FOR 'ERASING' SLAVERY IN THE CARIBBEAN: 'BORDERLINE DANGEROUS' In the video, captured by shopper Zizwe Ndwandwe, the woman can be seen at the bottom of the aquarium waving and then blowing a kiss at people who are outside the tank looking in. The woman then makes a move to swim to the surface to catch her breath, but the tail of her costume becomes stuck in an artificial reef on the tank’s floor.  11 DEAD...

A Canadian man who pleaded guilty to the murder of a Toronto massage parlor employee received a life prison sentence Tuesday for what a judge described as an act of terrorism related to an internet subculture that fuels sexual loneliness into rage and misogyny. The man, who cannot be named because he was 17 years old at the time of the February 2020 stabbing that killed 24-year-old Ashley Noelle Arzaga and seriously wounded another woman identified only by the initials J.C., also was sentenced to three years for attempted murder, to be served concurrently. He pleaded guilty last year to both first-degree murder and attempted murder charges. The judge said the life sentence included no chance of parole for 10 years. BRYAN KOHBERGER'S FORMER FRIEND SPEAKS OUT, TELLS FOX NATION MURDER SUSPECT WAS 'FRUSTRATED' TOWARDS WOMEN In June, Justice Sukhail Akhtar ruled that the massage parlor attack amounted to an act of terrorism due to its links to so-called "incel″ ideolo...

The fatal stabbing of a French teenager at a village dance billed by some politicians as an "anti-White" crime prompted mass protests across the countryside over the weekend.  As a result, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on Tuesday called for a crackdown on three far-right groups he blames for fueling violent clashes against police in response to the deadly Nov. 19 attack on a 16-year-old French rugby player, identified as Thomas, outside a village dance in Crépol.  Speaking to a France Inter broadcaster, Darmanin said he would aim to shut down Division Martel and two other unnamed groups, claiming that those "far-right militias" are seeking "to attack Arabs, people with different skin colors, speak of their nostalgia for the Third Reich," according to reports by the BBC and The Guardian. "I will propose that a number of small groups are wound up," Darmanin said, praising French police for dealing firmly with demonstrators to avoid an...

The main opposition candidate in Madagascar said Monday he has filed lawsuits with the country's highest court seeking to have the results of this month's national election canceled and incumbent President Andry Rajoelina's victory declared invalid, claiming fraud. Rajoelina, 49, was announced Saturday as the winner of the Nov. 16 election with 58.95% of the votes, giving him a third term as leader of the Indian Ocean island. Rajoelina's victory was announced by the national electoral commission but needs to be ratified within nine days by the High Constitutional Court. MADAGASCAR PRESIDENT ON COURSE FOR REELECTION AS SUPPORTERS CLAIM THEY WERE PROMISED MONEY TO VOTE The runup to the vote saw protests led by a coalition of opposition candidates and the burning of some ballot stations on the eve of election day. Ten of the 12 opposition candidates called for a boycott of the vote , although their names appeared on ballot papers. Some Rajoelina supporters have claim...

A German priest who was abducted by al-Qaida-linked rebels in Mali's capital in November 2022 has been released by his captors, a former colleague told The Associated Press on Monday. Church members in the capital of Bamako learned of the release of Rev. Hans-Joachim Lohre late on Sunday, according to Dia Monique Pare, a former colleague who had confirmed his kidnapping. There were few details about his release. "Yesterday, while we were at Mass, a member of priest Hans-Joachim Lohre’s family told us that they had good news about the priest," Pare said. WAGNER-BACKED MALIAN FORCES SEIZE CONTROL OF REBEL STRONGHOLD, STATE MEDIA CLAIMS The German Foreign Office on Monday confirmed Lohre’s release and said he had arrived in Germany , German news agency dpa reported. It was not immediately known if a ransom was paid. Lohre was abducted by al-Qaida-linked rebels in Bamako. It was the first time that militants had seized a foreigner in the African country's capital s...

Pakistan’s military said its forces raided a militant hideout in a former stronghold of the local Taliban near the border with Afghanistan , triggering an intense shootout that killed eight militants. Elsewhere, a suicide bomber on Monday targeted a vehicle with security forces in the northwestern Bannu district, killing two civilians and wounding 10 others, including three soldiers, the military said. Troops seized weapons and ammunition from the hideout in an intelligence-based operation on Sunday in the South Waziristan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. 5 INDIAN SOLDIERS, 2 SUSPECTED MILITANTS DEAD AFTER EXCHANGING GUNFIRE IN KASHMIR No detail was given about the militants' identities. But blame usually falls on the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 y...

A U.S. Navy vessel responded to a distress call Sunday from an Israeli-linked tanker off the coast of Yemen on Sunday.  U.S. Navy personnel from the USS Mason, a Mayport-based Arleigh Burke class destroyer assigned to the Eastern Mediterranean , responded to the distress call from the Liberian-flagged Central Park, carrying a cargo of phosphoric acid in the Gulf of Aden.  The vessel is managed by Zodiac Maritime, a London-based international ship management company owned by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer's Zodiac Group. A Zodiac spokesperson told Fox News Digital the vessel issued a distress call around 6 a.m. UTC Sunday morning stating it was under attack by suspected pirates while transiting the International Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTV) some 54 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia.  Sources told Fox that five armed gunmen seized the tanker after boarding from a skiff by pulling up alongside the tanker. The crew locked themselves in the Citadel.  The...