Aug. 14 (UPI) -- An American missionary who was kidnapped in Niger last fall has been released, officials said Thursday. Kevin Rideout, 50, was abducted by three men from outside his home in the capital of Niamey on Oct. 21. The details of his release are unclear, but he was in FBI custody and in g»»»

The levels of violent crime decreased by a record amount during 2025, the FBI announced Friday. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Violent crime, including the estimated rate for murders and certain manslaughters, showed record year-to-year decreases in the United States»»»

Share: A satellite image shows Qeshm Island following suspected oil spills at sea, off the coast of Iran, August 10, 2026. European Union/Copernicus Sentinel-2/Handout via REUTERS Two slicks have appeared in Iranian waters, satellite imagery and video verified by Reuters show, as tit-for-tat attack»»»

For nearly a week, Israeli settlers have been surrounding homes in the West bank village of Qusra in a coordinated offensive to force Palestinian residents from their homes in order to seize new land. Palestinian Amin Rahal and his three brothers haven't gone to work in weeks, instead taking turns »»»

The only nuclear power plant in Romania has been completely shut down due to record-low Danube River levels, state-owned energy company Nuclearelectrica announced on Thursday. River water is essential for cooling many European nuclear plants, making low levels an increasing constraint on power gene»»»

Bordeaux: Bordeaux, once one of France's leading football clubs and the team where the country's new head coach Zinedine Zidane made his name, lurched further into trouble on Friday. After years of crippling financial problems, the spectre of judicial liquidation is looming over the Girondins after»»»

JEDDAH: As India celebrates its 80th Independence Day, we remember with gratitude the countless men and women whose courage and sacrifice secured our freedom. We also pay tribute to the generations of Indians who have, since 1947, strengthened our democracy, built our institutions and contributed t»»»

Geneva: The Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo is now killing a victim every 30 minutes, a top UN humanitarian official said Friday, calling for greater international action. "The outbreak is the fastest growing on record," Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs»»»

LONDON: Black British academic Jason Arday, who resigned from the University of Cambridge last week amid a high-profile plagiarism storm that featured racism claims, was found dead Friday, UK media outlets reported. Arday, 41, died after being found unresponsive at an address in south London on Fri»»»

Farm workers harvest romaine lettuce in Salinas, Calif., on April 28, 2020. The Food and Drug Administration announced it is inspecting the Mexican processing facility of Taylor Farms as part of its probe into the ongoing outbreak of Cyclospora infections. File Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI | License »»»

Extreme heat has killed more than 25,000 people across Europe this year, on data compiled by Insurance Journal from government agencies and research institutions in Germany, Spain, France, the UK, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Germany alone accounts for an estimated 11,900 excess heat deaths sin»»»

The escalation of US armed action against Iran, coupled with the sharp weakening of pro-Iranian groups across the region under parallel Israeli operations, has pushed Tehran to abandon its policy of strategic patience. In its place, according to a former ambassador to Tehran, Aleksandr Maryasov, Ir»»»

1 of 3 | Judges for the Peace Innovation Challenge pose during the 2026 One Korea Youth Forum in Seoul on Aug. 12. From left are Hyo-geon Kim, manager at Gain Consulting Group; Namsik Yoo, co-representative of Alliance for Korea United USA; Joo-hyuk Kim, producer at New Korea Foundation; Geon-dong »»»

PARIS: A 23-year-old Belgian woman was charged in France Friday for allegedly being part of an attempted March 28 bomb attack on a Bank of America branch in Paris that officials said might be tied to a pro-Iran group. That attack — thwarted when police stopped and arrested four people about to set »»»

GARDEN CITY, United States: President Donald Trump on Friday said he would "soon" declare the Strait of Hormuz waterway part of US territory, claiming that Iran was being heavily defeated. "Pretty soon I'll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States. It's true," he said with a »»»

NEW YORK CITY: Olga Cherevko has spent the past several months crisscrossing Afghanistan, from Bamiyan and Herat to Paktika, Khost and, most recently, Nuristan, where flash flooding recently tore through villages, leaving families with nothing. Across different landscapes and provinces, the stories»»»

The second trial of disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, convicted of killing his wife and son, will take place outside of his home county, a judge ruled Friday. File Photo via South Carolina Department of Corrections/UPI | License Photo Aug. 14 (UPI) -- The second trial of disgraced So»»»

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump dismissed concerns Friday over living conditions and the mental health of service members on a US aircraft carrier deployed against Iran, while confirming the ship would soon rotate out. Asked by reporters whether family members were worried about the situation on»»»

ADEN: Yemen’s internationally recognized government said the Houthis fired six ballistic missiles at the Red Sea port of Mocha on Friday, killing ​four civilians, amid an escalation in hostilities between the Iran-aligned group and the government. The armed forces aligned with the Yemeni government»»»

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s average daily oil exports since the beginning of August are the highest since the outbreak of the Middle East war between Iran and the United States choked off the Strait of Hormuz, the oil ministry said Friday. Iraqi Oil Minister Bassem Mohammed Khudair told a press conference that»»»

BEIRUT: For decades, the Gulf served as the center of gravity for much of Lebanon’s creative talent, with swaths of designers and marketing executives flocking to its cities to find clients or ​relying on its foundations and cultural centers for funding. But with regional economies now under pressu»»»

DAMASCUS: Rail freight shipments in Syria rose by nearly 59 percent during the first seven months of 2026 as maintenance crews repaired key routes and restored specialized equipment using locally available expertise and parts, the country’s railway authority said. The General Establishment of Syria»»»

GENEVA: The World Health Organization said Friday that more than 10,000 attacks on healthcare had been recorded since 2018 — but nobody has ever been brought to justice. These attacks, reported across 29 countries and territories, have resulted in approximately 5,700 deaths and 8,500 injuries, the »»»

NEW YORK CITY: Five years after the Taliban seized control of Kabul for the second time, Afghan women and girls are trapped in what the UN’s top official responsible for the issue described as an unparalleled crisis of rights, which has been worsened by a collapse in international funding that is s»»»

"Le Luxe II" by Henri Matisse is on display at Museum of Modern Art on April 27, 2022, in New York City. Police in Brazil and Italy announced Friday they have recovered stolen Matisse artworks, as well as works by Paul Cezanne and Pierre-August Renoir. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Pho»»»

New York: Luigi Mangione spoke slowly and deliberately as he admitted to shooting US health care executive Brian Thompson, in a stunning confession befitting a crime that has gripped the United States. "I shot Mr Thompson in Manhattan and he died," Mangione, wearing a yellow prison jumpsuit, told a»»»

BEIRUT: Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Friday accused Lebanese authorities of subjecting the country’s armed forces to undue pressure by implementing a framework deal agreed with Israel to end hostilities. The June trilateral framework, to which the United States is also a party, involves the disar»»»

Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem called Friday for “reversing the sinful, disgraceful and humiliating mistake” of Lebanon negotiating peace with Israel. File Photo by Wael Hamzeh/EPA BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem lashed out at the Lebanese offic»»»

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States is putting military action against Cuba on hold, with Washington increasingly focusing on economic pressure, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing sources. According to the report, US President Donald Trump wants to avoid deploying US troops to Cuba, while th»»»

Eleven years after the 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College in the state of Guerrero were forcibly disappeared by members of the Mexican Army, thousands of people, including the parents of the students, took to the streets of Mexico City in September to demand justice in one of t»»»

The European Union says it is aware of new internal regulations introduced by Albania’s Special Court for Corruption and Organized Crime (GJKKO), amid growing public debate over restrictions on media access and the transparency of court proceedings. The new rules, which set tighter security, order »»»

A man in his twenties has been arrested in Hungary after allegedly attacking two police officers and a service dog during an incident at his home in Komárom-Esztergom County. The man was reportedly behaving aggressively and damaging property inside his home when police were called to the scene. He »»»

New York: Gold prices rose in trading today, supported by a weaker US dollar after US inflation data released this week increased expectations that the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) will leave interest rates unchanged next month. Spot gold rose 0.6 percent to USD 4,376.02 per ounce, after f»»»

QUSRA, West Bank: Israeli military operations to remove extremist settlers encircling three homes on a hilltop in Qusra are “just a performance,” the village’s mayor told Arab News, as 15 Palestinians remain trapped in a siege in its sixth day. Abdul Azim Wadi said Thursday’s operation marked the n»»»

Tens of thousands of people march through downtown Minneapolis as they protest the federal government's Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis on January 30. Documents filed Thursday indicated federal agents instituted a wide-ranging program of spying on protesters and labor unions during the crackdo»»»

The US Department of Agriculture has cut its forecasts for Russian and Ukrainian grain exports because of the Black Sea shipping war, and every rival exporter's price has gone up. The department's monthly Grain: World Markets and Trade report, published on August 12 by its Foreign Agricultural Serv»»»

Extreme heat has killed more than 25,000 people across Europe this year, on data compiled by Insurance Journal from government agencies and research institutions in Germany, Spain, France, the UK, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Germany alone accounts for an estimated 11,900 excess heat deaths sin»»»

JEDDAH: After many years building and developing digital content teams at major media organizations, Saudi media content creator Farah Al-Ibrahim decided to start her own project to tell stories about art, artists and culture. The result was Fann Culture, an independent Arabic cultural media platfo»»»

JEDDAH: After many years building and developing digital content teams at major media organizations, Saudi media content creator Farah Al-Ibrahim decided to start her own project to tell stories about art, artists and culture. The result was Fann Culture, an independent Arabic cultural media platfo»»»

Luigi Mangione, accused of killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, attends a pre-trial appearance at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on Tuesday. Mangione pleaded guilty to the charges Friday. Pool Photo by David Dee Delgado/UPI | License Photo Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Luigi Mangione »»»

RIYADH: “Sigma,” “chicken banana,” “Italian brain rot” — to an adult scrolling through a child’s phone, the phrases can sound like fragments of a fever dream. But behind the bizarre characters, repetitive sounds, and seemingly nonsensical memes is a digital language increasingly shaping how young p»»»

NEW YORK: Luigi Mangione admitted Friday to gunning down a top US health insurance boss in a Manhattan street as he pleaded guilty to stalking charges before a federal judge. In a crime that shook corporate America and gripped the country, 28-year-old Mangione is alleged to have murdered chief exec»»»

LONDON: Liverpool’s owners have agreed to sell a minority stake in the Premier League club to a consortium including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. US-based Fenway Sports Group, owners of the 20-time English champions, said they had agreed the deal with 1892 Holdings, a consortium led by British-Indian»»»

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi denounced the European Union’s interventionist statements on Iran under the pretext of human rights, saying the bloc lacks any moral standing to lecture others because of its own record on human rights. Araqchi made the remarks in a telephone conversation with»»»

LONDON: PIF and Formula E are announcing the expansion of the Driving Force program through a new online platform, giving young people worldwide a backstage pass to the future of motorsport through STEM and sustainability education. The multi-dimensional learning program was first launched in April»»»

DUBAI: Community events and activities are at the heart of the fan experience during the Esports World Cup, and represent one of the core values of the competition currently taking place in France. Beyond the thrilling action on the tournament stages at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, this year mar»»»

All Hungarian citizens affected by the wildfire near Omiš in southern Croatia are safe, according to Hungary’s Foreign Minister Anita Orbán. The situation in the Omiš area has stabilised, although smoke and a strong smell of burning are still lingering in the air. Two Canadair firefighting aircraft»»»

Strikes on Ukraine’s energy system could force it to halt its resistance, Igor Yushkov, a leading expert at the Financial University and the National Energy Security Fund, tells Sputnik. "All communications depend on electricity," Yushkov says. "Starlink systems, for example, require power, as do d»»»

MANCHESTER: Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca ‌remained tight-lipped about Rodri’s future on Friday amid speculation linking their Spain midfielder with a move to Barcelona, saying “anything can happen” before the transfer window closes. The uncertainty comes the morning after an apparent pictur»»»