Drones spark fire at U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Two booby-trapped drones landed inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad’s Green Zone early Tuesday, triggering explosions and a fire, a source from Iraq’s Interior Ministry told Xinhua. By Ali MusaAxadle Times international–Monitoring Tuesday March 17, 2026 Facilities inside the U.S. Embassy compound caught fire after the attack, with flames visible from outside the complex, according to the Interior Ministry source cited by Xinhua, who spoke on condition of anonymity.…

President Peter Mutharika has been asked to dismiss Finance Minister Joseph Mwanamveka and Attorney General Frank Mbeta and to suspend George Partridge, governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi, over their alleged links to the controversial Amaryllis Hotel deal, according to a statement released Friday. The purchase of the luxury Amaryllis Hotel by the Public Service Pension Trust Fund (PSPTF) has triggered a high-stakes public finance controversy. Lawmakers on the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament have opened an…

Fire aboard USS Gerald R. Ford injures two; carrier remains operational in Red Sea RED SEA — Two U.S. sailors sustained non-life-threatening injuries after a fire broke out Thursday aboard the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the U.S. Navy said, adding the ship remains fully mission capable as it continues operations in the Red Sea. In a statement, the Navy said the blaze started and was contained in the Ford’s main laundry facility and was not combat-related. The sailors were treated and are in stable condition. “There…

KERZERS, Switzerland — At least six people were killed and three others injured when a bus caught fire on a road in the western Swiss town of Kerzers, prompting police to open a criminal investigation and say early evidence points to a deliberate act by someone on board. Frédéric Papaux, a spokesperson for the Fribourg cantonal police, said investigators had “elements suggesting a deliberate act by a person who was inside the bus,” while cautioning that the precise cause of the blaze remains under investigation. Officers…

GLASGOW, Scotland — Glasgow Central, Scotland’s biggest train station, remained closed Monday after a major fire tore through a neighboring 19th-century building off Union Street, causing a partial dome collapse and leaving only the facade of the corner property at Gordon Street and Union Street standing. No injuries have been reported, but officials said the closure is likely to continue until Wednesday, disrupting thousands of journeys in and out of the city center. The blaze broke out Sunday night in a building adjacent…

KABUL/ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan said its air defenses fired at Pakistani jets over Kabul after pre-dawn explosions and gunfire rattled the capital, the latest and most visible escalation in a burst of cross-border hostilities that has raised fears of a wider conflict in a region already on edge from U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and retaliatory attacks on U.S. targets in Gulf states. Taliban administration spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said the blasts heard across parts of Kabul before sunrise were the result of Afghan forces…

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland — The death toll from the New Year’s Day bar fire at the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana rose to 41 after an 18-year-old victim died from injuries in a Zurich hospital, regional prosecutors said Saturday. “An 18-year-old Swiss national died at a hospital in Zurich on January 31,” Wallis canton’s public prosecutor, Beatrice Pilloud, said in a brief statement. “The death toll from the fire at Le Constellation bar on January 1, 2026 has now risen to 41.” The inferno, which tore through the basement…

A Swiss court has released on bail the co-owner of Le Constellation, the Crans-Montana bar where a New Year’s Day fire killed 40 people and injured 116, as investigators probe possible negligent offenses in one of the country’s deadliest recent nightlife disasters. The Compulsory Measures Court in the canton of Valais said it lifted the detention of Jacques Moretti, 49, after bail of 200,000 Swiss francs (about €215,600) was posted on his behalf. Moretti, a French national who co-owns the venue with his wife, Jessica, 39,…

Two people were shot and wounded by a U.S. immigration agent during a vehicle stop in Portland, Oregon, authorities said, intensifying tensions already high after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis a day earlier. Portland Police Chief Bob Day urged restraint as investigators worked to establish what happened. “We understand the heightened emotion and tension many are feeling in the wake of the shooting in Minneapolis, but I am asking the community to remain calm as we work to…

Switzerland will observe a national day of mourning today for the 40 people, many of them teenagers, killed when fire tore through the Le Constellation bar during New Year’s celebrations in the ski resort of Crans-Montana. A minute of silence is set for 2 p.m. local time, to be followed by church bells ringing across the Alpine nation. The government called the silence a “testament to the shared grief felt by the entire nation with all the families and friends directly affected.” The ceremony will be livestreamed on large…