Four-figure checks tend not to fall out of the sky. But a group of e-cigarette users are suddenly finding themselves with a little extra cash, thanks to a massive class action settlement involving one of America’s tobacco giants. In online forums and on social media this week, users of Juul Labs nicotine products have been posting screenshots of online deposits ...

When scientists heard reports that a large, mysterious fish had been caught in Cambodia in 2020, excitement stirred. Could this be the “Mekong Ghost,” they asked – an elusive fish that hadn’t been seen since 2005 and was feared extinct? Photos of the fish and its telltale identifiers – an odd-shaped mouth and a protruding knob at its jaw – ...

Polio is once again spreading in Pakistan, where officials say more than 1 million children missed their vaccination doses last month, underscoring the challenges they face in eradicating one of the world’s most intractable diseases. Pakistani officials reported more than a dozen new polio cases in October, bringing the total number of infections this year to 39, compared to just ...

Nearly three years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine saw Moscow condemned by countries globally, leader Vladimir Putin is staging a summit with more than a dozen world leaders – in a pointed signal from the autocrat that far from being alone, an emerging coalition of countries stands behind him. The three-day BRICS summit, starting Tuesday in the southwestern Russian city ...

Vietnam elected Luong Cuong, a military general, as its new president on Monday, the fourth official to fill the largely ceremonial role in 18 months. Cuong, 67, was elected by the National Assembly to replace To Lam, who remained president even after he was formally appointed as the general secretary of the ruling Communist Party in August. The role of the general secretary is ...

Melioidosis, a bacterial infection, was responsible for killing at least nine monkeys at a Hong Kong zoo, authorities said, as a further two died over the weekend, taking the total to 11 in the past week. Part of the zoo, built in 1860 and the oldest park in Hong Kong, has remained shut since October 14 when authorities reported the ...

Editor’s note: This story contains details of suicide and violence that some readers may find upsetting. Meir Golan sank his face in the dense, dark orange soil. He seemed desperate to stay close to his daughter for as long as possible, holding tight onto Shirel’s shroud as she was being buried. More than a year after Hamas and other armed groups launched ...

Hyundai Motor India’s shares fell 2% in their market debut on Tuesday, after a tepid response from retail investors to the country’s largest ever initial public offering. The stock listed at 1,934 rupees ($23) on India’s National Stock Exchange, compared to its issue price of 1,960 rupees ($23.31), and was last trading down 2% at 1,920 rupees ($22.84) at 0431 GMT ...

An Italian surfer has died after being impaled in the chest by a sharp-billed fish while surfing off Indonesia’s West Sumatra coast. Giulia Manfrini, 36, had been surfing in the Mentawai Islands, a remote island chain when she suffered a “freak accident,” said her business partner James Colston. “Unfortunately, even with the brave efforts of her partner, local resort staff ...

India and China have reached an agreement on military disengagement along their disputed border, New Delhi said, a step toward reducing frictions between the nuclear-armed neighbors that comes as both countries’ leaders arrive in Russia for a summit. India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Monday said the agreement on military patrolling in certain areas brought the situation back to where ...