WASHINGTON (AP) — The founder of the Oath Keepers extremist group was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison for orchestrating a weekslong plot that culminated in his followers attacking the U.S. Capitol in a bid to keep President Joe Biden out of the White House after the 2020 election.

Stewart Rhodes is the first person charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack to be sentenced for seditious conspiracy, and his sentence is the longest that has been handed down so far in the hundreds of Capitol riot cases.

TEHRAN, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Iran unveiled and successfully test-launched on Thursday its latest domestically-developed ballistic missile, known as Kheibar, according to the official news agency IRNA.

With a range of 2,000 kilometers and a warhead capacity of 1,500 kilograms, the missile showcases a unique blend of strategic and tactical features, the IRNA said, adding the new weapon's guidance and control system operates with "complete immunity" against electronic warfare attacks.

25 May 2023; MEMO: Turkish exports to Saudi Arabia amounted to $780.5 million in the first four months of the year, making up about one per cent of the country's total exports according to Anadolu Agency, which cited data by the Turkish Exporters Council.

Saudi is 22nd largest importer of Turkish goods.

Carpets topped the Turkish products exported to Saudi Arabia, at $109 million, followed by grains and legumes at $81 million, then chemicals at $77 million.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee judge has ruled that a group of parents can have their say in a lawsuit over the writings of a shooter who killed six people at their children’s school.

The judge ruled Wednesday night that the Covenant School parents have a right to intervene against other groups that want the shooter’s writings — along with some other documents in the police investigation — released according to the Tennessee Public Records Act.

DENVER (AP) — Colorado medical providers will need to get patients’ prior consent before medical students can perform pelvic exams on them while they are unconscious for a procedure under a bill signed into law Thursday.

CAIRO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) in Egypt on Thursday refloated a ship grounded in the world's busiest artificial waterway, according to an SCA statement.

"Three tugboats refloated a large ship that had been stranded in the Suez Canal," the SCA said.

The SCA rescue team managed to deal with an emergency breakdown in a XIN HAI TONG 23, a 190-meter bulk carrier near the southern end of the canal from Saudi Arabia.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Nearly five years after he was arrested at a South African airport, Mozambique’s former finance minister has lost a last-ditch court appeal and faces extradition to the United States over a $2 billion corruption scandal related to loans to Mozambican state-owned companies.

LONDON, May 25 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates has become a key trade hub for Russian gold since Western sanctions over Ukraine cut Russia's more traditional export routes, Russian customs records show.

The records, which contain details of nearly a thousand gold shipments between Feb. 24, 2022 and March 3 this year, reveal the names of over 100 non-Russian companies that have handled Russian gold since Western markets banned imports from Moscow.

The shipments in the records, supplied to Reuters by a commercial provider, may not cover all exports in the period.

ISLAMABAD, May 25 (APP): Pakistan on Thursday said that by holding G-20 meeting in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, India clearly failed in hiding the reality in IIOJK behind a veneer of normalcy.

The Foreign Office spokesperson, in a statement, said that the Indian failure was demonstrated by low-level representation and the absence of a number of important invitees at the Srinagar meeting.

MOSCOW, May 25. /TASS/: Russia expels five Swedish diplomats in a retaliatory move, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

Sweden’s ambassador to Moscow Malena Mard was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on May 25.

"The Swedish ambassador was notified that the Russian side had decided to declare as personae non gratae five Swedish diplomats, including three staffers of the defense attache's office at the Swedish embassy in Moscow as a retaliatory measure," the news release said.

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Police in Portugal have ended the latest search for clues regarding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the British child who went missing in 2007 in southern Portugal.

Authorities gave no details about the results of the search Thursday. A statement by Portugal’s Judiciary Police said some material had been collected and would be handed over to German authorities for examination.

MOSCOW, May 25. /TASS/: A Western-led undeclared war is being waged against Moscow and Minsk, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart, Viktor Khrenin, on Thursday.

"Today, we are being confronted by the collective West, which, in effect, is waging an undeclared war on our countries," Shoigu said.

According to him, NATO’s military activities "have been most aggressive of late."