World

Tensions are rising shortly before renewed talks between the US and Iran, with representatives from Tehran and Washington set to negotiate on Thursday in Geneva over Iran's nuclear program. In political and security policy circles, there is increasing talk of a "military countdown" should no agreement be reached. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that US President Donald Trump is considering limited military strikes against Iran as a first step to exert pressure on Tehran to accept his demands on a nuclear deal, while trying to avoid a spiral of escalation that could lead to all-out war. At the same time, it is said that if Iran continues to refuse to comply with US demands, the Trump administration could also consider a much broader military campaign aiming to weaken or overt...

The Human Rights Watch NGO has published a report alleging that Sudanese paramilitary forces killed, abused and targeted people with disabilities during and after their takeover of el-Fasher, calling it the first time it had documented potential war crimes of "this type and scale."  The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary has been fighting a civil war against the Sudanese military since 2023 and controls most of the western half of the country around Darfur .  El-Fasher, the capital of the North Darfur region, was among the last major non-RSF strongholds in the west before it fell to RSF troops last October. The takeover was followed by reports of mass killings, lootings and rape as thousands fled the city, often to nearby Tawila.El-Fasher survivors tell of harrowing effort to escape...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un brought the ninth congress of the ruling Workers' Party to a close on Wednesday with a military parade and an announcement that relations with the United States depend entirely on attitudes in Washington. "If the US withdraws its policy of confrontation with North Korea by respecting our country's current status ... there is ⁠no ​reason why we cannot get along ​well," Kim said, according to state news agency KCNA. Kim met US President Donald Trump on three occasions during the latter's first term in office, but has so far rejected overtures for a fourth meeting. The key party congress set out major policy goals for the rogue, nuclear-armed Asian nation for the next five years and culminated in a military parade in which Pyongyang showed off the capabiliti...

US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed on Wednesday that Iran was rebuilding and expanding its ballistic missile and nuclear programs and posed a major threat to US interests. The warnings came a day after US President Donald Trump claimed in his State of the Union address that Iran would "soon" have the capability to strike the US mainland, and a day before US and Iranian representatives are due to meet for talks in Geneva, Switzerland. "After their nuclear program was obliterated, they were told not to try to restart it, yet here they are," said Rubio, referring to strikes carried out on Iranian nuclear facilities by US forces on June 22, 2025, during the twelve-day war between Iran and Israel. "You can see them always trying to rebuild elements of it," ...

US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed on Wednesday that Iran was rebuilding and expanding its ballistic missile and nuclear programs and posed a major threat to US interests. The warnings came a day after US President Donald Trump claimed in his State of the Union address that Iran would "soon" have the capability to strike the US mainland, and a day before US and Iranian representatives are due to meet for talks in Geneva, Switzerland. "After their nuclear program was obliterated, they were told not to try to restart it, yet here they are," said Rubio, referring to strikes carried out on Iranian nuclear facilities by US forces on June 22, 2025, during the twelve-day war between Iran and Israel. "You can see them always trying to rebuild elements of it," ...

The US military is slowly scaling down its presence in Okinawa following decades of talks and delays colored by lingering animosity between US forces and local residents — in large part stemming from the 1995 scandal which saw three US servicemen abduct, assault and rape a 12-year-old Okinawan girl. In 2006, Tokyo and Washington signed the US-Japan Defense Policy Review Initiative (DPRI), which included stipulations on reducing US presence in Okinawa for political reasons. A 2012 plan foresaw the US relocating some 9,000 marines from the Japanese island, leaving behind around 10,000. The US forces were to be deployed to bases in Guam, Hawaii, South Korea and northern Australia. By December 2024, US media reported the first contingent of just over 100 marines leaving Okinawa — the first ...

Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine are in the midst of an spat over a key pipeline that supplies Russian crude to Central Europe.    Shipments through the Druzhba pipeline have stalled since the end of January. While Ukraine blames a Russian drone strike for the disruption, Hungary and Slovakia slam Kyiv for the prolonged outage. What to know about the pipeline? The Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline carries Russian crude through Belarus and Ukraine and into Central Europe. Opened in 1964, it is one of the largest oil pipelines in the world, connecting West Siberian oil fields to major refineries in Europe. The pipeline has capacity to pump more than 2 million barrels per day but has been delivering only a fraction of it as most European countries turned away from Russian fossil fuels since Mosc...

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday accepted the resignation of the Louvre Museum's director, Laurence des Cars. She's been under fire ever since thieves stole a stash of priceless jewelry from the museum in a brazen daytime heist last year. But the iconic museum has also been in the spotlight for a spate of negative headlines since, including suspicion of large-scale ticket fraud that had been going on for 10 years. The museum has endured several floods that reportedly damaged a ceiling painting and books, and witnessed labor problems. Macron's office says resignation of museum director 'act of responsibility' amid changes Macron's office announced Des Cars's resignation in a statement and also praised the move as an "act of responsibility at a time when the world's largest m...

With the death of Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, better known as "El Mencho" — one of Mexico's most powerful drug lords — the government's long-standing policy of rapprochement with drug cartels appears to have ended. While US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau hailed the operation as a "great development for Mexico, the United States, Latin America and the entire world," concerns are now on the rise over the prospect of a new drug war in the country. Suspected members of El Mencho's cartel have been spreading fear and violence across large parts of the country, killing dozens of people. Who was "El Mencho"? As head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion, CJNG, Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, was one of the most powerful figures in global...