World

Over 1,300 State Department Employees Laid Off in Trump Government Downsizing
Over 1,300 State Department Employees Laid Off in Trump Government Downsizing

The US State Department began laying off more than 1,300 employees on Friday as part of President Donald Trump's campaign to massively downsize the federal government workforce. A State Department official said 1,107 members of the civil service and 246 Foreign Service employees were being informed that they were being fired. The layoffs at ...

Two-State Solution Conference Rescheduled for Late July at UN
Two-State Solution Conference Rescheduled for Late July at UN

An international conference meant to revive work on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been rescheduled for July 28-29, diplomatic sources told AFP. Originally set for mid-June, the conference at UN headquarters in New York was postponed at the last minute due to Israel's surprise military campaign against Iran. It has ...

UN: Nearly 800 Killed Seeking Aid in Gaza, Most Near GHF Sites
UN: Nearly 800 Killed Seeking Aid in Gaza, Most Near GHF Sites

Nearly 800 people have died trying to access aid in Gaza since late May, with most killed near the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's sites, the UN said Friday. An officially private effort, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operations on May 26 after Israel halted supplies into the Gaza Strip for more than ...

Death Toll in Houthi Attack on Liberian-Flagged Ship Rises to 4
Death Toll in Houthi Attack on Liberian-Flagged Ship Rises to 4

Four crew members of a cargo ship attacked and sunk by the Houthis earlier this week are presumed dead, an EU naval force said Friday, with search operations ongoing in the Red Sea. "Fifteen crew members are missing. The four presumed casualties are among the missing crew members," the European Union's Operation Aspides naval task ...

Top Russian Diplomat Arrives in Pyongyang for Working Visit
Top Russian Diplomat Arrives in Pyongyang for Working Visit

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in North Korea on Friday for a working visit, Russian state media reported, the latest in a series of high-profile trips by top Moscow officials. "The minister's plane landed at the airport in Wonsan," news agency TASS reported, adding that Lavrov was due to meet his North Korean ...

PKK Militants Want to Participate in Turkish Politics, Says Top Commander Bese Hozat
PKK Militants Want to Participate in Turkish Politics, Says Top Commander Bese Hozat

Kurdish PKK militants want to return to Turkey and enter democratic politics, one of the group's joint leaders told AFP on Friday after the fighters began destroying their arms at a ceremony in Iraq. In an interview with AFP, Bese Hozat, one of the Kurdish militant group's two top leaders, also warned the fragile peace process risked being ...

France Launches Inquiry Into Musk’s X Over Threats to Democracy
France Launches Inquiry Into Musk’s X Over Threats to Democracy

French police are investigating claims social media network X, formerly known as Twitter, skewed its algorithm to allow "foreign interference," the Paris prosecutor said Friday. Investigators will be examining the actions of the company and its senior managers after two complaints were filed in January, prosecutor Laure Beccuau said, without ...

Global Oil Demand Slumps Amid Tariff Tensions, Says IEA
Global Oil Demand Slumps Amid Tariff Tensions, Says IEA

Growth in oil demand is anemic globally, with several countries in the crosshairs of US President Donald Trump's tariff threats suffering drops, the IEA said Friday. Annual growth in oil demand fell from 1.1 million barrels per day (mbd) in the first quarter of the year to just 0.5 mbd in the second, the International Energy Agency said in ...

Aid Turns Deadly: Nearly 800 Killed Seeking Food in Gaza, Says UN
Aid Turns Deadly: Nearly 800 Killed Seeking Food in Gaza, Says UN

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed 18 people on Friday, including 10 who were waiting for aid in the south of the war-ravaged territory. The fresh deaths came as the United Nations said nearly 800 people had been killed trying to access food in Gaza since late May, when Israel began easing a more than two-month total ...

Moscow Closes Polish Consulate in Kaliningrad Amid Escalating Diplomatic Spat
Moscow Closes Polish Consulate in Kaliningrad Amid Escalating Diplomatic Spat

Russia said Friday it would close Poland's consulate in Kaliningrad, a Moscow exclave near Poland and Lithuania, after Warsaw decided to shut the Russian consulate in Krakow. Diplomatic ties between Moscow and Warsaw have been historically strained and frayed further over Russia's offensive in Ukraine, which Poland is supporting politically and ...