World

UN Says 'Worrying Surge' in Iran Executions
UN Says 'Worrying Surge' in Iran Executions

The United Nations on Monday urged Iran to stop using the death penalty, citing a "worrying surge in executions" that has included at least 612 people being killed so far this year. "Reports that there have been several hundred executions in Iran so far this year underscore how deeply disturbing the situation has become and the urgent need for an ...

Turkey Battles Wildfires Amid Strong Winds, Heatwave
Turkey Battles Wildfires Amid Strong Winds, Heatwave

Firefighters were battling several blazes across Turkey on Monday when the country sweltered in a summer heatwave, officials said. Wildfires across Turkey over the past week have led to at least 14 deaths. Nineteen villages and more than 3,500 people have been evacuated from their homes. Turkey is experiencing a heatwave that peaked with ...

Israel Says Gaza Got 120 Trucks of Aid on Day One of Pause
Israel Says Gaza Got 120 Trucks of Aid on Day One of Pause

Israel said Monday that more than 120 truckloads of food aid were distributed by the UN and aid agencies in the Gaza Strip on the first day of a promised limited break in fighting. On Sunday, Israel declared a "tactical pause" in military operations in part of Gaza and promised to open secure routes for aid, urging humanitarian groups to step up ...

Europe Hopes for 'No Surprises' as US Weighs Force Withdrawals
SpotlightEurope Hopes for 'No Surprises' as US Weighs Force Withdrawals

After keeping Donald Trump happy with a pledge to up defense spending at NATO's summit, Europe is now bracing for a key decision from the US president on the future of American forces on the continent. Washington is currently conducting a review of its military deployments worldwide -- set to be unveiled in coming months -- and the expectation is ...

US-China Set to Meet with Extension of Tariff Pause on the Cards
US-China Set to Meet with Extension of Tariff Pause on the Cards

Top economic officials from the United States and China are set to renew negotiations Monday -- with an extension of lower tariff levels on the cards -- as President Donald Trump's trade policy enters a critical week. Talks between the world's top two economies are slated to happen over two days in the Swedish capital Stockholm, and they come as ...

The UN, The Palestinians, Israel and a Stalled Two-State Solution
HighlightThe UN, The Palestinians, Israel and a Stalled Two-State Solution

Ever since the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states in 1947, the United Nations has been inextricably linked to the fate of Palestinians, with the organization meeting this week hoping to revive the two-state solution. Here is a timeline on the issue: Partition  In November 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 ...

Russia Resumes Moscow-Pyongyang Commercial Flights
Russia Resumes Moscow-Pyongyang Commercial Flights

A Russian passenger jet landed at North Korea's main airport Monday, a flight tracking site showed, completing the first commercial leg in decades between capitals of the allied countries. Russia and North Korea have pulled closer in the last year, with Pyongyang sending weapons and troops to aid Moscow's war in Ukraine -- likely in exchange for ...

The Politics of Frozen Conflicts and Their Antidotes 
AnalysisThe Politics of Frozen Conflicts and Their Antidotes 

Paradoxically enough, the strategic contexts throughout the Middle and Near East extending between Iran and Gaza are in a state of volatility, and none of the security issues at stake have been addressed in a conclusive manner — or were ever meant to be. After the consecutive defeats that have unraveled the strategic and political realms of ...

European Union Resigned to 15 Percent US Tariff
European Union Resigned to 15 Percent US Tariff

The United States and the European Union clinched a trade agreement on Sunday that will see EU exports taxed at 15 percent, in a bid to resolve a transatlantic tariff stand-off that threatened to explode into a full-blown trade war. US President Donald Trump emerged from a high-stakes meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der ...

Syria Sets Date for Selection of New Transitional Parliament
Syria Sets Date for Selection of New Transitional Parliament

Syrian authorities announced on Sunday that a new transitional parliament would be selected in September, with local electoral bodies picking two-thirds of the lawmakers and the country's interim president naming the rest. After toppling longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December after nearly 14 years of civil war, Syria's new authorities -- led ...

3 Killed in Iraq Clashes Between Iran-Backed Group and State Security Forces
3 Killed in Iraq Clashes Between Iran-Backed Group and State Security Forces

Three people, including a policeman, were killed Sunday during clashes in Baghdad between security forces and pro-Iran gunmen, according to authorities and a member of a local armed group. The violence erupted when armed men stormed a local office of the agriculture ministry in the city's south, the interior ministry said. Police forces ...

EU, US strike 'biggest-ever' trade deal
EU, US strike 'biggest-ever' trade deal

he United States and European Union on Sunday clinched what President Donald Trump described as the "biggest-ever" deal to resolve a transatlantic tariff stand-off that threatened to explode into a full-blown trade war. Trump emerged from a high-stakes meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at his golf resort in ...