The unexpected deterioration in relations between Pakistan and the Taliban junta in Afghanistan has thrown a wrench into the works for China, which had ambitions to spread its influence through Central Asia – and plunder Afghanistan’s natural resources – by folding Afghanistan into the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
A Russian court on Wednesday added two more years to the sentence of Robert Gilman, an American citizen and Marine Corps veteran accused of attacking Russian police and prison guards.
The office of President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Thursday that South Africa will take a “commercial break” from the Group of 20 (G20) forum over the coming year because the rotating precedency has passed to the United States under President Donald Trump.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi on Thursday for meetings with top officials, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that it would be possible to negotiate a non-aggression pact with Syria, as desired by President Donald Trump, if the Syrian government is willing to establish a “demilitarized buffer zone.”
Indonesian officials said on Tuesday that the death toll from flooding and landslides, caused by months of heavy rain and multiple devastating typhoons, has exceeded 800. More than 700 of those casualties were reported on the island of Sumatra.
Wednesday marked the first anniversary in South Korea of the December 3, 2024, attempt by former president Yoon Suk-yeol to impose martial law.
The Kremlin says talks between President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff were “constructive.”
President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Vladimir Putin in Moscow for ceasefire talks.
Chinese Communist Party official Chen Weijun, executive vice chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), on Sunday became the latest Chinese official in the homeland of the oppressed Uyghur Muslims to be purged on corruption charges.
Turkish officials said on Tuesday that the tanker Midvolga 2 was attacked in the Black Sea, about 80 nautical miles from the Turkish coast, after sailing from Russia.
Nonkululeko Patricia Mantula, a 39-year-old host on South Africa’s SAFM state radio network, was arrested and brought into court on Monday to face charges of recruiting South African men to fight for Russia on the battlefields of Ukraine.
Archbishop Henry Ndakuba on Friday announced that kidnapped Anglican priest Edwin Achi had been murdered by his abductors, a month after he was kidnapped from his home in the state of Kaduna and held for ransom.
India’s manufacturing sector posted a nine-month low in growth on Monday, attributed largely to downward pressure on demand caused by U.S. tariffs.
Japanese pop singer Maki Otsuki was in the middle of a concert in Shanghai on Friday when her performance was abruptly cut short, her sound system was turned off, and the organizers ordered her to leave the stage.
The air quality index in Tehran has deteriorated to “unhealthy” and “alarming” levels, according to both outside experts and the Iranian government, which advised city residents to remain indoors last week.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday declared a station of national emergency over a string of brutal attacks and kidnappings, including mass abductions of school children.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Friday suspended the nation of Guinea-Bissau from all decision-making roles after its civilian government was overthrown in a coup.
The Taliban junta in Afghanistan offered condolences on Friday to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for the murder of three Chinese nationals in Tajikistan by militants who may have struck across the border from Afghan soil.
The G20 was mostly empty theater, haunted by the looming sense that President Donald Trump was correct about the amount of geopolitical influence the U.S. can wield through trade policy.
Terrorist leaders in the Middle East have a tradition of using an alias, pseudonym, or “nom de guerre,” even when their true identities and given names are common knowledge.
Syrian security forces used gunfire on Tuesday to disperse feuding groups of protesters in Latakia, a coastal town in the area dominated by the once-influential, but now persecuted, Alawite religious minority.
U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) announced its 100th airstrike of the year in Somalia on Saturday, a notable milestone for a high-tempo operation that has received little media coverage or political commentary.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te on Wednesday announced a $40 billion boost to defense spending to counter “intensifying” threats from China.
Shipping giant Maersk said on Tuesday that it was close to resuming shipping through the Suez Canal almost two years after terrorist attacks from the Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen forced many transport companies to avoid the route through the Red Sea that leads to the canal.
The Hayli Gubbi volcano in Ethiopia, located about 500 miles from the capital city of Addis Ababa, erupted on Sunday for the first time in about 12,000 years.
South African police announced on Sunday that they are investigating Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, daughter of former President Jacob Zuma, in connection with a plot to lure South African men into fighting for Russia on the battlefields of Ukraine.
President Donald Trump spoke with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping and said he accepted an invitation to Beijing for a face-to-face meeting.
Yet another kidnapping of young Nigerian women by jihadis of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) was reported on Sunday. The wave of violence prompted the government of Nigeria’s Bauchi state to close all schools as a precaution, including both government and private institutions.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation announced its mission to deliver food assistance to Gaza civilians is complete.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that his “main problem” with the 28-point peace plan proposed by the United States is that it legally recognizes territory Russia stole from Ukraine by force during the invasion that began in 2022.
The Group of 20 (G20) summit in Johannesburg, South Africa began on Saturday with an “opening declaration” despite the U.S. boycott and several other national leaders choosing not to attend.
South Africa has been preparing for a disappointing Group of 20 (G20) summit in Johannesburg this weekend that would be missing the leaders of the United States, China, Russia, Argentina, and Mexico — although President Cyril Ramaphosa claimed on Thursday that the U.S. might rescind its boycott and attend after all.
The Trump administration rolled out a 28-point plan for peace in Ukraine on Thursday, prompting swift, although somewhat equivocal, responses from both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations nuclear watchdog, voted on a resolution on Thursday demanding full cooperation from Iran and “precise information” about its stockpile of enriched uranium.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Thursday presented detailed information about a massive underground “terror stronghold” constructed by Hamas beneath the northern Gaza city of Beit Hanun.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) asked him to work on a peace deal between the factions in Sudan’s long and brutal civil war, and Trump has already begun working on a deal.
Taliban Trade Minister Alhaj Nooruddin Azizi traveled to New Delhi on Wednesday in search of trade deals and investments, taking the relationship between the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and India another step forward.
Chinese officials on Tuesday arrested 18 leaders of the underground Zion Church. Almost thirty pastors and staffers have been detained, without formal arrest, since the middle of October.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who has denied the existence of persecution against Christians in his country, was obliged to postpone his trips to the G20 and AU-EU summits on Wednesday due to the ongoing crises of a mass schoolgirl kidnapping and a brutal jihadi attack on a church.
