President Donald Trump appears to have suffered two diplomatic disappointments this month, as first Syria and then Saudi Arabia chose not to join the Abraham Accords.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman al-Saud on Wednesday signed a joint declaration on civilian nuclear cooperation, taking a step toward fulfilling Saudi Arabia’s nuclear power ambitions.
Iran made an all-out effort last week to combat a severe drought by seeding the clouds with chemicals to produce rain. The technique appears to have worked all too well, as heavy rainfall caused flooding in portions of western Iran on Monday.
A report published on Tuesday by the AidData research lab at William & Mary university in Williamsburg, Virginia, found that the United States is the largest recipient of loans from China.
The Japanese government on Monday warned citizens visiting China to increase their safety precautions and avoid visiting crowded areas.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Monday voted to support President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza, while the terrorists of Hamas rejected the plan completely, in part because it called for an international peacekeeping force.
President Donald Trump’s meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman leaves nuclear power and the Abraham Accords unresolved.
South Africa said on Monday that it will no longer accept chartered flights carrying Palestinian refugees. South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola accused the Israeli government of pursuing “a clear agenda to cleanse Palestinians out of Gaza and the West Bank.”
China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a bulletin on Sunday to “solemnly remind” Chinese tourists they should avoid traveling to Japan for the foreseeable future, alleging that their safety cannot be guaranteed.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, chief executive of Saudi Arabia, meets with President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday.
Nigerian police said on Monday that a swarm of armed “bandits” descended upon a girls’ boarding school in the state of Kebbi, killed one staff member, and abducted 25 of the students.
The COP30 climate doom conference in Brazil has been a comedy of errors, beginning with the conference hosts cutting down a rainforest to accommodate all the carbon-spewing vehicles the attendees were driving, and ending with indigenous protesters blockading the entrance to the conference resort on Friday because they were angry about their rainforest getting cut down. The UK Guardian added to the black comedy on Friday by complaining that the event was teeming with lobbyists for the fossil fuel industry.
The Africa Centers for Disease Control (Africa CDC) and World Health Organization (W.H.O.) on Friday confirmed an outbreak in Ethiopia of the lethal Marburg virus, a pathogen with symptoms similar to the infamous Ebola virus, but even more deadly and difficult to treat.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong called Japanese Ambassador Kanasugi Kenji into his office for a tirade about Taiwan on Thursday, the latest escalation of a diplomatic row that has already seen one Chinese official threaten to cut Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae’s head off.
Iranian forces seized an oil tanker named Talara as it transited through the Strait of Hormuz on Friday.
The Maronite Christian bishops of Lebanon issued a joint statement last week denouncing Israel’s “daily attacks on the South and other regions of Lebanon, which are bringing the country to the brink of war once again.”
China’s big “Singles Day” shopping holiday improved a bit in 2025 over the previous year, but retailers said the pace of growth slowed as customers looked for bargains, instead of spending big on luxury items.
The escalating tensions between India and Pakistan after terrorist attacks in both countries this week are part of a regional realignment – a square dance of power in which India is courting Pakistan’s former friends in Afghanistan, while Bangladesh sidles up to Islamabad.
The justice and energy ministers of Ukraine resigned on Wednesday, the latest officials to be toppled by a fast-growing corruption scandal involving the energy industry.
The huge Hongqi Bridge in China’s Sichuan province, touted as a major achievement in China’s infrastructure boom, collapsed into the river it once spanned on Tuesday.
India and Pakistan both experienced deadly terrorist bombings on Monday, and each is moving toward blaming the other for allowing or encouraging the attacks.
After meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa said Trump supports his call for Israel to remove its forces from Syrian territory.
America’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, arrived in the Caribbean on Tuesday, joining eight other warships and a nuclear submarine in the region.
The government of South Africa on Thursday announced an investigation into how 17 of its citizens became mercenaries on the battlefields of Ukraine. The men are sending “distress signals” pleading for rescue, and their families claim they were tricked into fighting.
Russians are reportedly growing exasperated with Muslim migrants praying in public places, while the Muslims say they need more mosques.
The futuristic city of NEOM may never be completed, as cost overruns and engineering difficulties are piling up.
At least nine people were killed when a car exploded near the historic Red Fort in New Dehi, India on Monday evening. The incident is being investigated under India’s counter-terrorism law, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi seemed convinced that the deadly explosion was a deliberate act.
Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa announced on Monday that his country signed a “political cooperation declaration” with the U.S.-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, becoming a “partner in combating terrorism and supporting regional stability.”
A senior Syrian official, backed up by a senior official from another part of the Middle East, said on Monday that Islamic State terrorists have made at least two serious attempts to kill Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former leader of al-Qaeda who was present for the foundation of ISIS.
Hundreds of people gathered at the India Gate in New Delhi on Sunday to protest air pollution, brandishing slogans such as “I Miss Breathing.”
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa met with President Donald Trump at the White House, hoping to get sanctions lifted permanently.
Russian energy company Lukoil on Monday declared force majeure at West Qurna-2, a huge oilfield in Iraq. The Iraqi government has reportedly halted all payments to Lukoil due to U.S. sanctions imposed in October.
Several attendees at the COP30 climate conference in Belem, Brazil on Thursday vented their fury against President Donald Trump, who has challenged the claims of the climate movement, and did not attend the meeting or send any high-level representatives of his administration.
At least two loud explosions were reported from the mosque attached to state high school SMA 72 in Jakarta, Indonesia during morning prayer services on Friday. Police quickly announced that a 17-year-old male suspect was in custody and was “undergoing surgery” for injuries he sustained during the blast.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched heavy airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on Thursday, accusing Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire agreement by rebuilding its military presence in the region.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime issued a report on Thursday that found the amount of land used to cultivate opium poppies in Afghanistan has decreased by 20 percent over the past year.
The Trump administration signed off on a $1.4 billion deal with two rare-earth startup companies this week, taking an early step in President Donald Trump’s ambitious plan to break China’s grip on critical mineral supply chains.
Reuters on Thursday cited “three people briefed on the talks and a U.S. administration official” who said President Donald Trump asked Chinese dictator Xi Jinping to release imprisoned Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai when the two leaders met in South Korea last week.
Typhoon Kalmaegi made landfall in the Philippines on Tuesday, blasting through the heavily-populated center of the country with driving rain and 120 mile per hour wind gusts.
The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday produced a report that found $303 billion in oil revenue from the past ten years is missing, much of it attributed to oil thieves who tap into pipelines and sell their stolen crude on the black market.
