What happened A Syrian court on Tuesday sentenced ousted President Bashar al-Assad to death, finding him guilty of murder, torture and crimes against humanity committed before and during Syria’s bloody 14-year civil war. Assad, his younger brother Maher and six of the seven other former officials handed death sentences by the Damascus court were tried […]
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Ukrainian drones have hit 23 Wildberries warehouses across Russia in just three weeks, said Nataliya Vasilyeva in The New York Times. Known widely as “Russia’s Amazon”, the e-commerce giant has been targeted by Ukrainian long-range drones, with a fire breaking out overnight at a facility in Voronezh. Ukraine claims that the company, founded in 2004 […]
Read MoreTaliban fighters entered Kabul on 15 August 2021 as the Afghan government collapsed and US troops scrambled to complete their withdrawal from the country. A year later, the group declared the date an annual national holiday. In the five years since, the Taliban’s “increasingly draconian policies have made Afghanistan one of the world’s gravest human […]
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Well, is it on or is it off? No one’s quite sure, said Al Jazeera (Doha). Two weeks ago, the United States and Saudi Arabia signed a multibillion-dollar deal allowing US companies to build and operate nuclear power plants on Saudi soil over the next 30 years. But a day later, President Trump added a […]
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While the Trump administration has become known for its policy of anti-globalization, recent reports that the White House plans to shutter five overseas embassies and consulates have some worried about the implications. Several of the planned closures will occur in nations with close diplomatic ties to the United States, including Canada and Japan. The rare […]
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What happened The Trump administration has refunded about $100 billion of the roughly $166 billion collected through President Donald Trump’s 2025 “liberation day” tariffs, according to a court-ordered progress report filed Tuesday with the U.S. Court of International Trade. The Supreme Court ruled in February that those import taxes had been collected illegally using an […]
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The Trump administration has found a novel way to limit the U.S. death toll in the Iran war, said Jack Crosbie in Rolling Stone: Claim that “some deaths don’t count.” Last month, the names of four service members killed by Iranian strikes in mid-July suddenly vanished from the Pentagon’s official list of war dead, lowering […]
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What happened The Iran war expanded further across the Middle East last week, as Saudi Arabia joined the U.S. in striking Iran-backed militias in Iraq, Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi militant group hit Saudi tankers in the Red Sea, and a U.S.-owned natural gas storage tanker at an Egyptian port was set ablaze in a drone attack. […]
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The next major fight between Israel and Palestine might be fought not on the ground but below it. Israel is currently attempting to seize the land around archaeological sites throughout the West Bank, the largest of which has an ancient history going back three millennia. But Palestinian officials believe Israel is claiming these areas illegally, […]
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“To Do. Buy Japanese Yen (JPY) $5-10 bil,” read a note written by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a cabinet meeting on Friday. By Monday, he had confirmed on X that the US had participated in “coordinated foreign exchange actions” with the Japanese government to counter “disorderly yen movements”. In recent weeks, the yen […]
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Why is it so significant? It “must be the only artistic masterpiece that is also a crucial source for a major historical event”, wrote the medieval historian Patrick Wormald. The Bayeux Tapestry’s survival, largely intact, is miraculous in itself. A strip cartoon-style rendering of the Norman Conquest, from 1064 to the Battle of Hastings, it […]
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What happened Thousands of people on Thursday crossed from Morocco into the Spanish territory of Ceuta, marking the largest border influx the enclave has experienced since 2021. Streams of people climbed over border fences or swam onto the shores, overwhelming security forces at border controls. At least 41 people died during the crossings, according to […]
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What happened President Donald Trump claimed Thursday on Truth Social that Hamas had agreed to “COMPLETE DISARMAMENT” in Gaza and that “Israeli forces will withdraw” from the war-torn region. Details on the deal remain limited, but Trump said it was brokered by the international Board of Peace, which he established earlier this year to oversee […]
Read MoreDonald Trump used a prime-time address to the nation to allege Chinese interference in US elections in a move that looks to undermine voter confidence ahead of November’s midterms. The White House released documents alleging that “over a period of years, starting during the 2020 election cycle” the Chinese government carried out “what is believed […]
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President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy have never had what could feasibly be called a “warm” relationship, stretching back well into Trump’s first term in office. Given their frosty history, Trump’s enthusiasm during this week’s NATO summit for Ukraine’s recent wartime successes came as a shock to many. By announcing plans to loosen restrictions […]
Read MoreBy July 1776, Great Britain and its 13 colonies on North America’s eastern seaboard had been at war for more than a year; they would remain so until 1783. Although long revered as an “American scripture”, the Declaration of Independence actually “began its life as a press release”, with a limited, pragmatic purpose, writes the […]
Read More“That American dream of a better, richer, and happier life for all our citizens of every rank.” In a 1931 book called “The Epic of America”, historian James Truslow Adams distilled the unalloyed faith in a better tomorrow that has been the calling card of the United States’ 250 years as a nation. It’s “strange […]
Read MoreWhat happened Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group “committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing” during its 2024-25 campaign to capture the city of el-Fasher in North Darfur, Amnesty International said in a report Wednesday. “The RSF’s crimes included murder, forcible transfer, imprisonment, torture, rape, sexual slavery, other forms of sexual violence, enslavement, extermination and […]
Read MorePresident Trump’s Iran deal-in-progress “is Israel’s disaster,” said Ruth Margalit in The New Yorker. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lobbied Trump to launch the Iran war, telling him they could together topple Iran’s Islamist regime, wipe out its ballistic missiles, and end its nuclear threat. Four months later, that war of choice has ended with […]
Read MoreXenophobia has enveloped South Africa for years, and now a rising tide of anti-immigration views in the country has boiled over. Amid rising protests, a slew of anti-immigration groups have called for all undocumented migrants to leave South Africa by the end of June. Though it’s unclear what happens after this date, many in the […]
Read MoreWhat happened The U.S. attacked Iranian targets twice over the weekend while Iran struck an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and fired drones and missiles at U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain. The “renewed fighting was sparked by competing interpretations of the memorandum of understanding” to end the war, Axios said, especially […]
Read MoreWhat happened Europe’s record-shattering heat wave began shifting eastward on Sunday as Public Health France estimated that more than 1,000 people died due to the heat and humidity. The number of excess deaths since the heat dome descended over France on June 20 is expected to rise as more death certificates come in from homes […]
Read MoreWhat happened Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged publicly on Sunday that his country was experiencing a “certain deficit” of gas and other fuels after Ukrainian drone strikes, but he insisted the “problems” aren’t “critical.” Ukraine “kept up its heavy drone assault on Russia,” setting fire to two more oil refineries over the weekend, The Associated […]
Read MoreGiorgia Meloni is suffering from a “splitting political headache”, said Hannah Roberts on Politico (Brussels). Italy’s first female PM has enjoyed remarkable success since her election in October 2022. She has kept her Brothers of Italy party dominant in the polls; she has held together her coalition formed with two other right-wing parties – Lega […]
Read MoreWhat happened The International Maritime Organization on Thursday paused a nascent effort to evacuate ships stranded in the Persian Gulf after Iran struck a cargo vessel, causing damage but no casualties, according to the ship’s owner. The IMO, a United Nations body, earlier this week began shepherding ships through the Strait of Hormuz along a […]
Read MoreWhat happened Former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has emerged as the likely successor to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who announced his resignation Monday amid a revolt inside his Labour Party triggered by falling poll numbers and substantial losses in local elections last month. Burnham, who won a seat in Parliament in a special […]
Read MoreWhat happened A tired but upbeat President Trump found common ground with fellow Group of Seven leaders in France last week, gaining their support for his Iran peace deal and lending his to a joint declaration to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia. At the first session, Trump stood at the head of the […]
Read MoreWhat happened Abelardo de la Espriella, a right-wing lawyer with no political experience, declared victory in Colombia’s presidential runoff Sunday night. With 99.9% of votes counted from the election, de la Espriella had 49.7% while 48.7% went for leftist Sen. Iván Cepeda, who suggested he would challenge the result. Who said what A victory by […]
Read MoreWhat happened The U.S. and Iran made “encouraging progress” after a rocky start to high-level peace talks in Switzerland, mediators Qatar and Pakistan said in a joint statement early Monday morning. The two sides approved a “roadmap” to reach a final deal during a 60-day truce, a “de-confliction cell” to ensure an end to “military […]
Read MoreSummer is “a boom time for ice cream makers”, said Agence France-Presse – but in Japan, some of the country’s biggest firms are feeling the heat. Officials from the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) have raided six firms on suspicion of colluding to hike prices in a cartel. Staff are believed to have “sent emails […]
Read MoreUnder the terms of the US-brokered ceasefire agreed last October, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) withdrew to a demarcation line known as the “yellow line”, and retained control of some 53% of Gaza. Nearly all of Gaza’s two million residents are living in Hamas-controlled areas, where the militant group has tightened its grip: since the […]
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