Countries negotiating a global treaty to curb plastic pollution have failed to reach agreement, with more than 100 nations wanting to cap production while a handful of oil-producers were prepared only to target plastic waste. The fifth UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) meeting intended to yield a legally binding global treaty in Busan, South Korea,…
Romanians cast ballots Sunday in a parliamentary election sandwiched between a two-round presidential race, the first of which has plunged the European Union and NATO member into unprecedented turmoil following allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference. Sunday’s vote will elect a new government and prime minister and determine the formation of the 466-seat legislature….
Sectarian violence has killed at least 130 people and wounded 200 others in Pakistan’s northwest in the last 10 days, officials said Sunday. Violence flared in Kurram district on November 21 when gunmen ambushed a vehicle convoy and killed 52 people, mostly Shiite Muslims. Nobody claimed responsibility for the assault, which triggered retaliatory firing and…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a record-breaking defense budget, setting aside a staggering third of the government’s total spending as the war in Ukraine drains resources from both sides nearly three years on. The budget for 2025, which was published Sunday, allocates about $126 billion (13.5 trillion rubles) to national defense – amounting to…
More than three months after the $40 million Bayesian superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily, killing seven people including British tech titan Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, plans to raise the luxury vessel are on the horizon. And it will cost around $30 million to bring it to shore, according to those who…
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s brief stop in Hawaii may have appeared understated – no formal US reception, no grand speeches – but its implications extend far beyond floral wreaths and banquets. On his way to the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, and Palau – three of Taiwan’s remaining handful of diplomatic allies – Lai was using the…
“Our leader forever” was a slogan one often saw in Syria during the era of President Hafez al-Assad, father of today’s Syrian president. The prospect that the dour, stern Syrian leader would live forever was a source of dark humor for many of my Syrian friends when I lived and worked in Aleppo in the…
Protesters gathered across Georgia on Saturday night in a third straight night of demonstrations against the government’s decision to suspend negotiations to join the European Union. More than 100 demonstrators were arrested as crowds clashed with police Friday night, the country’s Interior Ministry said. The Associated Press saw protesters in Tbilisi being chased and beaten…
After the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at a hospital and medical college in West Bengal in August, thousands of women across the Indian state took to the streets in protests to “Reclaim the Night.” Meghamala Ghosh went along to one of them with her mother. But staying out so late went against…
One called China an “existential threat.” Another called for a “whole-of-society effort” to confront China and was sanctioned – twice – by Beijing. A third claimed the Chinese military was “specifically dedicated to defeating the United States of America.” US President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed cabinet is stacked with so-called China hawks who have made clear…
