Worldwide

The World Bank accused Lebanese politicians of being cruel by asserting that deposits in the country’s collapsed banking sector are sacred, saying such slogans “flagrantly contradict the reality” in a report on Wednesday. Lebanon is in the third year of a financial meltdown that has left eight in ten people …

China began large-scale military exercises on Thursday intended to punish Taiwan for hosting U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, raising cross-strait tensions to their highest level in decades. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said Thursday that military maneuvers had begun in the Taiwan Strait, with the Eastern Theater Command of the People’s …

China has begun large-scale military sea and air exercises around Chinese Taipei in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island and amid soaring tensions between Washington and Beijing over the highly-controversial trip. The unprecedented military exercises kicked off on Thursday a day after Pelosi left Taipei, featuring J-20 stealth …

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has condemned a call by the United States for Argentina to seize a Venezuelan cargo plane that has been grounded in Buenos Aires for nearly two months, saying Washington wants to “steal” the aircraft. The Boeing 747 cargo plane, owned by the Venezuelan company Emtrasur, was …

Russia’s energy giant Gazprom says the sanctions imposed by the West against Moscow have made it impossible for the company to receive a turbine needed to keep gas flowing to Europe. Gazprom said on Wednesday that the delivery of the turbine needed to stream gas to Europe via the Nord Stream …

The US Senate has ratified the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO, becoming the 23rd of the 30 member states to pave the way for one of the most significant expansions of the Western military alliance in decades. The Senate voted 95 to 1 in favor of the two Nordic countries’ accession on Wednesday. …

An explosion and fire at a military plant in southwest France has left at least eight people injured, reports say. The Eurenco factory in the town of Bergerac specializes in making nitrocellulose, a highly flammable chemical compound, as well as propellants and fuels. Local officials said an investigation will be …

Inflation in the United Kingdom will soar to ‘astronomical’ levels over the next year, a leading British think tank has warned, saying such massive inflation will force the Bank of England to raise interest rates higher and for a longer period than previously expected. In a report on Wednesday, the …

The first grain-carrying ship to leave Ukrainian ports in wartime safely anchored off Turkey’s coast on Tuesday. At the same time, a senior official said Ankara expects the roughly one-grain ship to depart from Ukraine every day as long as the export agreement holds. The first ship, the Razoni, carrying …

The United States killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri with a drone missile while he stood on a balcony at his home in downtown Kabul, U.S. officials said, the biggest blow to the militants since Osama bin Laden was shot dead more than a decade ago. Afghanistan’s Taliban government has …

Four United Nations experts strongly denounce the Israeli regime’s harassment of human rights activists trying to provide support for the Palestinian communities that face forcible eviction from their houses in a southern West Bank area. “Israeli authorities’ hubris is proving without limits. They are even harassing human rights defenders and …

The US House speaker’s visit is a violation of the ‘One China’ policy and the country’s sovereignty, Beijing says

PM Pedro Sanchez said the breakaway region’s unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia violated international law

Hundreds of firefighters battled a blaze raging in a Portuguese municipality near the capital Lisbon on Sunday as high temperatures and strong winds made it harder to put out the flames.

China should also engage in negotiations on a new nuclear arms control treaty, US President Joe Biden said

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi was set to visit Taiwan on Tuesday, two people briefed on the matter said, as China warned that its military would never “sit idly by” if she visited the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing.

A military base in Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah used by American troops has been reportedly hit by a series of heavy explosions. Russia’s Sputnik news agency, citing local sources, reported on Wednesday that sounds of several loud blasts had been heard in the northern and western suburbs of the …

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says Iran has successfully debunked the Western fallacy that religion and state are incompatible, attributing the country’s progress to adherence of religious values. The Leader made the remarks while addressing a gathering of Friday prayer leaders from across the country in …

Russia’s economy is doing better than expected despite Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over the war in Ukraine, the International Monetary Fund says in a new report. The sanctions were imposed to sever Russia from the global financial system and choke off funds available to Moscow to finance the war. …

The United States has only a slim chance of avoiding an economic downturn given the many risks it faces, the IMF said on Tuesday. “It’s a very narrow path,” IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said. “The current environment suggest that the likelihood that the US economy can avoid a recession …