World News

Hungarians demonstrated Monday against the reported spying by the government of hundreds of Hungarians, including critical journalists, activists, and other public figures.

Dozens of Iranians marched down a major street in Tehran on Monday, online videos show, amid ongoing protests over water shortages in southwestern Iran.

The U.S. federal government should have stopped funding research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2015 when China reduced its cooperation with the French in building and operating the lab, according to the leader of an investigation into COVID-19’s origins by the State Department under the Trump administration.

In a move welcomed by LGBTQ activists, Argentina now officially allows citizens to place an ‘X’ in their national ID document, instead of male or female, DW reports. The first South American country to make this change, Argentina is following New Zealand, Canada, and Australia in its decision.

UNICEF reported last week that over 71% of people in Lebanon are at immediate risk of losing access to safe water as a grinding economic crisis causes water pumping to cease across the country. More than 4 million citizens are within ‘highly critical’ and ‘critical’ levels of risk.

Tunisia plunged into the worst social unrest in years Monday, with the main political parties accusing the president of staging a coup.

The Dutch are facing social and political unrest over the government’s decision to return at least some of the dozens of mainly female Islamic State group fighters and their 56 children from Syria to the Netherlands. The government views it as a humanitarian and legal obligation. Still, populist parties fear the radicalized returnees may threaten Dutch security.

Thousands of Hungarians, many armed with rainbow flags and rainbow umbrellas, have demonstrated against a law that bans teaching about homosexuality and transgender issues in schools. Saturday’s Budapest Pride march came after the self-declared conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orbán confirmed a referendum on what he called the “child protection” legislation. 

A major typhoon has hit China’s eastern coast just days after deadly floods devastated parts of the country.

The future of the U.S. war in Iraq will come into focus Monday when President Biden meets with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi at the White House, with the two leaders expected to finalize a withdrawal plan that could fundamentally reshape America’s military role in the Middle East.

The French parliament early Monday approved a bill that will make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for health workers as well as require a health pass in a wide array of social venues as France battles with a fourth wave of coronavirus infections.

U.S. and Russian diplomats will hold the first round of nuclear arms control talks of the Biden administration next week in Geneva, Switzerland, the two countries announced on July 23.

Two weeks after the largest anti-government demonstrations in decades in Cuba, activist groups say more than 500 protestors are still missing.

The United States will continue airstrikes in support of Afghan forces fighting the Taliban, a top US general said Sunday.

Water shortage protests in drought-plagued southwestern Iran appear to have spread to more cities and resulted in what authorities say is a third fatality as the unrest extended into a seventh day.

U.S. and Iraqi officials are finalizing a shift in the U.S. military mission in Iraq to a purely advisory role by the end of the year, marking the official end of the U.S. combat mission in the country, according to a U.S. official and two people familiar with the issue.

The U.S. launched airstrikes against several targets in Afghanistan to support the government in Kabul in their fight against Taliban insurgents.

The Biden administration announced an agreement with Germany on Wednesday that would allow the completion of the controversial Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet approved a huge emergency aid package Wednesday for flood-stricken regions of Germany and said billions would be needed to rebuild homes, businesses and vital infrastructure.

Highlighting the dangers of old infrastructure during summer flood season, two dams in northwest China collapsed following torrential rains on Sunday, Reuters reports. Local residents were evacuated and there were no casualties, China’s Ministry of Water Resources said.