World News

The global economy’s recovery from the pandemic recession is tentative and uneven and “marked by significant uncertainty” as confirmed coronavirus cases spread in many countries, international finance ministers warned Thursday.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday urged Saudi Arabia to normalize diplomatic ties with Israel and committed to enhancing defense and security cooperation between Washington and Riyadh.

European governments rush to impose harsh measures to halt a massive increase in coronavirus infections across the continent. The partial lockdowns and other regulations impact millions of people from East to West.

Authorities in Belarus have authorized police to use lethal force if necessary against anti-government protesters, prompting more European Union sanctions. The move comes after officials confirmed that at least 713 people were detained since Sunday during mass protests against the reelection of the country’s authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko in a disputed vote.

China and Russia were among 15 countries elected to the UN Human Rights Council on October 13, drawing sharp criticism from rights groups and the United States over their abysmal human rights records.

In a major policy shift, the World Health Organization (WHO) has urged world leaders to stop “using lockdowns as your primary control method” against the coronavirus amid fears they lead to as many as 100 million deaths.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear watchdog has found that Iran is currently enriching even more uranium than the regime had originally intended, World Israel News (WIN) reports. The IAEA published its findings in report released on Saturday.

Azerbaijan and Armenia accuse each other of deadly attacks over the contested territory of Nagorno-Karabakh despite a ceasefire deal brokered by Russia over the weekend. The clashes reportedly killed at least seven people and injured dozens.

The White House is moving forward with three sales of advanced weaponry to Taiwan, sending in recent days a notification of the deals to Congress for approval, three sources familiar with the situation said on Monday.

Authorities in Kyrgyzstan have detained a former president, banned protests, and imposed a curfew in the Central Asian nation’s capital, amid mounting unrest over disputed elections. At the same time, Kyrgyzstan’s divided parliament appointed as the new prime minister a convicted kidnapper who escaped from prison with help from his supporters. 

Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to a ceasefire in their battle over the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh. But, shortly after the agreement came into force, both sides already accused each other of breaking it.

The World Food Program (WFP) has won the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of its life-saving work amid rising starvation cases. With the coronavirus crisis pushing millions of men, women, and children into hunger, Nobel committee chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen said the United Nations agency deserved this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

North Korea unveiled what defense analysts say appears to be a new intercontinental ballistic missile and other new weapons systems during a carefully choreographed, pre-dawn military parade Saturday.

Around 15,000 scientists and doctors from around the world, and both sides of the political aisle, have now signed a document stating that coronavirus lockdown measures are having a “devastating” effect on public health, the Washington Times reports. Initiated by doctors from Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford University, the Great Barrington Declaration was published on Tuesday. Doctors and scientists have continued to sign up for it since then.

Free Iran news editor M. Hanif Jazayeri has tweeted that security forces sent by Ayatollah Khamenei were attacking civilians protesting against the Islamic regime in Tehran Thursday night.

China has told Taiwan’s opposition party to “prepare for war,” Just the News reports. The threat was made through China’s state-sponsored Global Times news outlet on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the remaining American troops in Afghanistan “should” be home in the US by Christmas, Politico reports. In February this year, the US and the Taliban agreed that American soldiers would withdraw from Afghanistan in spring 2021.

Armenia says neighboring Azerbaijan has attacked a historic cathedral in the mountain enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh amid raging battles over the contested region.

Over the last 30 years, Jassim Al-Asadi has witnessed the Mesopotamian Marshes of southern Iraq where he was born undergo dramatic changes.

The U.S. government imposed new sanctions on 18 Iranian banks as Washington turned up the pressure on Tehran by further isolating it from the global banking system and hindering the country’s attempts to build nuclear weapons.