World News

A representative from the White House went to Damascus for secret meetings with the Syrian government earlier this year, in an effort to secure the release of at least two US citizens believed to be held hostage there, Reuters reported Monday.

An exiled Iranian dissident group says Iran has developed a new nuclear bomb-making facility, the Washington Times reports. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a French- and Albanian-based group working to overthrow the Iranian regime, said Friday it has learned that there is a new facility in Sorkheh-Hesar in northeast Iran.

The chief Brexit negotiator for the European Union stressed Monday the bloc was prepared to “intensify” trade talks with Britain after holding a call with British dealmaker David Frost.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have accused each other of violating a new humanitarian ceasefire in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in a conflict that has killed hundreds in recent weeks. The clashes are rapidly escalating into an all-out war, with civilians caught in the middle.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says he was wrong in allowing the royal family to vacation in Greece while discouraging “unnecessary travel” for others due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

The United States says Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal to extend the New START nuclear disarmament treaty without freezing nuclear warheads is a “nonstarter.”

NATO-member Turkey has tested its Russian-made advanced air defense missile system, Turkish media reports said Friday, raising the specter of a new standoff with the United States.

The founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF) has said there must be a “Great Reset” of economies, politics, and societies in light of the devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. In an article published Monday, WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab wrote: “We will need to reconsider our collective commitment to ‘capitalism’ as we have known it.”

France is mourning a middle school teacher who was beheaded in a Paris suburb Friday, after showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Authorities said French police killed the knife-wielding teenager and detained several people.

During Friday’s session, Prime Minister Sadyr Zhaparov also became interim president of the Central Asian nation of 6.5 million, closely allied with Russia.

Oxford University scientists announced Thursday that they have developed a test that can detect COVID-19 in less than five minutes, the Daily Caller reports. According to the university, the test is highly accurate and is able to differentiate the COVID-19 virus from “negative clinical samples” and “common respiratory pathogens.”

Islamic terrorist organization Al-Qaeda condemned the normalization of ties between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain Tuesday and issued a call for Muslims to mobilize and overthrow what it called the “toadies of the West,” the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) reports.

Germany has agreed to give $662 million in aid to some 240,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors struggling under the burdens of the coronavirus pandemic, the group involved in the talks said.

A stunning new poll conducted by an Arab-American pollster has found that the people of Saudi Arabia are increasingly receptive to “normalization” of relations with Israel.

The U.S. military carried out a drone strike Thursday, killing two senior Al Qaeda operatives in northwest Syria.

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.