World News

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to depart on a tour of the Middle East next week in a bid to galvanize regional leaders to confront Iran and remind allies that the United States is not disappearing from region amid the Trump administration’s decision to pull American troops out of Syria and possibly Afghanistan, according to senior State Department officials.

Russia is deploying long-range, precision cruise missiles to the western Atlantic that American defense officials say will allow Moscow to target Washington and other East Coast cities with conventional or nuclear attacks.

Following the decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria, National Security Adviser John Bolton reportedly cautioned the Syrian government on Saturday that the drawdown should not be viewed as an opening to use chemical weapons.

The United States issued a pre-emptive warning to Iran on Thursday against pursuing three planned space rocket launches that it said would violate a U.N. Security Council resolution because they use ballistic missile technology.

China and the U.S. will commence trade talks in Beijing early next week as both countries work to put an end to yearlong trade tensions that have left global markets unstable, according to a report published late Thursday.

The United Nations’ envoy for Yemen is heading to the region this weekend to talk with government and rebel leaders as international efforts aimed at ending Yemen’s civil war continue.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States would get out of Syria slowly ‘over a period of time’ and would protect the U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in the country as Washington draws down troops.

Anxiety over water is growing in Egypt as Ethiopian leaders press forward with plans to build a massive dam that officials here fear will block the flow of the Blue Nile.

President Trump claimed Monday that he never said the U.S. would ‘rush out’ of Syria despite reporting that indicated he had ordered a rapid withdrawal.

Taiwan independence would lead to ‘disaster’, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday, pledging efforts for peaceful ‘reunification’ with the self-ruled island but warning China would not renounce the use of force.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Tuesday that he is prepared to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at any time, but warned that he would pursue an alternative course if Washington kept up sanctions on Pyongyang.

Iran has denounced plans by Brazil’s newly elected president to move its embassy to Jerusalem.

A Fars Air Qeshm cargo 747 airliner left Tehran at 8 a.m. on Sunday and landed in Damascus at 10:30 a.m., returning to Tehran at 5 p.m. The 747 allegedly transported weapons to Hezbollah in September, according to a report from Fox News that was based on Western intelligence assessments. The aircraft also made suspicious flights in July and August to Damascus and Beirut.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent a letter to South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Sunday calling for more peace talks between the leaders in the new year following their active engagement in 2018, South Korea’s presidential office said.

President Donald Trump reported ‘big progress’ in trade talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, providing an optimistic start to what could be a make-or-break year for ties between the world’s two largest economies.

A week after President Trump’s surprising announcement that he was withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria, the U.S. military is drafting a withdrawal plan that could have U.S. troops leaving over several months, according to U.S. officials, who stressed that no final decisions have been made about the planned pace of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria.

Seven years after Germany scrapped conscription, its defense chief has said employing EU citizens is ‘an option’ to fill expert posts.

Moscow has reportedly begun testing an underwater nuclear weapon that has been touted as invincible by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

European Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said on Thursday there is still a chance that Britain’s parliament will vote in favor of the Brexit agreement in January and that there was no public support for a disorderly Brexit or another referendum.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday his army would deploy a new hypersonic nuclear-capable missile system next year, upping the ante in a high-tech arms race with the U.S.