World News

At first sight, things look very different now. When President Xi Jinping of China took pride of place next to Vladimir Putin of Russia on Saturday, they looked like any other modern world leaders: pragmatic men-in-suits, full of smiles, temporary possessors of power rather than dictators-for-life.

NATO countries are staging massive air, land and sea exercises across Russia’s northern borders this month in response to warnings from the Kremlin and strategic analysts that President Vladimir Putin’s threats to use nuclear weapons are more than bluster.

North Korea said on Saturday it had successfully test-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine, a step that would mark significant progress in the secretive state’s military capabilities.

The Obama administration is quietly pushing Sunni Arab allies in the Persian Gulf to create an advanced missile defense system, and is preparing to ramp up sophisticated weapons sales to Saudi Arabia in an effort to ease regional fears over a potential nuclear deal with Iran.

Hezbollah’s leader said on Tuesday his Lebanon-based militant group will launch an attack inside Syria against al-Qaida-linked insurgents in the mountain region along the countries’ border.

A shadowy new pro-government force has been deployed in the embattled Yemeni port city of Aden, according to reports Sunday, sparking speculation that ground troops from the Saudi-led coalition may have joined the battle against Houthi rebels and their allies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ratified an accord Saturday to set up a $100-billion reserve fund for the so-called BRICS — the five leading emerging economies that include Russia, China, Brazil, India and South Africa.

U.S. Navy warships will now accompany U.S.-flagged commercial vessels that pass through the Strait of Hormuz due to concerns that ships from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps navy could try to seize a U.S. cargo ship.

Britain has informed a United Nations sanctions panel of an active Iranian nuclear procurement network linked to two blacklisted firms, according to a confidential report by the panel seen by Reuters.

With the advent of European Central Bank quantitative easing, what began four months ago when 10-year Swiss yields turned negative for the first time has snowballed into a veritable avalanche of negative rates across European government bond markets. In the hunt for apparently “safe assets”, investors have thrown caution to the wind, and collectively determined to pay governments for the privilege of lending to them.

Nearly 1,000 are known to have died in a powerful earthquake in Nepal, with many more feared trapped under rubble.

Rebels led by the Al-Nusra Front have launched a blistering three-pronged offensive aimed at consolidating their Idlib victory and rolling back the regime in northwest Syria.

A U.S. military official said Thursday Iranian cargo ships which may be carrying weapons for Houthi rebels in war-torn Yemen are moving away from that country, VOA News reported.

The Obama administration says Iran is “at most” two to three months away from enriching enough nuclear fuel for an atomic bomb, an estimate that’s been known for years but kept classified until now.

Chinese nuclear experts reportedly warned the U.S. earlier this year that North Korea’s nuclear arsenal is larger than previously estimated, creating a heightened security threat to the U.S. and its East Asian allies.

A fleet of Iranian warships arrived near the southern coast of Yemen on Wednesday in a move likely to add greater tension in a developing U.S.-Iranian standoff in the region, according Iranian military leaders.

The leader of Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been seriously wounded in an air strike in western Iraq, sources have told the Guardian.

Troops from the United States and Ukraine kicked off joint training exercises Monday intended to help bolster Ukraine’s defenses against incursions from Russian-backed separatists in the east.

The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt has moved off the coast of Yemen to prepare to intercept potential shipments of Iranian weapons to the rebels fighting the U.S.-backed government of Yemen.

Iran on Saturday marked Army Day with a military parade featuring new weapons systems, as well as a truck carrying a massive banner reading “Death to Israel”. The televised broadcast of the parade was punctuated by repeated cries of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”, the Times of Israel reported.