Amid Syria’s Rebel Offensive, a Geopolitical Cauldron Simmers
Syrian opposition fighters last month. They have made their most significant advance in years against government forces, shaking up a civil war that had long been at a stalemate.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Why Israel and Hezbollah Are Still Firing Amid a Lebanon Cease-Fire
Israeli troops leaving Lebanon on their way back to Israel, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, on Monday.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Biden, in Angola, Warns That Slavery’s History Should Not be Erased
President Biden outside the National Museum of Slavery in Luanda, Angola, on Tuesday.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Syria Fighting Worsens Already Dire Conditions in Idlib and Aleppo
Damage from an airstrike in Idlib, a rebel-held city in northern Syria, on Monday. Russian and Syrian fighter jets have targeted the area in recent days.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
NATO Chief Urges More Weapons for Ukraine Ahead of Any Peace Talks
Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary General, right, with Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, in Brussels on Tuesday.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Italian Sentenced in Killing of Ex-Girlfriend, Giulia Cecchettin
A demonstrator holding a photo of Giulia Cecchettin at a march in Milan last year.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Investigation Into Forced Adoptions From Ukraine Points Finger at Putin
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and his commissioner for children, Maria Lvova-Belova, in a photo released by the Russian state news media in May. The International Criminal Court has issued warrants for their arrest.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Top U.N. Envoy Says Gaza War Followed Years of Weak Diplomacy
Tor Wennesland, the top United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process, says: “Politics failed. Diplomacy failed. The international community failed. And the parties failed.”
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Netanyahu Welcomes Trump’s Demand to Free Hostages Before Inauguration
A makeshift memorial for hostages kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, in Tel Aviv last month.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
China Announces a Ban on Rare Minerals to the U.S.
China, which produces almost all the world’s supply of critical minerals, has been tightening its grip on the materials.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Airbnb ‘Gladiator’ Experience at the Colosseum Prompts Outcry in Rome
The Colosseum in 2020. Some people in Rome feel that gladiator re-enactments in the iconic amphitheater would be in poor taste.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
An Indigenous Group in Quebec Tries to Keep the Caribou Alive
Jean-Luc Kanapé’s fiberglass replica of a woodland caribou.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Namibia Elects Its First Woman President as Ruling Party Keeps Power
Supporters of Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah during a campaign rally in Windhoek, Namibia, last month.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Wednesday Briefing: A Brief Martial Law in South Korea
Outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, yesterday.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Martial Law in South Korea Tests Biden and a Key U.S. Alliance
President Biden has put a special emphasis on South Korea, and invited President Yoon Suk Yeol to the White House last year.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Who Is Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korea’s President?
Yoon Suk Yeol, the president of South Korea, in Seoul in 2022.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Why Was Martial Law Declared in South Korea?
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol during a press briefing on Tuesday at the presidential office in Seoul.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Chaos Plays Out at South Korea’s Legislature Building After Declaration of Martial Law
A barricade made of chairs and cushions at the National Assembly in Seoul on Tuesday.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
3 Climbers From the U.S. and Canada Have Gone Missing on New Zealand’s Highest Mountain
Mount Cook, also known as Aoraki, is the highest mountain in New Zealand.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Tuesday Briefing
A Russian airstrike hit Idlib in northern Syria yesterday.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
France’s Prime Minister Could Be Forced to Resign This Week. Here’s What Could Happen Next.
Prime Minister Michel Barnier of France could face a no-confidence vote as soon as Wednesday, which, if it passes. would force him to resign.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Tuesday Briefing: A Presidential Pardon
President Biden, left, and his son Hunter.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
5 Women Win Reparations From Belgium for Crimes Under Colonial Rule
From left, Noelle Verbeken, Léa Tavares Mujinga and Simone Ngalula, three of the five women who sued the Belgian state for acts committed under colonial rule in Congo, in Brussels in 2021.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Trump Says There Will Be ‘Hell to Pay’ Unless Hostages in Gaza Are Released
Images of hostage abducted to Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, were displayed in Tel Aviv in February.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Maternity Leave and Ongoing Consent: New Rights for Belgium’s Sex Workers
A bedroom in a brothel in the red light district of Ghent, Belgium.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Hezbollah and Israel Trade Fire, Further Testing Cease-Fire
Israeli soldiers patrolling near the Lebanese border in Avivim, Israel, on Monday.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Who Is Massad Boulos, the Lebanese American Tycoon and Trump Adviser?
Massad Boulos, who was named as President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick for senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs, spoke to The New York Times in Detroit in October.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
French Government Faces No-Confidence Vote Over Budget Bill
Prime Minister Michel Barnier, center, at the Parliament in Paris last month.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Who Are the Syrian Rebels Who Seized Aleppo?
A fighter from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham at a frontline base in Maaret al-Naasan, Syria, in 2021. For several years, the group focused on securing and governing the area it held.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Russia and Iran Pledge Support for Syria’s al-Assad Against Advancing Rebels
The aftermath of an airstrike that targeted Syria’s rebel-held northern city of Idlib on Monday.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Germany Pledges Fast Military Aid to Ukraine in Effort to Reassure
Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, left, and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine visited a makeshift memorial in Kyiv on Monday.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Omer Neutra, Thought to Be Hostage in Gaza, Died on Oct. 7, IDF Says
Family members of Omer Neutra, a dual American-Israeli citizen who was in the Israeli military and was believed to be held alive in Gaza, at a vigil in New York City in September.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
U.N. Suspends Aid Deliveries to Gaza via Kerem Shalom Crossing
Aid is distributed by UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, in Nuseirat, Gaza, in early November.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Biden Arrives in Angola on His Only Trip as President to Sub-Saharan Africa
President Biden in Cape Verde on Monday. While Air Force One was refueled, he met in an airport lounge with the island nation’s prime minister.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Centrist Party Edges Out Far-Right Challengers in Romania
Voting in Mogosoaia, Romania, on Sunday. The parliamentary election came a week after a presidential vote in which a far-right candidate took a surprise first-round lead.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
What Can the World’s Top Court Do About Climate Change?
Mexico’s Valle de Bravo reservoir this year. The court has been asked what obligations governments have to protect the world’s climate system.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Tensions Rise Among Russia’s Elite as Economic Growth Slows
An ad at a bus stop showing a Russian soldier and the slogan “Be strong, faithful, courageous” in front of Moscow’s business district in November.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Biden Visits Angola to Promote Lobito Corridor and Counter China
A Chinese construction site in Luanda, the capital of Angola. China has been one of the biggest investors in the country.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
A North Korean Voice That Kim Jong-un Would Like to Silence
Kim Seongmin, president of Free North Korea Radio, editing content for the station at his home in November. He has cancer and was recently told he has months to live.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Monday Briefing
Until Sunday night, President Biden had said that he would not pardon or commute the sentence of his son Hunter.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Syria’s Rebels Struck When Assad’s Allies Were Weakened and Distracted
Opposition fighters loading ammunition onto a truck in northwestern Syria on Sunday.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Monday Briefing: Rebels Advance in Syria
Anti-regime fighters near a road leading to Hama province.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Stowaway on Flight to Paris Disrupts a Return Flight to New York
The stowaway passenger who was caught on a Delta flight from New York to Paris days earlier was removed from a Paris to New York flight, also on Delta, after creating a disturbance on Saturday.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Ireland’s Main Parties Edge Out Sinn Féin, Early Election Results Show
In Dublin and the rest of Ireland, economic concerns and anxiety about immigration were top electoral issues.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Nations Fail to Reach an Agreement on Plastic Pollution
The world produces nearly a half-billion tons of plastic each year, more than twice the amount produced two decades ago.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Former Defense Minister Accuses Israel of Committing War Crimes in Gaza
Moshe Yaalon, left, who was the Israeli defense minister from 2013 to 2016, with Benny Gantz, who later held that role, in Tel Aviv in 2019.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Protesters in Tbilisi Clash With Georgian Police
The police used water cannons and tear gas on Sunday in Tbilisi, Georgia, during a rally outside the Parliament building prompted by the government’s move to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
Syria Rebels Take Aleppo Airport and Attack Hama, Officials and a Monitor Say
Rebel fighters with an abandoned Syrian government tank in the east of Aleppo Province on Sunday.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024
A Power Vacuum in Gaza Could Empower Warlords and Gangs
A picture taken during a tour organized by the Israeli Army shows a Palestinian truck arriving Saturday to pick up aid destined for the Gaza Strip from a drop-off area near the Kerem Shalom crossing.
Posted by
Thomas
on December 2024