World

US Pressures NATO to Seal Deal on Ramping Up Defense Spending
US Pressures NATO to Seal Deal on Ramping Up Defense Spending

US defense chief Pete Hegseth on Thursday pushed NATO to agree to a deal on ramping up defense spending that can satisfy President Donald Trump at a summit later this month. The volatile US leader has demanded that alliance members agree to boost defense budgets to five percent of their GDP at the June 24-25 meeting in The Netherlands. NATO ...

Trump Orders Inquiry Into 'Conspiracy' to Hide Biden's Health Decline
Trump Orders Inquiry Into 'Conspiracy' to Hide Biden's Health Decline

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered an investigation into what Republicans claim was a "conspiracy" to cover up Joe Biden's declining cognitive health during his time in the White House. The move, which was slammed by Biden, is the latest in a long-running campaign by Trump -- with the backing of Republican Party politicians and their ...

Trump Slaps New Travel Ban on 12 Countries
Trump Slaps New Travel Ban on 12 Countries

US President Donald Trump signed a new travel ban Wednesday targeting 12 countries including Afghanistan, Iran and Yemen, reviving one of the most controversial measures from his first term. Trump said the measure was spurred by a makeshift flamethrower attack on a Jewish protest in Colorado that US authorities blamed on an man they said was in ...

US Blocks Gaza Ceasefire Resolution at UN Security Council
US Blocks Gaza Ceasefire Resolution at UN Security Council

The United States vetoed Wednesday a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian access in Gaza, which Washington claimed undermined ongoing diplomacy to resolve the conflict. It was the 15-member body's first vote on the situation since November, when the United States -- a key Israeli ally -- also ...

Syria Monitor Says 13 Alawites Killed by Security Forces
Syria Monitor Says 13 Alawites Killed by Security Forces

Syrian forces shot dead eight members of the Alawite minority at a checkpoint on Wednesday, a war monitor said, after reporting that five men were found dead following their detention. Since the fall of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, the Alawite community which the deposed president hails from has been the target of many attacks, ...

Trump Says Deal with Xi 'Extremely Hard' as Steel Tariffs Double
Trump Says Deal with Xi 'Extremely Hard' as Steel Tariffs Double

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday it is "extremely hard" to reach a deal with China over a trade impasse that has roiled global markets, while his doubling of metal tariffs fueled tensions with key partners. Trump's latest salvos came as ministers from Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries ...

Trump Says Putin Plans to Retaliate after Ukraine Drone Strikes
Trump Says Putin Plans to Retaliate after Ukraine Drone Strikes

Donald Trump says Vladimir Putin warned him "very strongly" in a call Wednesday that he would respond to Ukraine's stunning attack on Russian airfields, adding that any immediate prospect of peace remained far off. Kyiv's daring mass drone strikes on Sunday destroyed several nuclear-capable bombers worth billions of dollars and ...

Trump Accuses Iran of 'Slow-walking' as Khamenei Opposes Nuclear Proposal
Trump Accuses Iran of 'Slow-walking' as Khamenei Opposes Nuclear Proposal

US President Donald Trump accused Tehran on Wednesday of "slow-walking" on a nuclear deal after Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the latest proposal from Washington was against the national interest. The longtime foes have held five rounds of talks since April to thrash out a new accord to replace the deal with ...

Syria Says Seized All Captagon Factories
Syria Says Seized All Captagon Factories

Syrian Interior Minister Anas Khattab said Wednesday that authorities had seized all production facilities of illicit stimulant captagon, which became Syria's largest export under ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad. In an interview with state television, Khattab said that "we were able to stop the production of this drug and seize all the materials and ...

Putin Says Ukraine Wants Ceasefire to Rearm and Mobilize
Putin Says Ukraine Wants Ceasefire to Rearm and Mobilize

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday appeared to rule out a full ceasefire in Ukraine, saying that Kyiv would use any pause in the fighting to rearm. Ukraine has been pushing for an unconditional and immediate 30-day truce, issuing its latest proposal to Moscow at peace talks in Istanbul on Monday. "Why reward them by giving them a ...

Syria Monitor Says Five Alawites Found Dead after Detention
Syria Monitor Says Five Alawites Found Dead after Detention

Five men from Syria's Alawite minority were found dead in a hospital two days after being detained by security forces, a war monitor said Wednesday, alleging they had been "summarily executed." Since the fall of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, the Alawite community, which he hails from, has been the target of many attacks, including ...