International

The United States, Australia, and Israel were the only UN member states out of 193 to vote against the Palestinian Delegation being able to chair the upcoming Group of 77 meetings on Oct. 16. Fifteen countries, including Canada, Honduras, and Poland, abstained from voting. The remaining 146 countries voted in favor of the action, which will grant […]

The United States says it intends to withdraw from the 192-country Universal Postal Union (UPU), an agency that governs international postal rates, the White House announced on Oct. 17. The yearlong withdrawal process was set in motion via a letter of denunciation served in Switzerland on the same day. During the process, the Trump administration hopes […]

A 6.3 magnitude earthquake, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake, and more than a dozen aftershocks hit near New Caledonia, a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The quake hit at a depth of 6 miles, about 100 miles south of Tadine. And around a half an hour […]

COPENHAGEN—Novo Nordisk is in advanced talks to acquire assets to bolster its struggling biopharma business, its chief executive said on Oct. 14 after the drugmaker announced it had hired an AstraZeneca executive to head the unit. Novo, best known for its diabetes drugs, has been looking for biopharma assets after losing out to French rival […]

BEIRUT/JABER, Jordan—The border crossing between Jordan and Syria opened to people and goods on Oct. 15 after being closed for three years, reopening a route that used to carry billions of dollars of trade for countries across the region. The Nassib crossing opened at 8 a.m., a Jordanian border official said. By 2.30 p.m. Reuters […]

New Zealand media recently revealed the extent of China’s infiltration within the country. In an Oct. 11 report, New Zealand online news website Newsroom uncovered that some government offices were using surveillance cameras developed by Hikvision, whose controlling shareholder belongs to a Chinese state-owned enterprise. Hikvision’s surveillance technology has been employed in the large-scale human […]

“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” star Chow Yun Fat recently revealed to a Hong Kong movie site that he’s planning on giving away his entire fortune, an approximately $714 million net worth, to various charities. According to a website Jayne Stars, Chow has maintained a simple lifestyle by just spending HK$800 per month, which is estimated to […]

President Donald Trump dispatched Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Saudi Arabia on Oct. 15 after speaking with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz, who told the president he has no knowledge of what happened to missing columnist Jamal Khashoggi. “I asked the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to immediately get on a plane, go to […]

A conservative nonprofit is rolling out a $1 million ad campaign on Oct. 14 to push the Congress to approve the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), the new name for the renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The deal includes labor provisions long-sought by Democrats. Combined with Republican support for the president, Congressional approval should be […]

BERLIN—A German bus crashed into a metal post on a highway in southern Switzerland Sunday, leaving one woman dead and another 14 people injured, police said. The bus was heading south with 25 people on board when the accident happened on the A2 highway at Sigirino, near Lugano — along a major route across the […]

Former Hurricane Leslie, which is now a post-tropical cyclone after spending weeks in the Atlantic Ocean, is bringing rain and wind to Spain and Portugal, the BBC reported. More than 15,000 people are without power amid the storm. The remnants of the storm hit the central and northern parts of the Iberian Peninsula, CBS News […]

KATHMANDU—Five South Korean climbers and their four Nepali guides have been killed after their basecamp in the Himalayas was ravaged by a storm, local police and hiking officials said on Sunday. The disaster, which claimed the life of record-breaking Korean climber Kim Chang-ho, is the worst climbing accident to hit the Himalayan nation in two […]

SHANGHAI—Novak Djokovic won a record fourth Shanghai Masters title with a 6-3, 6-4 win over 13th-seeded Borna Coric on Sunday. The second-seeded Djokovic has won all four Shanghai finals he’s contested in his career (2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018). He previously shared the record of winning three Shanghai titles with Andy Murray. Djokovic holds an […]

Turkish officials have audio and visual evidence that missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was tortured and killed inside the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul, according to multiple reports. An unnamed source told CNN that foreign intelligence, which received a briefing on the evidence from Turkish officials, found the material “shocking and disgusting.” Khashoggi, a vocal critic of […]

A Turkish court has ruled for the release of American evangelical Christian pastor Andrew Brunson, after months of spiraling relations between the country and the United States over his incarceration. The ruling passed on Oct. 12 over a 3 year, 1 1/2 month sentence on Brunson, who had been charged with unsubstantiated terrorism offenses by Turkey. The court said […]

The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) is issuing advisories for Hurricane Leslie, Tropical Storm Nadine, Tropical Storm Sergio, and post-tropical storm Michael. Leslie Hurricane Leslie has remained a hurricane with 85 mph winds and is “racing across the eastern Atlantic” Ocean. The storm could bring impacts to Spain and Portugal by the weekend, the NHC […]

BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan—A Russian cosmonaut and a U.S. astronaut were safe on Oct. 11 after a Soyuz rocket bound for the International Space Station failed in mid-air two minutes after liftoff in Kazakhstan, leading to a dramatic emergency landing. The two-man crew, Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin, and American Nick Hague, landed unharmed on the Kazakh […]

Large online platforms including Google, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter have shifted their principles “toward censorship and moderation” from a position of protecting free speech, according to a Google research document leaked to Breitbart. The document, titled “The Good Censor,” argues the platforms have pinned themselves between two incompatible positions: “Create unmediated ‘marketplaces of ideas’” and […]

Mixed martial arts champion and national hero Khabib Nurmagemedov was swarmed by thousands of jubilant fans after returning home to the Russian republic of Dagestan following his Oct. 6 win over the Irish fighter Conor McGregor. Nurmagomedov’s fourth-round submission win at the UFC 229 event in Las Vegas, Nevada, was marred by a ringside brawl sparked […]

LONDON—For Italy’s sovereign debt the timing could hardly be worse: A budget standoff with Brussels is driving the country’s bond yields to new peaks, just as two credit agencies are weighing whether to cut their ratings to within one notch of “junk.” But as markets move to price in chances of the eurozone’s biggest sovereign […]