ANKARA, Dec 22 (Reuters) – Turkey expects the second phase of a Gaza ceasefire deal to begin early in 2026, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Monday, following talks with U.S., Qatari and Egyptian officials in Miami over the weekend. Speaking at a press conference in Damascus, Fidan said the discussions focused on obstacles to…
BEIJING, Dec 22 (Reuters) – China has lodged a diplomatic complaint with Japan regarding the visit by a high-ranking official of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party to Taiwan, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday. “China is firmly opposed and has lodged solemn representations with the Japanese side,” spokesperson Lin Jian said, urging Japan to…
LONDON, Dec 16 (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has ordered a probe into foreign election interference after a former senior member of Reform UK was jailed for taking bribes to promote Russian interests in the European Parliament, The Times reported on Tuesday. (Reporting by Sarah Young, writing by Sam Tabahriti; editing by William…
BEIJING, Dec 16 (Reuters) – China on Tuesday reiterated its demand that Japan retract Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks about Taiwan, more than a month after Takaichi said an attack on the democratically governed island could be deemed an existential threat to Japan. “On key issues, Japan is still ‘squeezing toothpaste’ and ‘burying nails,’ attempting…
BAKU, Dec 15 (Reuters) – President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan has proposed what could be the biggest prisoner amnesty in his country’s history to mark the “year of the constitution and sovereignty,” the state Azertac news agency reported on Monday. It said the amnesty could affect around 20,000 people. Some would be released from prison,…
Storms battered large portions of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, December 9, bringing “flash floods, hail, and dust-raising downdraft winds,” according to local news reports. Footage from Musab Nader Photography shows heavy rain and thunderstorms slamming the city of Jeddah, on the central western coast of the country. According to the Saudi Gazette, citing the National…
The richest 10 percent of the world’s population now owns three-quarters of all personal wealth, according to the newly released World Inequality Report 2026. Income is not much different, where the top 50 percent of earners take home more than 90 percent, while the poorest half of the world receives less than 10 percent of…