The U.S. government has decided to withdraw some staff from its embassy in Baghdad through the final weeks of the Trump administration, officials say, as tensions rise throughout the region.
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United States
News
December 3, 2020
President Trump is headed toward a veto showdown with Congress, as the White House doubles down on Trump’s promise to scuttle a $740 billion defense bill unless it opens the door for new, unrelated sanctions against Silicon Valley—his second threat to kill the must-pass legislation.
The Trump administration Wednesday issued new rules to curtail travel to the United States by members of the Chinese Communist Party and their immediate families, a move certain to further exacerbate tensions between the two countries.
The Pentagon has approved drawdown plans in Afghanistan that will still keep two larger bases in the country as officials carry out President Donald Trump’s orders to slash troop levels to 2,500 by Jan. 15, the top U.S. general said Wednesday.
More from WPR: How Biden Could Clean Up a Mess in Afghanistan That Predates Trump
More from WPR: How Biden Could Clean Up a Mess in Afghanistan That Predates Trump
Opinion
December 3, 2020
The goal would be to renew faith in our government, but its effect would be the opposite.
News
December 2, 2020
A United Nations commission voted Wednesday to remove cannabis for medicinal purposes from a category of the world’s most dangerous drugs, a highly anticipated and long-delayed decision that could clear the way for an expansion of marijuana research and medical use.
The enormous Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico collapsed unexpectedly Tuesday morning, the National Science Foundation said, like a helpless spent giant in a splash of metal and wire. Officials said a 900-ton platform of girders and radio receivers suspended from mountaintop towers crashed into a 1,000-foot dish nestled in a valley below.
The civilian official overseeing the Pentagon’s campaign to defeat the Islamic State group in the Middle East was forced to resign in the latest jolt to Pentagon leadership in the waning weeks of the Trump administration.
Opinion
December 2, 2020
Backsliding undercuts the cohesion of NATO at a time when conflicts around the world are heating up.
Africa
News
December 3, 2020
Africa’s top public health official says 60 percent of the continent’s population needs to be vaccinated against the coronavirus in the next two to three years.
Ugandan opposition presidential hopeful and musician Bobi Wine said Wednesday he would resume his campaign after suspending it in protest over police brutality.
More from WPR: Bobi Wine Sparked a Movement in Uganda. Its Supporters Want a Revolution
More from WPR: Bobi Wine Sparked a Movement in Uganda. Its Supporters Want a Revolution
Implementation of South Sudan’s 2018 peace accord has stalled and authorities have blocked humanitarian access to areas where conflict has restarted, the U.N. panel of experts said in a report seen by Reuters on Thursday.
More from WPR: South Sudan’s Unity Government Struggles to Silence the Guns
More from WPR: South Sudan’s Unity Government Struggles to Silence the Guns
Four Ethiopian aid workers employed by two separate foreign organizations were killed in Tigray near the border with Eritrea last month during a war in the northern region, a humanitarian and a diplomatic source said Wednesday.
More from WPR: Ethiopia’s Abiy Is on the Brink of a Widening War in the Horn of Africa
More from WPR: Ethiopia’s Abiy Is on the Brink of a Widening War in the Horn of Africa
Opinion
December 3, 2020
Amid shifting dynamics in the Horn of Africa, South Sudan finds itself caught in the middle of regional rivalries.
News
December 2, 2020
Bobi Wine, the Ugandan singer and presidential candidate, suspended his campaign Tuesday after members of his campaign team were injured and his car shot at during clashes between security personnel and his supporters.
More from WPR: Bobi Wine Sparked a Movement in Uganda. Its Supporters Want a Revolution
More from WPR: Bobi Wine Sparked a Movement in Uganda. Its Supporters Want a Revolution
In a breakthrough a month after deadly conflict cut off Ethiopia’s Tigray region from the world, the United Nations on Wednesday said it and the Ethiopian government have signed a deal to allow “unimpeded” humanitarian access, at least for areas under federal government control after the prime minister’s declaration of victory over the weekend.
More from WPR: Ethiopia’s Abiy Is on the Brink of a Widening War in the Horn of Africa
More from WPR: Ethiopia’s Abiy Is on the Brink of a Widening War in the Horn of Africa
The trial of a former Liberian commander accused of rape, pillage, assassinations, and an act of cannibalism opens in Switzerland this week.
Opinion
December 2, 2020
It is an Africa-wide trend.
More from WPR: Tanzania’s Magufuli Claims Victory in an Election Marred by Fraud and Violence
More from WPR: Tanzania’s Magufuli Claims Victory in an Election Marred by Fraud and Violence
The Americas
News
December 3, 2020
The leadership of a broad coalition of Western Hemisphere nations Wednesday accused the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor of failing to take swift action on allegations that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government committed crimes against humanity.
Iran has sent arms and dispatched paramilitary operatives to help Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro maintain his hold on power, the top U.S. military commander for Central and South America said Wednesday.
Venezuela’s opposition is discussing scaling back the interim government of opposition leader Juan Guaido that has won diplomatic recognition by dozens of countries that disavowed President Nicolas Maduro, nine legislators told Reuters.
More from WPR: Ahead of Elections, Venezuela’s Divided Opposition Is at a Dead End
More from WPR: Ahead of Elections, Venezuela’s Divided Opposition Is at a Dead End
Opinion
December 3, 2020
If Biden gets the response right, he could put the region on better footing for years to come.
News
December 2, 2020
A large gang of heavily armed bank robbers invaded the Brazilian city of Cameta just one day after a similar force struck another mid-sized city on the opposite side of the country, taking residents hostage as they looted a bank.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office two years ago promising to transform Mexico, but he acknowledged Tuesday that some pledges have been hard to keep.
Opinion
December 2, 2020
Fatally estranged from the public, the government has shown it can’t reform itself.
Asia-Pacific
News
December 3, 2020
Afghan government and Taliban negotiators in Qatar have agreed to the principles and procedures that will guide the ongoing peace negotiations between them, Taliban and Afghan officials announced Wednesday, an important move that could pave the way for talks that have been hobbled by disagreements for more than two months.
More from WPR: Can the Taliban Be Part of a Lasting Peace in Afghanistan?
More from WPR: Can the Taliban Be Part of a Lasting Peace in Afghanistan?
Jimmy Lai, the founder of Hong Kong’s biggest pro-democracy newspaper, was denied bail on fraud charges Thursday and ordered jailed until April by a court.
More from WPR: Hong Kong’s Darkening Future, Through the Eyes of Unbowed Protesters
More from WPR: Hong Kong’s Darkening Future, Through the Eyes of Unbowed Protesters
Australia’s parliament Thursday passed legislation giving the federal government power to veto any agreement struck with foreign states, a move likely to anger China and intensify a bitter diplomatic spat between the two countries.
A landmark sexual harassment lawsuit in China has reached an impasse after one of the country’s most prominent television personalities refused to face his accuser in court.
Opinion
December 3, 2020
Competition is the key to U.S. renewal.
More from WPR: Can Biden Really Bring America ‘Back’ After Trump?
More from WPR: Can Biden Really Bring America ‘Back’ After Trump?
News
December 2, 2020
Japan’s government has lodged a protest after Russia’s military deployed a number of its new S-300V4 missile defense systems for combat duty on a disputed chain of islands near Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said Wednesday.
North Korean hackers have targeted at least six pharmaceutical companies in the U.S., the U.K. and South Korea working on COVID-19 treatments, according to people familiar with the matter, as the regime seeks sensitive information it could sell or weaponize.
Afghan government and Taliban representatives said Wednesday they had reached a preliminary deal to press on with peace talks, their first written agreement in 19 years of war and welcomed by the United Nations and Washington.
More from WPR: Can the Taliban Be Part of a Lasting Peace in Afghanistan?
More from WPR: Can the Taliban Be Part of a Lasting Peace in Afghanistan?
A court Wednesday sentenced Hong Kong democracy activists Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam to between seven and 13½ months in prison for organizing and taking part in an unauthorized protest, as China seeks to eradicate dissent in the city.
More from WPR: Hong Kong’s Darkening Future, Through the Eyes of Unbowed Protesters
More from WPR: Hong Kong’s Darkening Future, Through the Eyes of Unbowed Protesters
A Chinese woman who filed a sexual misconduct lawsuit against a TV host told cheering supporters at a courthouse Wednesday that she hopes her case will encourage victims of gender violence in a system that gives them few options to pursue complaints.
Europe
News
December 3, 2020
France will Thursday start investigating dozens of mosques suspected of fomenting Islamist ideology to combat the rising threat of religious extremism, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.
More from WPR: In France, Teachers Tasked With Fighting Radicalization Face an Impossible Job
More from WPR: In France, Teachers Tasked With Fighting Radicalization Face an Impossible Job
Polish politicians should stop stigmatizing LGBTI people, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights said in a memorandum published Thursday, adding that such behaviour risked legitimizing homophobic violence.
More from WPR: Rising Anti-LGBTQ Sentiment Is Isolating Poland’s Small Towns
More from WPR: Rising Anti-LGBTQ Sentiment Is Isolating Poland’s Small Towns
Valery Giscard d’Estaing, the former French president who worked for three decades to modernize his country’s institutions and create a centralized government for Europe—only to be voted out of office by a resentful nation and disappointed by the weaker European Union that emerged from his efforts—died Dec. 2 at his home in Authon, in central France. He was 94.
France’s president said Wednesday a fund will be set up to ensure aid is channelled directly to the Lebanese people, but warned that without a credible new government there would be no international bailout to save the beleaguered country.
More from WPR: With Little Hope for Reform, Lebanon Continues Down the Road to Ruin
More from WPR: With Little Hope for Reform, Lebanon Continues Down the Road to Ruin
Opinion
December 3, 2020
New government measures aim to combat violent extremism.
News
December 2, 2020
Britain became the first country to grant emergency approval Wednesday to the coronavirus vaccine developed by the Pfizer and BioNTech, smashing all speed records to see a potentially lifesaving shot invented, tested and approved in less than a year.
Much of England will swap lockdown for less stringent coronavirus restrictions, after Parliament approved new rules Tuesday despite a substantial revolt among lawmakers in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party.
A senior conservative Hungarian politician abruptly announced his resignation from the European Parliament after the police broke up a party he attended in Brussels because it violated coronavirus restrictions.
Sweden’s public health agency has made another policy U-turn, bowing to critics who have argued it has underestimated the potential for asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19.
More from WPR: The ‘Swedish Model’ Is a Failure, Not a Panacea
More from WPR: The ‘Swedish Model’ Is a Failure, Not a Panacea
Middle East & North Africa
News
December 3, 2020
Iran responded Wednesday to the assassination of its top nuclear scientist by enacting a law ordering an immediate ramping up of its enrichment of uranium to levels closer to weapons-grade fuel.
More from WPR: RIP JCPOA: Why the Iran Nuclear Deal Won’t Be Revived
More from WPR: RIP JCPOA: Why the Iran Nuclear Deal Won’t Be Revived
Bahrain’s imports from Israel will not be subject to distinctions between products made within Israel and those from settlements in occupied territory, the Bahraini trade minister said Thursday, drawing a rebuke from the Palestinians.
More from WPR: Are More Gulf States About to Normalize Ties With Israel?
More from WPR: Are More Gulf States About to Normalize Ties With Israel?
Israel received its most advanced warship Wednesday, describing the German-made vessel dubbed “Shield” as a bulwark for vulnerable Mediterranean gas rigs as tensions with Tehran soar over the assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist.
Opinion
December 3, 2020
All significant actors in the Middle East are invested in the paramilitarism they want Iran to renounce.
News
December 2, 2020
Israel threatened to descend into political chaos once again Wednesday when parliamentarians approved a preliminary measure to dissolve the turbulent coalition government, putting the country on a path to its fourth election in two years.
Iran’s parliament has approved plans to dramatically increase its nuclear enrichment program in contravention of its agreement with global powers as the Islamic regime reels from the aftermath of the assassination of the mastermind of its alleged military program.
More from WPR: RIP JCPOA: Why the Iran Nuclear Deal Won’t Be Revived
More from WPR: RIP JCPOA: Why the Iran Nuclear Deal Won’t Be Revived
Israel handed over a backlog of billions of shekels in tax money to the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday, both sides said, in another sign of warming ties between the sides after the U.S. presidential election victory of Joe Biden.
At least 11 children, including a 1-month-old, were killed in Yemen in two separate attacks in the past three days, the United Nations children’s agency said Tuesday.
Opinion
December 2, 2020
The killing of a top nuclear scientist has unsettled Tehran, but it’s still talking about a new deal with the United States.
United States
News
December 3, 2020
The U.S. government has decided to withdraw some staff from its embassy in Baghdad through the final weeks of the Trump administration, officials say, as tensions rise throughout the region.
President Trump is headed toward a veto showdown with Congress, as the White House doubles down on Trump’s promise to scuttle a $740 billion defense bill unless it opens the door for new, unrelated sanctions against Silicon Valley—his second threat to kill the must-pass legislation.
The Trump administration Wednesday issued new rules to curtail travel to the United States by members of the Chinese Communist Party and their immediate families, a move certain to further exacerbate tensions between the two countries.
The Pentagon has approved drawdown plans in Afghanistan that will still keep two larger bases in the country as officials carry out President Donald Trump’s orders to slash troop levels to 2,500 by Jan. 15, the top U.S. general said Wednesday.
More from WPR: How Biden Could Clean Up a Mess in Afghanistan That Predates Trump
More from WPR: How Biden Could Clean Up a Mess in Afghanistan That Predates Trump
Opinion
December 3, 2020
The goal would be to renew faith in our government, but its effect would be the opposite.
If Biden gets the response right, he could put the region on better footing for years to come.
All significant actors in the Middle East are invested in the paramilitarism they want Iran to renounce.
Competition is the key to U.S. renewal.
More from WPR: Can Biden Really Bring America ‘Back’ After Trump?
More from WPR: Can Biden Really Bring America ‘Back’ After Trump?
News
December 2, 2020
A United Nations commission voted Wednesday to remove cannabis for medicinal purposes from a category of the world’s most dangerous drugs, a highly anticipated and long-delayed decision that could clear the way for an expansion of marijuana research and medical use.
The enormous Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico collapsed unexpectedly Tuesday morning, the National Science Foundation said, like a helpless spent giant in a splash of metal and wire. Officials said a 900-ton platform of girders and radio receivers suspended from mountaintop towers crashed into a 1,000-foot dish nestled in a valley below.
The civilian official overseeing the Pentagon’s campaign to defeat the Islamic State group in the Middle East was forced to resign in the latest jolt to Pentagon leadership in the waning weeks of the Trump administration.
Opinion
December 2, 2020
Backsliding undercuts the cohesion of NATO at a time when conflicts around the world are heating up.
The killing of a top nuclear scientist has unsettled Tehran, but it’s still talking about a new deal with the United States.
The Americas
News
December 3, 2020
The leadership of a broad coalition of Western Hemisphere nations Wednesday accused the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor of failing to take swift action on allegations that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government committed crimes against humanity.
Iran has sent arms and dispatched paramilitary operatives to help Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro maintain his hold on power, the top U.S. military commander for Central and South America said Wednesday.
Venezuela’s opposition is discussing scaling back the interim government of opposition leader Juan Guaido that has won diplomatic recognition by dozens of countries that disavowed President Nicolas Maduro, nine legislators told Reuters.
More from WPR: Ahead of Elections, Venezuela’s Divided Opposition Is at a Dead End
More from WPR: Ahead of Elections, Venezuela’s Divided Opposition Is at a Dead End
Opinion
December 3, 2020
If Biden gets the response right, he could put the region on better footing for years to come.
News
December 2, 2020
A large gang of heavily armed bank robbers invaded the Brazilian city of Cameta just one day after a similar force struck another mid-sized city on the opposite side of the country, taking residents hostage as they looted a bank.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office two years ago promising to transform Mexico, but he acknowledged Tuesday that some pledges have been hard to keep.
Opinion
December 2, 2020
Fatally estranged from the public, the government has shown it can’t reform itself.
Europe
News
December 3, 2020
France will Thursday start investigating dozens of mosques suspected of fomenting Islamist ideology to combat the rising threat of religious extremism, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.
More from WPR: In France, Teachers Tasked With Fighting Radicalization Face an Impossible Job
More from WPR: In France, Teachers Tasked With Fighting Radicalization Face an Impossible Job
Polish politicians should stop stigmatizing LGBTI people, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights said in a memorandum published Thursday, adding that such behaviour risked legitimizing homophobic violence.
More from WPR: Rising Anti-LGBTQ Sentiment Is Isolating Poland’s Small Towns
More from WPR: Rising Anti-LGBTQ Sentiment Is Isolating Poland’s Small Towns
Valery Giscard d’Estaing, the former French president who worked for three decades to modernize his country’s institutions and create a centralized government for Europe—only to be voted out of office by a resentful nation and disappointed by the weaker European Union that emerged from his efforts—died Dec. 2 at his home in Authon, in central France. He was 94.
France’s president said Wednesday a fund will be set up to ensure aid is channelled directly to the Lebanese people, but warned that without a credible new government there would be no international bailout to save the beleaguered country.
More from WPR: With Little Hope for Reform, Lebanon Continues Down the Road to Ruin
More from WPR: With Little Hope for Reform, Lebanon Continues Down the Road to Ruin
Opinion
December 3, 2020
New government measures aim to combat violent extremism.
News
December 2, 2020
A United Nations commission voted Wednesday to remove cannabis for medicinal purposes from a category of the world’s most dangerous drugs, a highly anticipated and long-delayed decision that could clear the way for an expansion of marijuana research and medical use.
Britain became the first country to grant emergency approval Wednesday to the coronavirus vaccine developed by the Pfizer and BioNTech, smashing all speed records to see a potentially lifesaving shot invented, tested and approved in less than a year.
Much of England will swap lockdown for less stringent coronavirus restrictions, after Parliament approved new rules Tuesday despite a substantial revolt among lawmakers in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party.
A senior conservative Hungarian politician abruptly announced his resignation from the European Parliament after the police broke up a party he attended in Brussels because it violated coronavirus restrictions.
Sweden’s public health agency has made another policy U-turn, bowing to critics who have argued it has underestimated the potential for asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19.
More from WPR: The ‘Swedish Model’ Is a Failure, Not a Panacea
More from WPR: The ‘Swedish Model’ Is a Failure, Not a Panacea
Japan’s government has lodged a protest after Russia’s military deployed a number of its new S-300V4 missile defense systems for combat duty on a disputed chain of islands near Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said Wednesday.
Opinion
December 2, 2020
Backsliding undercuts the cohesion of NATO at a time when conflicts around the world are heating up.
News
December 1, 2020
French lawmakers will completely rewrite a legislative provision restricting the sharing of images of police officers that was pushed by the government but has faced fierce opposition over the past week, a top official in President Emmanuel Macron’s party announced Monday, in an effort to defuse a mounting crisis over the measure.
Pfizer Inc. partner BioNTech and U.S. drugmaker Moderna Inc. both applied for their coronavirus vaccines to be approved in the European Union, the EU’s chief medicines regulator said Tuesday, with officials expected to make a decision on at least one of the vaccines by the end of the month.
Police found a crossbow, machete, knives and Nazi symbols in early-morning raids Tuesday after banning a far-right extremist group called “Wolf Brigade 44” which the government says wants a Nazi state.
The iron-fisted tactics used against Georgia and Ukraine seem to have fallen out of favor, replaced by a more subtle blend of soft power and an implicit military threat.
More from WPR: A Fragile Peace in Nagorno-Karabakh Leaves Russia and Turkey in Charge—For Now
More from WPR: A Fragile Peace in Nagorno-Karabakh Leaves Russia and Turkey in Charge—For Now
A high-level look at NATO’s next 10 years recommends significant changes to confront the new challenges of an aggressive Russia and a rising China, urging overhauls to fortify the alliance’s cohesion and to better coordinate with democratic allies around the world.
Opinion
December 1, 2020
Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” campaign recalls one of the most disastrous political lies of the 20th century.
Africa
News
December 3, 2020
Africa’s top public health official says 60 percent of the continent’s population needs to be vaccinated against the coronavirus in the next two to three years.
Ugandan opposition presidential hopeful and musician Bobi Wine said Wednesday he would resume his campaign after suspending it in protest over police brutality.
More from WPR: Bobi Wine Sparked a Movement in Uganda. Its Supporters Want a Revolution
More from WPR: Bobi Wine Sparked a Movement in Uganda. Its Supporters Want a Revolution
Implementation of South Sudan’s 2018 peace accord has stalled and authorities have blocked humanitarian access to areas where conflict has restarted, the U.N. panel of experts said in a report seen by Reuters on Thursday.
More from WPR: South Sudan’s Unity Government Struggles to Silence the Guns
More from WPR: South Sudan’s Unity Government Struggles to Silence the Guns
Four Ethiopian aid workers employed by two separate foreign organizations were killed in Tigray near the border with Eritrea last month during a war in the northern region, a humanitarian and a diplomatic source said Wednesday.
More from WPR: Ethiopia’s Abiy Is on the Brink of a Widening War in the Horn of Africa
More from WPR: Ethiopia’s Abiy Is on the Brink of a Widening War in the Horn of Africa
Opinion
December 3, 2020
Amid shifting dynamics in the Horn of Africa, South Sudan finds itself caught in the middle of regional rivalries.
News
December 2, 2020
Bobi Wine, the Ugandan singer and presidential candidate, suspended his campaign Tuesday after members of his campaign team were injured and his car shot at during clashes between security personnel and his supporters.
More from WPR: Bobi Wine Sparked a Movement in Uganda. Its Supporters Want a Revolution
More from WPR: Bobi Wine Sparked a Movement in Uganda. Its Supporters Want a Revolution
In a breakthrough a month after deadly conflict cut off Ethiopia’s Tigray region from the world, the United Nations on Wednesday said it and the Ethiopian government have signed a deal to allow “unimpeded” humanitarian access, at least for areas under federal government control after the prime minister’s declaration of victory over the weekend.
More from WPR: Ethiopia’s Abiy Is on the Brink of a Widening War in the Horn of Africa
More from WPR: Ethiopia’s Abiy Is on the Brink of a Widening War in the Horn of Africa
The trial of a former Liberian commander accused of rape, pillage, assassinations, and an act of cannibalism opens in Switzerland this week.
Opinion
December 2, 2020
It is an Africa-wide trend.
More from WPR: Tanzania’s Magufuli Claims Victory in an Election Marred by Fraud and Violence
More from WPR: Tanzania’s Magufuli Claims Victory in an Election Marred by Fraud and Violence
News
December 1, 2020
Three military bases housing foreign forces in northern Mali have come under separate attacks within the space of a few hours, according to officials.
The United Nations says food has now run out for the nearly 100,000 refugees from Eritrea who have been sheltering in camps in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, which has been cut off from the world for nearly a month amid fighting.
More from WPR: Ethiopia’s Tigray Conflict Triggers a New Refugee Crisis
More from WPR: Ethiopia’s Tigray Conflict Triggers a New Refugee Crisis
Opinion
December 1, 2020
Liberia’s elections next week will be a referendum on the ruling party.
The government has so far done little, but there are several steps it can take to deal with the nexus of floods, droughts and conflict.
Middle East & North Africa
News
December 3, 2020
The U.S. government has decided to withdraw some staff from its embassy in Baghdad through the final weeks of the Trump administration, officials say, as tensions rise throughout the region.
Iran has sent arms and dispatched paramilitary operatives to help Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro maintain his hold on power, the top U.S. military commander for Central and South America said Wednesday.
France’s president said Wednesday a fund will be set up to ensure aid is channelled directly to the Lebanese people, but warned that without a credible new government there would be no international bailout to save the beleaguered country.
More from WPR: With Little Hope for Reform, Lebanon Continues Down the Road to Ruin
More from WPR: With Little Hope for Reform, Lebanon Continues Down the Road to Ruin
Iran responded Wednesday to the assassination of its top nuclear scientist by enacting a law ordering an immediate ramping up of its enrichment of uranium to levels closer to weapons-grade fuel.
More from WPR: RIP JCPOA: Why the Iran Nuclear Deal Won’t Be Revived
More from WPR: RIP JCPOA: Why the Iran Nuclear Deal Won’t Be Revived
Bahrain’s imports from Israel will not be subject to distinctions between products made within Israel and those from settlements in occupied territory, the Bahraini trade minister said Thursday, drawing a rebuke from the Palestinians.
More from WPR: Are More Gulf States About to Normalize Ties With Israel?
More from WPR: Are More Gulf States About to Normalize Ties With Israel?
Israel received its most advanced warship Wednesday, describing the German-made vessel dubbed “Shield” as a bulwark for vulnerable Mediterranean gas rigs as tensions with Tehran soar over the assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist.
Opinion
December 3, 2020
All significant actors in the Middle East are invested in the paramilitarism they want Iran to renounce.
News
December 2, 2020
The civilian official overseeing the Pentagon’s campaign to defeat the Islamic State group in the Middle East was forced to resign in the latest jolt to Pentagon leadership in the waning weeks of the Trump administration.
Israel threatened to descend into political chaos once again Wednesday when parliamentarians approved a preliminary measure to dissolve the turbulent coalition government, putting the country on a path to its fourth election in two years.
Iran’s parliament has approved plans to dramatically increase its nuclear enrichment program in contravention of its agreement with global powers as the Islamic regime reels from the aftermath of the assassination of the mastermind of its alleged military program.
More from WPR: RIP JCPOA: Why the Iran Nuclear Deal Won’t Be Revived
More from WPR: RIP JCPOA: Why the Iran Nuclear Deal Won’t Be Revived
Israel handed over a backlog of billions of shekels in tax money to the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday, both sides said, in another sign of warming ties between the sides after the U.S. presidential election victory of Joe Biden.
At least 11 children, including a 1-month-old, were killed in Yemen in two separate attacks in the past three days, the United Nations children’s agency said Tuesday.
Opinion
December 2, 2020
The killing of a top nuclear scientist has unsettled Tehran, but it’s still talking about a new deal with the United States.
Asia-Pacific
News
December 3, 2020
The Trump administration Wednesday issued new rules to curtail travel to the United States by members of the Chinese Communist Party and their immediate families, a move certain to further exacerbate tensions between the two countries.
The Pentagon has approved drawdown plans in Afghanistan that will still keep two larger bases in the country as officials carry out President Donald Trump’s orders to slash troop levels to 2,500 by Jan. 15, the top U.S. general said Wednesday.
More from WPR: How Biden Could Clean Up a Mess in Afghanistan That Predates Trump
More from WPR: How Biden Could Clean Up a Mess in Afghanistan That Predates Trump
Afghan government and Taliban negotiators in Qatar have agreed to the principles and procedures that will guide the ongoing peace negotiations between them, Taliban and Afghan officials announced Wednesday, an important move that could pave the way for talks that have been hobbled by disagreements for more than two months.
More from WPR: Can the Taliban Be Part of a Lasting Peace in Afghanistan?
More from WPR: Can the Taliban Be Part of a Lasting Peace in Afghanistan?
Jimmy Lai, the founder of Hong Kong’s biggest pro-democracy newspaper, was denied bail on fraud charges Thursday and ordered jailed until April by a court.
More from WPR: Hong Kong’s Darkening Future, Through the Eyes of Unbowed Protesters
More from WPR: Hong Kong’s Darkening Future, Through the Eyes of Unbowed Protesters
Australia’s parliament Thursday passed legislation giving the federal government power to veto any agreement struck with foreign states, a move likely to anger China and intensify a bitter diplomatic spat between the two countries.
A landmark sexual harassment lawsuit in China has reached an impasse after one of the country’s most prominent television personalities refused to face his accuser in court.
Opinion
December 3, 2020
Competition is the key to U.S. renewal.
More from WPR: Can Biden Really Bring America ‘Back’ After Trump?
More from WPR: Can Biden Really Bring America ‘Back’ After Trump?
News
December 2, 2020
Japan’s government has lodged a protest after Russia’s military deployed a number of its new S-300V4 missile defense systems for combat duty on a disputed chain of islands near Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said Wednesday.
North Korean hackers have targeted at least six pharmaceutical companies in the U.S., the U.K. and South Korea working on COVID-19 treatments, according to people familiar with the matter, as the regime seeks sensitive information it could sell or weaponize.
Afghan government and Taliban representatives said Wednesday they had reached a preliminary deal to press on with peace talks, their first written agreement in 19 years of war and welcomed by the United Nations and Washington.
More from WPR: Can the Taliban Be Part of a Lasting Peace in Afghanistan?
More from WPR: Can the Taliban Be Part of a Lasting Peace in Afghanistan?
A court Wednesday sentenced Hong Kong democracy activists Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam to between seven and 13½ months in prison for organizing and taking part in an unauthorized protest, as China seeks to eradicate dissent in the city.
More from WPR: Hong Kong’s Darkening Future, Through the Eyes of Unbowed Protesters
More from WPR: Hong Kong’s Darkening Future, Through the Eyes of Unbowed Protesters
A Chinese woman who filed a sexual misconduct lawsuit against a TV host told cheering supporters at a courthouse Wednesday that she hopes her case will encourage victims of gender violence in a system that gives them few options to pursue complaints.