Global events and international developments affecting markets.
Reporting on international affairs, geopolitical developments, and global economic trends. This category connects world events to their potential impact on financial markets, trade flows, and investor risk perception.
3,094 total articles
A U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that two Egyptian migrant workers executed in Saudi Arabia on drug charges were detained unlawfully and denied fair trials. The panel described the sentences as indefensible and the executions as inexcusable, urged Riyadh to compensate the families and return the bodies, and recommended reinstating …
EU lawmakers will hold a trade committee vote on Thursday to move forward legislation implementing elements of an EU-US trade agreement. The proposals would lift EU import duties on U.S. industrial goods, expand access for U.S. agricultural products and maintain zero tariffs on U.S. lobster. The move follows earlier suspensions tied to concerns tha…
The Damascus governorate has issued a decree banning alcohol sales in restaurants and bars across the city, requiring nightclub and bar licences to be converted to café licences and restricting alcohol sales to sealed bottles for takeaway only in predominantly Christian neighbourhoods. The order sets distance rules from places of worship, schools a…
An airstrike in the western Khan Younis area of the Gaza Strip killed at least three people, including a child, and wounded a dozen others, local health authorities reported. The attack is the latest in a series of strikes and clashes that have placed the October ceasefire under mounting strain amid a wider regional confrontation involving Iran and…
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CNBC that oil tankers are once again moving through the Strait of Hormuz and that Tehran's attempts to choke shipping have not damaged the U.S. economy. He reiterated the administration's expectation that the conflict will end in weeks rather than months, and flagged concerns that Asian exporters may …
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged the United States and Israel to bring their war with Iran to a close and said the EU is engaged in talks with Middle Eastern governments about diplomatic measures to end the fighting. While not ruling out European involvement in protecting navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, Kallas said any…
Gecko Robotics, a Pittsburgh-based firm, secured a $71 million contract to field wall-climbing robots, tank-crawling machines and small flying drones across U.S. Navy vessels in the Pacific Fleet. The robots feed structural and material data into Gecko's Cantilever AI platform, which the company says can identify needed repairs up to 50 times faste…
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is campaigning for a third term in Denmark’s March 24 general election, leaning on a high-profile, defiant stance in the dispute with the United States over Greenland. Her international standing has improved amid crises, but lingering doubts among voters about her handling of domestic issues and past controversies c…
An air strike by Pakistan on Monday has sharply escalated hostilities with Afghanistan. The Afghan Taliban government says the strike hit a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, killing at least 408 people and wounding 265. Pakistan rejects that account, asserting it struck military sites and terrorist support infrastructure and has not confirmed …
A United Nations fact-finding mission has begun examining a lethal assault on the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school that Iranian officials say killed 168 children, mostly girls. The strike occurred on the first day of U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran. U.S. military investigators previously indicated it was likely that U.S. forces were responsible, but t…
In Brussels on March 17, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the European Union has begun to take the United States' recent unpredictability into account, one year after President Donald Trump returned to the White House. Kallas said the bloc has adopted a calmer posture by expecting unexpected U.S. moves and remaining focused.
Finland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom said they are developing a collaborative defence financing and procurement mechanism intended to combine demand, accelerate investment, and expand access to critical capabilities such as munitions. The countries aim to have the initiative operational by 2027 and say it will complement NATO and EU effo…
Iran's football federation has told FIFA it is negotiating to relocate its World Cup group matches from the United States to Mexico, citing concerns for the safety of its players after joint air strikes by the U.S. and Israel. The federation's statement follows comments by U.S. President Donald Trump that Iran would be welcome to participate but th…
Shigeaki Mori, who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima at age eight and later gained international attention when former U.S. President Barack Obama embraced him at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in 2016, has died at 88. Mori spent decades identifying victims cremated at his school playground and located 12 Americans among those killed. He …
The International Monetary Fund has warned that Ukraine’s access to the remainder of an $8.1 billion loan package is at risk after lawmakers postponed debate on amendments required under the new four-year programme. With a deadline at the end of March, the measures - including higher taxes on businesses and households - must be approved to unlock f…
U.S. President criticized some long-standing Western partners after several declined a request to send warships to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, even as Iran and Israel continued reciprocal strikes that have disrupted Gulf oil facilities, closed airspace temporarily and pushed energy prices higher. The conflict has entered a thir…
U.S. officials and intelligence sources say President Donald Trump received warnings before the U.S. and Israel launched air strikes on Iran that Tehran could retaliate against U.S. Gulf allies and threaten regional shipping routes. The president has publicly described such reprisals as unexpected, even as intelligence assessments listed them among…
Two members of Iran’s women’s national football delegation who accepted asylum in Australia have been photographed training with Brisbane Roar’s women's team as they start new lives after being granted humanitarian visas. The pair, who did not sing their national anthem during the Asian Cup, faced criticism in Iranian state media and fears of perse…
On March 16, three Tennessee residents, two of whom were minors when the images were produced, filed a federal lawsuit in San Jose accusing Elon Musk's xAI of designing its Grok image generator in a way that allowed users to create sexually explicit imagery using real photos of other people. The complaint seeks class-action designation for U.S. ind…
Taiwan's defence minister told reporters he has seen no official notice that a second U.S. arms package has been postponed, saying Washington's internal review appears to be proceeding on schedule. The comments come after media reports that a major arms package could await U.S. presidential approval and amid uncertainty caused by a potential postpo…
A federal jury in Los Angeles has convicted Samir Ousman Alsheikh, who led Damascus Central Prison under the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad, on multiple counts including conspiracy to commit torture, torture, and immigration fraud. Alsheikh, 73, faces lengthy maximum penalties for the convictions and remains in U.S. custody pending sentencing…
Leqaa Kordia, 33, was released from the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas on a $100,000 bond after more than a year in U.S. immigration custody. Her release follows a judicial order and comes as her immigration proceedings remain active. Advocates and local officials have raised concerns about her treatment in detention and about the …
Dan Caldwell, previously a senior adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth who was placed on administrative leave amid a leak probe, has been appointed to an advisory role at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, according to reporting by the New York Times. The move follows an earlier report that Caldwell was escorted from the Pent…
A March 16 State Department cable signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio instructs U.S. diplomatic and consular posts worldwide to press allied governments to classify Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Lebanon-based Hezbollah as terrorist groups. The missive cites an elevated risk of attack but does not provide details, and asks…
On a recent phone call, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun agreed that securing the Strait of Hormuz is critical for the economies and security of South Korea and other nations. Seoul said it will carefully weigh a U.S. appeal for regional partners to dispatch naval vessels to the Middle East, while Cho u…
