WORLD

COMMENT | Maya Majueran | The United States’ conspicuous absence from two major international gatherings — the G20 Summit in South Africa and the COP30 climate conference in Brazil — has raised pressing questions about Washington’s commitment to multilateralism. Yet paradoxically, both summits achieved significant breakthroughs in global cooperation and …

MOSCOW | Xinhua |  A five-hour meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff that ended after midnight on Wednesday failed to produce a compromise plan for settling the Ukraine crisis. Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov on Wednesday described the conversation as “extremely useful, constructive …

HELSINKI | Xinhua |  Global arms revenues of the world’s 100 largest arms companies hit a record 679 billion U.S. dollars in 2024, with U.S. arms producers accounting for nearly half of the total, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a report released on Monday. In 2024, …

WASHINGTON | TASS | Andrey Yermak, a former chief of staff of Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, announced several hours later after his resignation that he was ready to head to the battlefront, the New York Post reported. “I’m going to the front and am prepared for any reprisals… I am an honest and …

Despite localized disruptions, global airlines were moving quickly toward stabilization by Saturday, with most affected aircraft already cleared to return to service. PARIS | Xinhua |  Global airlines have rushed to implement an urgent software fix for A320-family aircraft after Airbus issued a safety alert on Friday, initially raising concerns …

HONG KONG | TASS | Rescuers have discovered 18 more bodies at the site of a major fire in Hong Kong, bringing the death toll to 146, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported, citing a police spokesperson. The blaze at the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex, a development of …

New  Delhi, India | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda and India have held celebrations to mark 60 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations. The event , held on 29th November 2025, took place alongside celebrations to mark Uganda’s 63rd Independence Day. The event featured cultural presentations, raffle …

A lesson is that empires collapse when they can no longer afford to finance the security of their hinterlands and trade routes. Spain’s Golden Age came to an end when it could no longer fund the military expenditure required to defend its colonies. Great Britain’s empire depended on naval supremacy …

COMMENT | SHASHI THAROOR |  For decades, one family has towered over Indian politics. The influence of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty—including independent India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi; and current opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra – is bound up with the …

COMMENT | Francesca Mascha Klein & Laura Schäfer | Amid rising geopolitical tensions, pressure to comply with climate obligations increasingly comes from courts. Earlier this year, both the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) issued landmark advisory opinions affirming that countries must address climate change, and that failure …