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Portugal braced on Thursday for its first general strike in 12 years, as unions urge action against the right-wing minority government’s planned workers’ rights reforms. Widespread disruption is expected for public transport, schools, courts and hospitals, as workers protest against a draft law aiming to simplify firing procedures, extend
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A top Hamas leader told Qatari news channel Al Jazeera on Wednesday that the militant group is open to a weapons “freeze,” but rejects the demand for disarmament put forward in the US-sponsored peace plan for Gaza. “The idea of total disarmament is unacceptable to the resistance (Hamas). What is
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Lebanon’s foreign minister Youssef Raji said on Wednesday he had declined an invitation to visit Tehran for now, proposing instead talks with Iran in a mutually agreed neutral third country, Lebanese state news agency NNA reported. Raji cited “current conditions” for the decision not to go to Iran, without
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing intensifying demands from Congress to release the full video of an attack on an alleged drug boat that killed two survivors in what Democrats and legal experts said may have been a war crime or murder. Hegseth provided a classified briefing for congressional leaders
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Three people were killed and two wounded by Ukrainian shelling of a hospital in the Russia-controlled part of Kherson region, a Russia-installed governor said on Telegram. All those killed and injured were employees of the medical facility. “The injured are receiving medical attention, and a seriously injured man is in
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and other top officials have gathered to discuss preparations for the ruling party’s first full congress in five years, state media reported Wednesday. The top-level meeting will set new priorities as the US and South Korea seek a resumption of talks with North
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Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy described the prison where he spent 20 days as a noisy, harsh “all-grey” world of “inhuman violence” in a book released Wednesday that also offered political advice about how his conservative party should appeal to far-right voters. In “Diary of a Prisoner,” the 70-year-old says
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Military aid for Ukraine plummeted in the second half of 2025 as falling European contributions failed to make up for the halt in US support, data from the Kiel Institute showed Wednesday. As US President Donald Trump wound down US contributions at the beginning of the year, Europe stepped up
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The US imposed sanctions on four people and four firms for their alleged involvement in a transnational network that recruits former Colombian military members who train soldiers to fight for the Sudanese paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces. The Rapid Support Forces, which has been at war with
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Brazil’s lower house of Congress approved a bill early Wednesday that could drastically reduce the sentence of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who has been serving 27 years in jail for staging a coup. If ratified by the Senate, the 70-year-old far-right leader, who has been behind bars since late
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A fire that broke out in a residential building in southern China killed 12 people, state media reported Wednesday. The blaze at the four-story building in Shantou, Guangdong province, erupted around 9:20 p.m. on Tuesday, and was extinguished just after 10:00 pm, the local fire department said
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Miami voters elected Eileen Higgins as the Florida city’s new mayor on Tuesday, making her the first Democrat to hold the office in nearly 30 years. Higgins received about 60 percent of votes in the runoff election, according to CNN and the Miami Herald newspaper, defeating Emilio T. Gonzalez,
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has reaffirmed his strong refusal to cede any territory, resisting US pressure for painful concessions to Russia as he moved ahead Tuesday to rally more European support for his country. “Undoubtedly, Russia insists for us to give up territories. We, clearly, don’t want to give
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South Korea said it had lodged a protest with representatives of China and Russia on Wednesday, a day after Seoul said those countries’ warplanes had entered its air defense zone. Seoul said the complaint had been lodged with the defense attaches of both countries in the South Korean capital. “Our
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US President Donald Trump continued his threats of land strikes against suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers in an interview published on Tuesday as Trump administration officials prepared to brief top US lawmakers amid mounting tensions. The Republican president also told Politico that he could extend anti-drug military operations to Mexico and
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Slovakia’s parliament on Tuesday approved a law that critics say will curb protections for whistleblowers, the latest move drawing rule-of-law concerns since nationalist Prime Minister Robert Fico’s return to power in 2023. It comes after parliament last year adopted controversial penal code reforms, including easing the penalties for