World politics

World politics

Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro said on Thursday that ASEAN has not endorsed the three phases of the elections that were held in Myanmar, which concluded last weekend. Lazaro was speaking after hosting ASEAN's first major ministerial meetings this year in the central Philippines city of Cebu, where the Myanmar crisis was high on the agenda. Asked in a news conference if the bloc did not recognise the elections, Lazaro said yes, as of now.

Stability. Consistency. Ever-changing complexity. With language like that, deployed in separate meetings in three Asian capitals this week, government leaders forged closer ties driven in part by a figure halfway around the world: the president of the United States. And much of the time, they didn't even mention Donald Trump's name. IN BEIJING: The U.K. and Chinese leaders called Thursday for a "long-term, stable, and comprehensive strategic partnership" between their two countries. The important words are long-term and stable. The two countries committed a decade ago to building a comprehensive strategic partnership but progress has been halting at best.

China is increasingly not the big, bad wolf in the eyes of young people, who are encountering the country through cultural touch points like the ugly-but-cute Labubu dolls and innovations like TikTok rather than national security threats. They're more focused on kitchen table issues such as a discouraging job market for entry-level workers, inflationary pressures pinching their wallets and the growing sense that America's fractured political system doesn't work for them.

Wadephul said speaking in Latvia that what was seen during the peace talks in UAE is "Russia's stubborn insistence on the crucial territorial issue." "And if there is no flexibility here, I fear that the negotiations may still take a long time or may not be successful at this stage," he said. He added, "Our commitment to diplomacy does not weaken our determination to support Ukraine."

The week at the World Economic Forum in Davos has strengthened the ranks of its opponents, with a shift among numerous European leaders including figures from the far right, theoretically close to Trump who have abandoned their usual conciliatory attitudes and are now opting for firm rejection in the face of his abuses and insults. In this way, albeit without formal coordination, they are joining the group of countries that refuse to yield, such as China, India, Canada, and Brazil.

Understanding the difference in purpose Unlike private businesses, which exist to make a profit, public institutions are designed to create impact - especially social and economic outcomes that benefit everyone, not just paying customers. A public agency doesn't measure its success in revenue or margins, but in how much it improves lives, builds equity and maintains public trust. This doesn't mean budgets and spending don't matter - they absolutely do - but money is not the goal. It's the tool.

October: Palestinian fighters carry out an attack on communities across southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 251 Israeli and foreign captives, according to Israeli figures. In the following weeks, Hamas releases two Israeli-American captives and two elderly captives, and Israeli forces recover an Israeli soldier taken captive during the attack.

Diplomat Yury Filatov hits out at Helen McEntee and says Ireland is hostile to Russia

Trump said on Thursday that a US armada is heading towards the Gulf region with Iran being its focus. US officials said an aircraft carrier strike group and other assets are to arrive in the Middle East in the coming days. We're watching Iran. We have a big force going towards Iran, Trump said. And maybe we won't have to use it. We have a lot of ships going that direction.

"The harassment by Israeli settlers had become unbearable," said Rashid, a young mother, as she stood leaning on the metal doorframe of her home in Ras Ein el-Auja in the occupied West Bank. Nearby, a few suitcases and other belongings sat in the corner, neatly packed. "There is no safety left. We've been suffering for three years, but now the provocations increased," Rashid told DW, speaking of how settlers entered their home.

The charter for President Donald Trump's newly formed Board of Peace claims the organization aims to secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict. Some of its member states seem less than committed to that goal. The president faced widespread backlash for his highly controversial invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is reportedly still considering accepting a place on the board.

A group of researchers from Berkeley, Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, and Yale warn that the rise of AI bots and AI agents could pose a serious threat to democracy. For example, power-hungry politicians around the world can relatively easily create swarms of AI bots that flood social media and messaging services with propaganda and disinformation. In this way, they can not only influence election results but also persuade parts of the population to replace parliamentary democracy with an authoritarian regime.

He announced a 10 percent tariff on eight European countries that had sent troops to Greenland for a military exercise. On Sunday afternoon, he composed a poorly punctuated, paranoiac note to the Norwegian prime minister in which he blamed the Norwegian government for not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, said the rejection had liberated him to stop thinking about peace, and claimed that it had set him on the path to conquer Greenland to protect the United States.

When fear dominates, nuance and exceptions fade. Over time, this dynamic creates insular echo chambers that amplify threat narratives while filtering out contradictory evidence. What is particularly striking, and deeply concerning, is that this climate of dread is no longer confined to one group. It is now mirrored across political divides, leaving many people-regardless of affiliation-feeling powerless, overwhelmed, and chronically anxious.

One foreign policy achievement that Donald Trump prefers not to boast about is his role in helping Mark Carney win last year's Canadian general election. The incumbent Liberal party faced crushing defeat before Mr Trump threatened to annex Canada. Mr Carney's candidacy was buoyed up by a patriotic rally against US bullying. Perhaps because his country has also been coveted by Mr Trump, Mr Carney has given one of the most clear-sighted responses of any democratic leader to the US president's designs on Greenland.

Europe is weighing retaliation if President Donald Trump imposes more tariffs - and it threatens the US's big global advantage. French President Emmanuel Macron pushed to activate what's commonly referred to asa trade "bazooka" in response to Trump's recent threat to impose an additional 10% tariff on European countries unless they agree to a deal ceding control of Greenland.

Armed with bulldozers and tear gas, the Israeli military forcefully entered the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) office in Sheikh Jarrah, in East Jerusalem. They targeted at least two UNRWA buildings for demolition, and fired tear gas in a vocational school serving young refugees in Qalandia, on the outskirts of Jerusalem; the Palestinian Authority said that Israeli forces hit a 15-year-old boy in the eye with a rubber bullet.