#recent-weeks

#recent-weeks

North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Thursday, its first missile test in two months, as the United States and South Korean militaries conducted a joint live-fire exercise near the inter-Korean border.The missiles were launched from the Sunan district of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, the South Korean military said.

Throngs of supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan have been arrested.Media columnists considered sympathetic to him have been intimidated.Key allies have resigned from his party, saying they had been threatened with criminal charges and arrests.As political tensions between Mr. Khan and the Pakistani government have flared in recent weeks and sparked violent nationwide protests, the country's powerful military has responded by launching a chilling campaign against Mr. Khan's supporters that aims to hollow out his political party ahead of general elections this fall.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain began a two-day visit to Washington on Wednesday with a goal of aligning two allies on the challenges of artificial intelligence.But his meeting with President Biden will more likely be consumed by the here-and-now threat of Russia's war on Ukraine.Mr. Sunak, a self-described techie who has an M.B.A. from Stanford University, will host a summit meeting in the fall on the regulatory issues raised by A.I., part of a plan to make Britain a leader in controlling this fast-developing technology.

Weeks after OpenAI released its ChatGPT chatbot last year, Sam Altman, the chief executive of the artificial intelligence start-up, launched a lobbying blitz in Washington.He demonstrated ChatGPT at a breakfast with more than 20 lawmakers in the Capitol.He called for A.I. to be regulated in private meetings with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders.

Jaroslaw Krajewski is a member of Poland's parliament representing the ruling Law and Justice Party.Krajewski defends the government's new law that aims to root out Russian influence in Polish society, saying it's needed now that Russia has invaded Ukraine.Critics have called the new law a blatant attempt for the ruling party to maintain its grip on power.

President Biden is hosting the NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, at the White House on Tuesday afternoon to discuss long-term strategy in Ukraine and who will oversee the 31-member military alliance moving forward.The visit comes during a critical time for the Western alliance, as Ukraine mounts a counteroffensive to regain territory claimed by Russia and as NATO members prepare for a summit next month in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Rishi Sunak has come out fighting against Boris Johnson in the row over the former PM's failed attempt to give peerages to several close allies.The prime minister spoke on Monday about the issue for the first time since Friday, when Downing Street published Johnson's resignation honours list without the names of several of those he wanted to elevate to the House of Lords.

It is both astonishing and somehow unsurprising that Boris Johnson sought a knighthood for his father before the idea was vetoed.There is little left Johnson can do to shock the public or political establishment, after his chequered premiership that left him as the first prime minister to be hit with a criminal fine while in office.

Antony J. Blinken landed in Beijing on Sunday morning, making him the first U.S. secretary of state to visit since 2018.Tense relations have delayed the trip for months: He had intended to visit in February, but postponed after the Pentagon announced that a Chinese surveillance balloon was drifting across the continental United States.

President Biden on Friday said that he planned to appoint Dr. Mandy Cohen, the former North Carolina health secretary, as the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a widely expected move that marks a major transition at the federal agency tasked with overseeing the nation's public health infrastructure.

The US believes that an attack drone manufacturing plant Russia is building with Iran's help could be fully operational by early next year, National Security Council official John Kirby said on Friday.Iran is shipping equipment for the plant, as well as fully-built drones, to Russia via the Caspian Sea, US officials believe.

Dr. Ashish Jha, who coordinated the White House's coronavirus pandemic response for the last year, will leave the Biden administration and return to his previous post as dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University.In a statement announcing Dr. Jha's departure, Mr. Biden praised him for having effectively translated and communicated complex scientific challenges into concrete actions that helped save and improve the lives of millions of Americans.