Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (left) is received by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (also known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani), in Damascus on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 23, 2024
Syria's new leader says all weapons to come under 'state control'
Ahmed al-Sharaa said Syria's armed "factions will begin to announce their dissolution and enter" the army.
Syrians step on posters of Bashar Assad and his father, Hafez Assad, in Homs, Syria, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 22, 2024
How Bashar Assad's inner circle fled Syria after his fall
The ousted president was accompanied by only a handful of confidants, leaving both family members and loyal aides to find their own means of escape.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives at the federal Liberal caucus holiday party, the day after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland unexpectedly resigned, in Ottawa on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 22, 2024
From liberal icon to MAGA joke: The waning fortunes of Justin Trudeau
Canada’s prime minister gained global renown 10 years ago for his unabashedly progressive politics. But at home, voters turned sour on him long ago.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a bilateral meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro on Nov. 18.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 22, 2024
Starmer is deepening China ties while the U.K.’s allies turn away
Starmer’s pursuit of closer ties with China has raised private questions from Trump’s incoming administration, European diplomats and even some senior British officials.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks to reporters following the passage of spending legislation to avert a government shutdown, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 21, 2024
U.S. Congress passes bill to avert shutdown
After weeks of tense negotiations that went down to the wire, U.S. lawmakers passed a bill to fund federal agencies through mid-March.
U.S. President Joe Biden departs from St. Joseph on the Brandywine Catholic Church, on the day of the anniversary of the death of the president's first wife and daughter in a car accident in 1972, in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 21, 2024
Fade out: Biden disappears into background
Despite still occupying the world's most powerful pulpit, Biden has remained virtually absent from the public debate about his noisy successor.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Shamthat led the lightning offensive to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad, attends a meeting in Damascus on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 21, 2024
U.S. drops bounty for Syria's new leader after Damascus meeting
The move follows "positive messages" from a first meeting with American diplomats that included a promise to fight terrorism.

Longform

Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.
Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?