WorldPage 3 of 11

125 articles

Geopolitics, trade, conflict, and international

Iran Launches Paid 'Internet Pro' Tier on Day 53 of Record Blackout as 90 Million Stay Offline

On the 53rd day of the longest nationwide internet shutdown ever recorded, Iran's state telecoms are selling a paid 'Internet Pro' tier to 91,000 business licensees. The general public remains at roughly 1 percent of pre-blackout connectivity.

WorldApr 21

Japan's Cabinet Scraps Ban on Lethal Weapons Exports, Ending a Policy in Place Since 1967

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's cabinet approved a revision to Japan's Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment on Tuesday, eliminating the five noncombat categories that had restricted exports to rescue, transport, warning, surveillance and minesweeping equipment. Lethal systems including warships, missiles and fighter jets can now be transferred to the 17 countries with defense technology agreements.

WorldApr 21

Gunman Shoots From Pyramid of the Moon at Teotihuacán, Killing Canadian Tourist and Wounding 13 Before Taking Own Life

A lone gunman fired on tourists from the Pyramid of the Moon at Mexico's Teotihuacán archaeological zone on April 20, 2026, killing a 32-year-old Canadian woman and wounding 13 other foreign visitors. Mexican authorities identified the shooter as 27-year-old Julio César Jasso Ramírez of Mexico City, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has directed the federal Security Cabinet to investigate; INAH has closed the site indefinitely.

WorldApr 21

House Oversight Demands FBI Briefing on Dead and Missing Scientists With Classified-Access Ties, Cites JPL, Los Alamos, MIT Cases

In an April 20 letter to FBI Director Kash Patel, Chairmen James Comer (Oversight) and Eric Burlison request a staff-level briefing by April 27 on what the Bureau knows about at least ten U.S. scientists with ties to nuclear secrets or rocket technology who have died or disappeared 'in recent years.' The letter names three individuals — Michael David Hicks, Monica Reza, and retired Air Force Gen. William Neil McCasland — and points to an alleged professional link between two of them through an Air Force program on reusable space vehicles.

WorldApr 21

Austria's AGES Warns Parents: Jars of HiPP Carrot-and-Potato Baby Food Tampered With Bromadiolone Rat Poison in Suspected Extortion

Austria's Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) confirmed on April 18 that a tampered jar of HiPP 'Karotte mit Kartoffel' baby food (190 g) recovered in Burgenland tested positive for bromadiolone rat poison. HiPP and SPAR have pulled the product across Austria. Authorities are investigating as a suspected extortion-linked tampering.

WorldApr 21

Supreme Court Takes Up Colorado Catholic-Preschool Case, Will Revisit When Religious-Freedom Exemptions Apply to State Programs

The Supreme Court on Monday granted certiorari in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy (No. 25-581), a challenge from the Archdiocese of Denver to Colorado's Universal Preschool Program, which denied religious-exemption requests from Catholic preschools that decline to admit students based on gender identity or sexual orientation. The Court will decide, in the 2026-2027 term, how Employment Division v. Smith and Carson v. Makin apply when a state offers a generally available funding benefit with a nondiscrimination condition.

WorldApr 21

DOJ: Woodland Hills Woman Brokered $70M Iranian Drone Sale to Sudan, Arrested at LAX With Iranian Intelligence Ties

Shamim Mafi, 44, an Iranian national who became a U.S. lawful permanent resident under the Obama administration in 2016, was arrested Saturday night at LAX before boarding a flight out of the U.S. A federal criminal complaint charges her with conspiring to broker Iranian weapons sales to Sudan — including a $70M+ Mohajer-6 drone deal and 55,000 bomb fuses — in violation of U.S. sanctions, with records showing 62 phone contacts with an Iranian intelligence officer.

WorldApr 21

Eight Children Killed in Shreveport Domestic Shooting; City Says Deadliest Mass Shooting in Its History

Eight children aged 3 to 11 were shot and killed early Sunday in Shreveport, Louisiana's Cedar Grove neighborhood in what the city's mayor called a domestic-violence tragedy. Suspected gunman Shamar Elkins, 31, was killed by police after a vehicle chase; two women were wounded. Mayor Tom Arceneaux has called it the worst tragedy in Shreveport's history.

WorldApr 19

North Korea Fires Multiple Ballistic Missiles Into East Sea; USINDOPACOM Says No Immediate Threat to US

North Korea launched multiple ballistic missiles toward waters off its east coast on Sunday, April 19, 2026, according to a statement released by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. The command said the launches pose no immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, and that it is consulting with allies. The launches follow a cluster of short-range ballistic missile tests on April 7–8.

WorldApr 19

Gunman Born in Russia Kills Six in Kyiv Supermarket Attack; Investigators Examining 'Several Versions,' Zelenskyy Says

An attacker set fire to an apartment and then opened fire in the Holosiivskyi district of Kyiv on April 18, killing six people — including a hostage inside a supermarket — and wounding 14, including a 12-year-old boy. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the gunman was born in Russia, had long lived in Ukraine's Donetsk region, and had previously been prosecuted for criminal offences. KORD tactical police eliminated him after storming the store.

WorldApr 18

DRC and M23 Sign Montreux Accord to Operationalize Expanded Ceasefire Verification Mechanism

The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the AFC/M23 rebel coalition, and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Montreux, Switzerland on April 14 to operationalize the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism Plus (EJVM+) for eastern DRC, under the Doha Declaration of Principles.

WorldApr 18

US Adds Narcoterrorism Charges Against Clan del Golfo Leader 'Chiquito Malo,' First Major Indictment Since Colombia Cartel's FTO Designation

A fifth superseding indictment in Brooklyn charges Jobanis de Jesus Avila Villadiego with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization -- the first top-level CDG prosecution since the State Department designated the cartel an FTO in December 2025. He remains at large in Colombia's Urabá region.