International

Trump Announces 'Biggest Oil Deal in History' as US Claims Majority Control of Venezuela's Oil Reserves

NEWS

President Donald Trump announced late on August 28 that the United States has entered into what he called "the biggest oil deal in world history" with Venezuela, securing majority control over more than 65 billion barrels of the South American country's proven oil reserves. The agreement, negotiated over…

Mutiny Shakes Niger's Junta as Young Soldiers Attack Airport and Presidency

NIAMEY, Niger  

Dozens of soldiers were killed or arrested in Niger's capital, Niamey, after a group of mostly young troops staged an attempted mutiny against the country's ruling junta, attacking the international airport, threatening the presidential palace and briefly seizing the…

Iceland Votes in Knife-Edge Referendum on Rejoining EU Talks, Shadowed by Trump's Greenland Ambitions

Icelanders went to the polls on Saturday, August 29, in a consultative referendum asking a deceptively simple question: should the government resume negotiations to join the European Union. Final pre-vote polling showed the country split almost exactly down the middle, with one widely cited Gallup survey giving the "No" side a narrow 51.6 to 48…

Xi, Putin and Modi Converge on Bishkek as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Marks 25 Years

POLITICS

Leaders of the world's most populous nations began converging on the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek this weekend for a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) that its host and founding members are billing as a milestone moment for an increasingly assertive alternative to Western-led global…

Congo and M23 Rebels Agree a Peace Roadmap in Switzerland, but Renewed Fighting and a Record Ebola Outbreak Test Whether the Deal Can Hold

Kinshasa/Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo 

The Democratic Republic of Congo's government and the Rwanda-backed AFC/M23 rebel alliance emerged from five days of talks in Switzerland last week with something they have struggled to produce throughout more than two years of war in the country's east: a…

Iceland Votes 'No' to Resuming EU Accession Talks in a Knife-Edge Referendum

Iceland has voted to reject a government proposal to resume long-frozen negotiations to join the European Union, according to final results reported Sunday by national broadcaster RUV, capping a referendum campaign that exposed deep and closely balanced divisions over sovereignty, fisheries and the small Nordic nation's place in a turbulent…