Worldwide Pulse

Exploring the Latest in International Breaking News and Features

Fate of Iran’s Enriched Uranium Is a Mystery

Some of the uranium was believed to be held at the Natanz enrichment facility, seen here in 2007.

Russia Seizes Key Lithium Field in Challenge for U.S.-Ukraine Minerals Deal

Ukrainian troops on the front line in the Donetsk region in April. As Russian forces continue to push forward, they are getting closer to more mineral deposits.

El Salvador Police Say Quotas and Rumors Fueled Bukele’s Mass Arrests

Relatives watched as recently arrested men were transferred to prison in April 2022, early in an anti-gang campaign that has imprisoned about 80,000 people.

Chess Lover Introduces Game to Malawi’s Prisons, Schools and Street Kids

Susan Namangale playing chess with four members of one of the 150 chess clubs she has set up in Malawi.

Israel Suggests It Could Strike Iran Again to Counter New Threats

A woman in Tehran crying near her home, which was hit by an Israeli airstrike this week.

Israel-Backed Aid Sites In Gaza Pose Lethal Risk for Palestinians Amid Deadly Fighting

Relatives mourned a family member who was killed on Tuesday near an aid distribution point set up by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Teenager Is Charged With Aiding Plot to Attack Taylor Swift Concert in Vienna

Taylor Swift fans in Vienna in August 2024, after three of the pop star’s concerts were canceled because of a security threat.

China Confirms Trade Framework With U.S. to Lift Export Controls

A rare-earth mine in Bayan Obo, in Inner Mongolia, China. China controls the global supply of the elements, which are a vital component of many modern technologies.

Pro-Palestinian Activists Arrested Under Terrorism Law in U.K. Air Base Break-In

A demonstration in London on Monday in support of Palestine Action. The group posted footage online on June 20 showing two activists moving around an R.A.F. base on scooters before using red paint to damage two planes.

Japanese Serial Killer Is Executed

Takahiro Shiraishi in 2017, being brought to the prosecutor’s office in Tokyo.

Starmer Backtracks on Planned Social Cuts After Pushback From His Own Party

Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain in London in May. Several recent policy reversals have led some to question his political judgment.

A Runestone That May Be North America’s Oldest Turns Up in a Canada Forest

The runestone was found in 2015 on private property near the town of Wawa, in northern Ontario, after the collapse of two trees exposed it to the elements.

London Man Who Killed a Boy With a Samurai Sword Receives Life Sentence

A police officer cordoning off a crime scene in Hainault, northeast London, in April 2024, after a 14-year-old boy was killed.

She Ripped German Conservatives on Social Media. They Didn’t Forget.

Heidi Reichinnek of the far-left Die Linke party in Chemnitz, Germany, last month. Her social media posts have angered the conservative Christian Democrats of Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Tie the Knot

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez in Venice, Italy, on Thursday.

Cocaine Is the Fastest-Growing Illegal Drug Worldwide. Here’s Why.

A laborer carrying bags of coca leaves in La Paz, Colombia, in 2021.

Rosalind Fox Solomon, Whose Photos Captured Emotional Nuance, Dies at 95

Son of Norway’s Crown Princess Is Charged With Rape and Sexual Assault

The police in Oslo have questioned Marius Borg Hoiby, 28, several times since August, when he was first arrested.

Authorities Rescue Girl Whose Mother Livestreamed Her Sexual Abuse

Child safety advocates demonstrated at the Apple Store last year in New York’s Grand Central Terminal.

Friday Briefing

Carrying aid packages through Jabaliya in Gaza on Sunday.

U.S. Approves $30 Million for Contentious New Gaza Aid Group

Palestinians carried aid packages distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Thursday.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Says Nuclear Facilities ‘Seriously Damaged’

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, speaking to the media after an Iran-European Union nuclear meeting in Geneva last week.

What We Know About the Fate of Iran’s Nuclear Program

Amid Attacks, Iran’s Exiled Opposition Remained Divided. Who Are They?

Tehran, on Tuesday.

Friday Briefing: The Deadly Search for Food in Gaza

Carrying aid through Jabaliya in Gaza on Sunday.

As Celebrities Arrive in Venice for the Jeff Bezos-Lauren Sánchez Wedding, Details Are Scant

Kim Kardashian was one of the many celebrities arriving in Venice this week for the wedding of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez.

A U.S. Base in Saudi Arabia Expands to Help Counter Iran

Republicans Propose a New Way to Scrap Fuel Economy Rules: No Fines

Carmakers that have a history of producing efficient vehicles, like Toyota and Honda, would face competitive pressure from rivals that no longer want to spend on fuel-saving technologies.

Centrifuges at Iran’s Fordo ‘No Longer Operational’ After U.S. Strikes, Nuclear Watchdog Says

A satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies on Tuesday shows damage at Fordo enrichment facility in Iran after U.S. military strikes on the site.

Death Toll From Kenya Protests Climbs, Rights Group Says

Damaged buildings and debris in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, on Thursday.

Housekeeper Arrested Over Wildfire That Scorched Greek Island

Fires collectively consumed more than 11,000 acres of Chios island.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei Makes First Public Comments in Almost a Week

A screen grab of a video of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, that was broadcast on Iranian state media on Thursday.

New Zealand Approved Psychedelic Therapy. He’s the Only Doctor Who Can Do It.

There is a growing global movement to explore the use of psychedelics to treat depression, PTSD and addiction.

Why Ukraine Fell Down the Agenda at the NATO Summit

The official declaration signed by the heads of state and government at the NATO summit did not mention Ukraine joining the alliance and President Volodymyr Zelensky was not feted as in previous years.

Germany Wants Recruits. But ‘No One Wants Their Children in the Army.’

Trying out a virtual reality headset at a German Army recruitment booth during a tech trade show in Berlin in May. Germany has committed to significantly expand its military.

Ecuador Captures Gang Leader ‘Fito’ Whose Prison Escape Set Off Violence

José Adolfo Macías, center, arriving at the air base in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on Wednesday.

They Escaped War in Ukraine. It Found Them in Israel.

Rescue workers searching for trapped residents after an Iranian missile barrage hit buildings in Bat Yam, Israel, this month.

Here’s Another Use for Ice: Creating Secret Codes

He Searched for His Past in Children’s Books. He Found His Wife’s.

Steve Mills at home in Hockley, England. In a recent book haul from a charity shop, he found a book that had traveled from a town 170 miles away.

How Two Neuroscientists View Optical Illusions

How Sandwiches in Canada’s Lloydminster Became a Test for Domestic Trade

Sally McNaughton removing stock in preparation for a fresh sandwich shipment at Ironwells Co-Op Gas Bar in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan. The company has secured an exception to permit sandwiches from their kitchen to be sold on both sides of the provincial border within Lloydminster city limits.

A Photo Gone Wrong in the Uffizi Fuels Selfie Worries in Europe’s Museums

A blank space on the wall at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, where a painting of Ferdinando de’ Medici hung until a tourist damaged it on Saturday.

Thursday Briefing

Cleaning up a home in Tehran that was hit in an Israeli airstrike.

An Investor Took on Hong Kong Tycoons Faces a Tougher Foe

David Webb at his home in Hong Kong, which overlooks the financial district. One former regulator calls him the conscience of the city’s financial markets.

How Trump’s Strike on Iran Might Affect China’s Calculus on Taiwan

A military exercise for repelling an amphibious landing, in Taiwan in 2023.

Where Is Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei?

Officials have said Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been sheltering at a bunker and refraining from electronic communication to prevent assassination attempts against him.

U.S. Accuses Three Mexican Financial Firms of Aiding Fentanyl Trade

White powder, purportedly finished fentanyl, sitting on a table in a kitchen in Culiacán, Mexico, where members of the Sinaloa cartel cook the drug.

Grand Jury Indicts Russian Scientist on Smuggling Charges

Kseniia Petrova, a scientist at Harvard, greeted reporters with her lawyers outside federal court in Boston upon her release from detention this month.

What to Know About the Antigovernment Protests in Kenya

A protester ducked a tear-gas canister in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, on Wednesday. Kenyan police fired live rounds, tear gas and rubber bullets at people who were marching a year after large-scale demonstrations against a contentious tax plan turned deadly.

Thursday Briefing: Trump Says He’ll Meet With Iran

Tehran, this week.

Iranians and Israelis Begin Tense Return to Normal Life

Life in Israel began to return to normal on the second day of the cease-fire with Iran.

In a Win for Trump, NATO Agrees to a Big Increase in Military Spending

President Trump, together with Pete Hegseth, secretary of defense, and Marco Rubio, secretary of state, during a new conference during the NATO summit in The Hague, on Wednesday.

Trump says the U.S. will meet with Iran but downplays the need for a nuclear agreement.

President Trump in The Hague on Wednesday.

British Man Is Charged Over Attempted Mock Wedding With Girl, 9, at Disneyland Paris

Disneyland Paris. The episode has raised questions about how a registered sex offender was able to book a private event involving a minor at one of the world’s most prominent theme parks.

Scientists Retrace 30,000-Year-Old Ocean Voyage, in a Hollowed-Out Log

Did Baby Talk Give Rise to Language?

Tensions Grow Between Iran and the U.N. Nuclear Watchdog

The International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. The group may not be allowed back into Iran.

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