Cheer Up, or Else: China Cracks Down on the Haters and Cynics
Chinese censors are going after content that “excessively exaggerates negative and pessimistic sentiment” or promotes “defeatist narratives like ‘hard work is useless.’”
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Thomas
on October 2025
In Syria, a Crackdown on Gunfire at Weddings
Wedding festivities in Binnish, Syria, this summer. Under the new government, there is a push to celebrate special occasions by using fireworks rather than firearms.
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Thomas
on October 2025
With Sébastien Lecornu’s Resignation, France Faces Increasing Turmoil
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu of France in Paris on Monday after making the announcement that he had resigned, just a day after naming his government.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Meet ‘Porky,’ Lima’s Right-Wing Mayor Embracing Trump’s MAGA Movement
Lima’s right-wing mayor, Rafael López Aliaga, who is known widely as “Porky.”
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Thomas
on October 2025
Ex-Husband Contradicts a Man Appealing Conviction in Pelicot Rape Case
Gisèle Pelicot and her son Florian Pelicot, on Tuesday, leaving the Court of Appeal in Nimes, France, where the trial in the appeal filed by a man convicted of raping Ms. Pelicot is being heard.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Israel Marks Two-Year Anniversary of Oct. 7 in Subdued Fashion
Mourners at a memorial service marking two years since Oct. 7, 2023, in Kfar Aza, southern Israel, on Tuesday.
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Thomas
on October 2025
A Former Israeli Hostage Is Freed From Hamas, but Not Captivity
Freed From Hamas, but Not CaptivityBack home in Israel, an ex-hostage fights for those left behind.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Pope Leo to Visit Lebanon and Turkey
Pope Leo XIV plans to visit Turkey and Lebanon starting in November. Pope Benedict XVI was the last pope to visit Lebanon, in 2012.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Witkoff and Kushner Expected to Join Israel-Hamas Talks
Jared Kushner, left, and Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy, last week.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Feared Sudanese Warlord Found Guilty at The Hague for Crimes in Darfur
Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman attends his verdict hearing at the International Criminal Court on Monday.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Deadly Clashes Erupt Between Syrian Government Forces and Kurdish Fighters
Residents leaving the Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhoods of Aleppo, Syria, on Tuesday, after overnight clashes between Syrian government troops and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Ukraine’s Secret Weapons Spending Faces Questions After Internal Review
A Ukrainian artillery crew preparing to fire toward Russian positions in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine last year.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Napa on the Aegean: A Turkish Wine Region Re-emerges
Visitors enjoying a glass of wine at Urlice.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Athens Democracy Forum: Reinventing a Democracy for Our Times
The ruins of the Acropolis in Athens. The Athens Democracy Forum was first held in 2013. This year, participants were largely pessimistic about the ability to strengthen democracies around the world.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Athens Democracy Forum: As Democracy Erodes Globally, So Do Women’s Rights
Protesters in Belgrade, Serbia, demonstrating in support of Nikolina Sindjelic, an activist who was detained by police while protesting and, she said, was assaulted and threatened with rape and sodomy.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Athens Democracy Forum: Dialogue Is An Antidote for Security Threats
Only hours after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared emergency martial law, in December 2024, was democracy restored. “This was an unfathomable event,” said Jaeyoung Lee, a former member of the Korea National Assembly.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Hunter Biden Pursued a Deal to Sell Land Around the U.S. Embassy in Romania
Hunter Biden’s efforts on the proposed land deal came partly as his father was pressing the Romanians to rid their country of nepotism and corruption.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Mayor-Elect in Critical Condition After Stabbing in Western Germany
Ambulance vehicles were parked near where Iris Stalzer was found stabbed in Herdecke, Germany, on Tuesday.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Global Trade Growth to Slow Sharply Next Year, W.T.O. Says
The World Trade Organization has repeatedly expressed concern about the economic effects of President Trump’s tariffs.
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Thomas
on October 2025
President Trump and the Military
Trump at the Navy’s 250th anniversary.
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Thomas
on October 2025
How to Protect Your Pets From Pollution
Downtown Portland, Ore., blanketed by wildfire smoke in September 2020.
Posted by
Thomas
on October 2025
Trump Predicts That ‘Canada Will Love Us Again’ in Meeting With Carney
Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada during a meeting with President Trump at the White House on Tuesday.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Trump to Unveil Farmer Aid as China Shuns U.S. Crops
A soybean farm in Stuttgart, Ark. China has been boycotting U.S. crops this year, worsening a financial crisis for American growers.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Can Sweet Songs Prevail Over Bloody Ones? Mexico Is Giving It a Try.
Mike León, from Guanajuato, and Brian Sebastián Muñoz, from Los Angeles, during their performance in the final of Mexico Canta on Sunday.
Posted by
Thomas
on October 2025
Trump Calls Off Diplomatic Outreach to Venezuela
Richard Grenell, a special presidential envoy and executive director of the Kennedy Center, had been leading negotiations with Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, and other top Venezuelan officials.
Posted by
Thomas
on October 2025
Marine Park in Ontario Warns It May Euthanize Beluga Whales Without Cash Infusion
Beluga whales swimming in a tank at Marineland amusement park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, in 2023.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Syria Chooses a Parliament of Revolutionaries
The spokesman for Syria’s electoral committee, Nawar Najma, announces results of the first parliamentary elections since the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad, at a news conference in Damascus on Monday.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Russia Welcomes Trump’s Blessing of Proposal to Extend Caps on Nuclear Weapons
A RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives across Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow in May.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Greta Thunberg Among Hundreds From Gaza Aid Flotilla Deported by Israel
Greta Thunberg, the Swedish activist, arriving at an airport in Athens on Monday after being deported from Israel.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Nobel Prizes 2025: What to Know
A Nobel Prize medal at the National Library of Colombia in Bogota.
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Thomas
on October 2025
We May Know Why Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance Really Sank
The Endurance, in the background, stuck in ice in August 1915 during the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton. In the foreground, a dog sled team on a food-gathering expedition.
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Thomas
on October 2025
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu Resigns
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu of France in Paris on Friday. He quit less than 24 hours after he had formed a cabinet.
Posted by
Thomas
on October 2025
Pilots Demand India Ground Boeing 787s to Investigate Use of Emergency System
Air India said that one of its Boeing planes used an emergency system to land in Birmingham, England, on Saturday. It was at least the second time this year the system has been used on an Air India flight.
Posted by
Thomas
on October 2025
Snowstorm Traps Hundreds of Everest Hikers
A still image taken from a video showed trekkers leaving their campsite, as unusually heavy snow and rainfall pummeled the Himalayas, in the Tibet Region, China, on Sunday.
Posted by
Thomas
on October 2025
The Pelicot Trial: A Timeline
Gisèle Pelicot leaving the courthouse in Avignon, France, last November during the trial of her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Appeal Trial Opens in Gisèle Pelicot Rape Case
The Nîmes courthouse in southern France on Sunday.
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Thomas
on October 2025
Drones, Democracy and the War in Ukraine
In the Donetsk region of Ukraine last year.
Posted by
Thomas
on October 2025
Macron Appoints French Cabinet, but Doubts Over Government’s Stability Persist
The French prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, in Paris on Friday.
Posted by
Thomas
on October 2025
Leader of U.K. Conservatives Vows to Deport 150,000 People a Year
Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative Party, pledged to create a new removals force with far-reaching powers modeled on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in the United States.
Posted by
Thomas
on October 2025
Ask a Correspondent, With Our Chief White House Reporter
In a Toxic World, Pets Could Be Vital Health Watchdogs
Israel at War With Itself
President Trump and the Supreme Court
Jilly Cooper, Widely Popular Romance Novelist, Is Dead at 88
Trying to Survive Gaza’s War-Torn Present, and Hoping for a Future
Israel and Hamas Meet in Egypt to Discuss Gaza Peace Plan
Pakistan Fights Its Fiercest Taliban Insurgency in a Decade