Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced plans Saturday to fire the Catalan president and force fresh elections in the separatist-led region, invoking a constitutional clause never used in the four decades since Spain’s transition from dictatorship to democracy. It was a drastic crackdown...
As America increases its military footprint in some of Africa’s most dangerous trouble spots, confronting extremist affiliates of Al Qaeda and Islamic State, the risk of intelligence failures and more combat deaths is mounting. U.S. special forces who accompanied Niger’s military at a meeting of...
The establishment of an independent Kurdistan — a decades-old dream for many people here — was starting to take shape. In a nonbinding referendum held by the Kurds three weeks ago, more than 92% of voters favored breaking away from Iraq. But on Tuesday, the dream all but died. The Kurdish troops...
Fear, anger and anxiety heightened on both sides of a secession divide as the Spanish government vowed Thursday to take the unprecedented step of stripping autonomous powers from the northeastern region of Catalonia. The region’s president, Carles Puigdemont, did not renounce independence despite...
As many as 500,000 Venezuelans have fled their country in the last two years — an exodus triggered by social unrest, violence and corruption.
The Taliban has a new tactic in the Afghan war, and the group has used it to devastating effect twice in three days. Taliban insurgents packed two Humvees stolen from Afghan security forces with explosives, detonated the vehicles outside an army base in the south and then stormed the base in an...
For Mostafa, a gay Egyptian man in his mid-20s, seeing rainbow flags flying at an open-air rock concert in the Arab world’s most populous nation was thrilling. But he had a feeling it wouldn’t end well. Dozens of people have been arrested and put on trial in Egypt in the ensuing crackdown. Some...
Spain and Catalonia hurtled toward a potential secession showdown, with the president of the northeastern region facing a Thursday deadline set by the central government to back away from a bid for independence. Madrid has warned that if Catalonia moves unilaterally to secede, the government of...
Social media around the world responded with something like a primal scream to American actress Alyssa Milano’s Twitter request that women tell their stories of sexual harassment or assault with the hashtag #MeToo. Milano’s campaign grew out of accusations by actresses against movie producer Harvey...
A repeat presidential election in Kenya due next week was plunged into crisis Wednesday when senior electoral officials spoke out against threats and interference from politicians, and a senior electoral commissioner fled to the U.S. citing death threats. With a new election due in just over a...
Five years ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping took over a Communist Party torn by infighting and deceit. On Wednesday, he stood in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People and urged a revived party to shepherd society toward renewed glory. His speech signaled a push toward greater ideological cohesion...
Nearly four decades ago, Mo Fengyue leaned over the boat carrying her to China and dumped her Vietnamese identity cards into the river. With a flick of the wrist, Mo sacrificed the land of her birth for an ancestral homeland she’d never known. “You had to make a choice once you came back, so I...
Taliban militants launched a series of bombings across Afghanistan, targeting police and government facilities in attacks that killed 74 people and wounded more than 200, officials said Tuesday. In the deadliest attack, Taliban militants detonated car bombs and then stormed a police training center...
A push by security forces in Somalia to stop Al Qaeda-linked Shabab has cost the extremist group some territory and leaders. But the group has proved resilient. So although as of Monday the Shabab had not claimed responsibility for the weekend truck bombing in Mogadishu that killed more than 300...
Two weeks after Xi Jinping ascended to China’s most powerful post, he took his top lieutenants to a history museum. The seven men wore nearly identical black jackets. They stopped at an exhibit titled “The Road to Rejuvenation.” Surrounded by images of Japanese invaders and British traders, Xi...
Candidates loyal to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro won at least 17 of 23 governorships up for grabs in Sunday’s elections, according to the National Electoral Council, but opposition leaders immediately rejected the tally, citing exit polls that indicated their candidates won many states. ...
Syrian forces backed by the United States said Sunday that they have launched a final push to drive Islamic State from its last footholds in Raqqah, after tribal leaders and a provincial council negotiated the safe exit of civilians along with the surrender of local militants and family members....
Hundreds of Somalis marched in the streets of Mogadishu on Sunday to protest a deadly blast that killed 276 people in a busy shopping district in the country’s deadliest single bomb attack. About 300 others were reported injured in the attack, Information Minister Abdirahman O. Osman said. It occurred...