World faces 'stress test' of dangerous conflicts and climate change
Huge security threats loom from the crisis in Yemen to Afghanistan's fighting to the U.S.-China trade war.
Iran
Iran's foreign policy is dominated by its contentious nuclear program and its strained relationship with the international community. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iran nuclear deal, and inspections by the IAEA are central to global concerns. While Iran insists on a peaceful program, its enrichment activities and withdrawal of cooperation with the IAEA have heightened tensions and triggered sanctions from the U.S. and E.U.
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Hatred stirred by populism brings deadliest year yet for journalists
In the past year at least 80 journalists were killed, 348 were detained in prison and 60 were taken as hostages.
Global patent filings show steady rise, but at slowing growth rate
China is responsible for much of the growth as innovation becomes the main intellectual property battleground.
Qatar quits OPEC to boost its liquefied natural gas production
Qatar joined OPEC in 1961 and has been its 11th biggest producer, putting out 600,000 barrels of crude oil a day.
U.S. midterm elections will revise America's international outlook
Democrats vowed to redirect, block or investigate the U.S. president's foreign and domestic programs and priorities.
Trump administration's Nikki Haley to resign as U.S. ambassador to U.N.
The U.S. envoy to the U.N. will depart at the end of 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump announced without explaining why.
Experts dash false hopes that climate change won't bring misery
The Nobel Prize-winning U.N. panel on climate change said it's life or death for much of the planet as soon as 2040.
U.S. ordered by U.N. tribunal to lift some economic sanctions on Iran
Judges ruled sanctions reinstated by the Trump administration breached a treaty between Iran and the U.S.
Wetlands vanishing at triple rate of forests as global temperatures rise
The losses from 1970 to 2015 threaten the 'world's most valuable ecosystem' with a huge amount of biodiversity.
Trump calls U.N. 'unaccountable' in boastful attack on multilateralism
At the U.N. General Assembly, the U.S. president attacked the world body as a largely useless "global bureaucracy."
Nuclear power's complexities emerge in the age of climate change
The picture is complicated by safety and environmental concerns and IAEA's dual roles as watchdog and promoter.
U.N. task force seeks Syrian civilian protections but fighting doesn't stop
Russia and Turkey plan to allow a 'war on terror' to continue against fighters living near civilians in the Idlib region.
Syrian buffer zone for Idlib region is latest use of an old diplomatic tool
The concept of a demilitarization zone goes back almost a half-millennium to Europe's rules on demolishing forts.
Ethiopia tops list of newly uprooted people in latest global assessment
New ethnic clashes in the south of the country and violence along a border region displaced more than 1 million people.
Evidence of election meddling competes with voting assistance
Russians and Americans have a complicated history of election meddling abroad, but they are not equivalent.
Difficulties counting the uncounted death toll in Syria add to horrors
The number of people killed in Syria is commonly assessed at more than half a million, almost certainly an undercount.