King Charles and Queen Camilla paid a surprise visit to the recovering Pope Francis on Wednesday during a state visit to Italy that coincided with the British royal couple’s 20th wedding anniversary. The pope met privately with the royals, the Vatican said in a statement. “During the meeting, the Pope expressed his good wishes to Their Majesties on the occasion ...

Russian-American woman Ksenia Karelina, who was serving a 12-year prison sentence for treason in Russia, was released as part of a prisoner exchange that saw her swapped for an accused smuggler held in the US. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X early on Thursday that Karelina had been released and was on her way to the United ...

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday said it has reached a preliminary agreement with Argentina on a $20 billion bailout, providing a welcome reprieve to President Javier Milei as he seeks to overturn the country’s old economic order. As a staff-level agreement, the rescue package still requires final approval from the IMF’s executive board. The board will convene in the ...

Germany’s two major centrist parties have reached a coalition deal, the culmination of weeks of negotiations after the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) emerged as winner in February’s federal election. Designated chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU party emerged victorious in February’s vote but failed to win a majority, with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) surging into second place and almost ...

If Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was looking for the easy political victories that once gushed from US President Donald Trump, he left the Oval Office empty-handed. The meeting was supposed to be about the two leaders negotiating the new 17% tariff the White House imposed on Israeli exports last week. In a gamble to avoid them, Israel had dropped ...

Three Americans have been transferred to the United States after their death sentences over a foiled deadly coup were commuted to life imprisonment last week by Congolese authorities, in the wake of talks with US government officials. The Americans, Marcel Malanga, Tyler Thompson Jr., and Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun were among 37 people sentenced to death by a military court in ...

Germany’s major centrist parties have reached a coalition deal, amid mounting pressure to form a government as Europe’s largest economy teeters on the brink of recession after sweeping tariffs imposed by the Trump administration caused global turmoil. Details of the coalition agreement remain unclear, and are set to be unveiled at a Berlin news conference at 9 a.m. ET. Chancellor-in-waiting ...

A prominent American academic working in Thailand could face years in jail after being charged with insulting the monarchy, in a rare case of a foreign national allegedly falling foul of the kingdom’s strict lese majeste law. Paul Chambers, a lecturer at Naresuan University in central Thailand who writes analysis on the kingdom’s military and politics, was formally charged when ...

The Duke of Sussex arrived at a London court on Tuesday to challenge the British government’s decision to downgrade his level of taxpayer-funded security while he is visiting the United Kingdom. After Harry and his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, announced they were stepping down as working members of the Royal Family in 2020, the Royal and VIP Executive Committee ...

China on Tuesday slammed US Vice President JD Vance for referring to the Chinese people as “peasants” in an interview that has drawn widespread ire and ridicule on China’s internet – and comparisons with Vance’s own self-proclaimed “hillbilly” background. Speaking to Fox News last Thursday, Vance defended President Donald Trump’s market-hammering tariffs and railed against the “globalist economy.” “What has ...