Countries negotiating a global treaty to curb plastic pollution have failed to reach agreement, with more than 100 nations wanting to cap production while a handful of oil-producers were prepared only to target plastic waste. The fifth UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) meeting intended to yield a legally binding global…

Romanians cast ballots Sunday in a parliamentary election sandwiched between a two-round presidential race, the first of which has plunged the European Union and NATO member into unprecedented turmoil following allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference. Sunday’s vote will elect a new government and prime minister and determine the…

Protesters rallied in Georgia’s capital for a fourth straight night on Sunday and there were signs that opposition was spreading across the country to the government’s decision to suspend talks on joining the European Union. The country of 3.7 million people has seen months of rising tension between the ruling…

At least 200 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on northern Gaza Saturday, according to local health officials, as the United Nations said it would pause aid deliveries through the enclave’s main crossing after more of its trucks were stolen. The developments underscore the worsening humanitarian situation in the enclave,…

A bear that ran amok in a supermarket in northern Japan has been caught two days after it attacked a worker, the latest in a surge of encounters between bears and people in the country. The bear wandered into the store in Akita City on Saturday and attacked a 47-year-old…

Australian police seized the country’s largest haul of cocaine aboard a fishing boat that had broken down near the coast of Queensland, arresting 13 people alleged to be part of a drug-smuggling syndicate. Authorities tracked a recreational fishing boat as it traveled out to sea where it allegedly met a…

Days of protests have rocked Georgia following the government’s controversial decision to delay the former Soviet country’s bid to join the European Union. Tensions have been brewing for months in the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million people, where critics accuse the ruling Georgian Dream party of following increasingly authoritarian,…

Sectarian violence has killed at least 130 people and wounded 200 others in Pakistan’s northwest in the last 10 days, officials said Sunday. Violence flared in Kurram district on November 21 when gunmen ambushed a vehicle convoy and killed 52 people, mostly Shiite Muslims. Nobody claimed responsibility for the assault,…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a record-breaking defense budget, setting aside a staggering third of the government’s total spending as the war in Ukraine drains resources from both sides nearly three years on. The budget for 2025, which was published Sunday, allocates about $126 billion (13.5 trillion rubles) to…