World

Analysis: U.S. military buildup in the Middle East raises specter of war with Iran as diplomacy stalls The arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford — the world’s largest aircraft carrier — at a U.S. naval base on Crete has turned a simmering standoff with Iran into a test of resolve and restraint. With the USS Abraham Lincoln already in the region, hundreds of fighter jets, and critical enabling assets such as refueling tankers and airborne warning and control systems in place, Washington has amassed its most formidable presence in…

Kharkiv, Ukraine — On a frigid Friday morning, as children climbed the steps from Lyceum No. 105 — an underground school purpose-built to shield them from Russian airstrikes — municipal crews were out in force. They hacked at ice, scooped slush, and scrubbed sidewalks clean. The joke among Ukrainians about Kharkiv’s devotion to well-groomed streets survives even here, under constant threat from the sky. The city authorities have had little rest since February 2022. Vladimir Putin’s forces have pounded Ukraine’s…

Israel launched what it called a “pre-emptive strike” on Iran as air-raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem and Israelis received mobile alerts warning of an “extremely serious” threat, the Defense Ministry said Saturday. “The State of Israel has launched a pre-emptive strike against Iran. Defence Minister Israel Katz has declared a special and immediate state of emergency throughout the country,” the ministry said in a statement. An Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran was preparing for retaliation and vowed a “crushing”…

Trump orders U.S. to halt use of Anthropic tech as Pentagon clash over AI ‘red lines’ escalates President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to “immediately” stop using Anthropic’s technology after the San Francisco-based AI start-up rejected a Pentagon demand for unconditional military use of its Claude models, igniting a high-stakes confrontation over mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. Anthropic accused the Pentagon of “intimidation” and vowed to sue, saying it would not allow its systems to be used for “mass…

CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. — Former President Bill Clinton on Friday denied any wrongdoing in a closed-door deposition before a Republican-led House committee investigating links to Jeffrey Epstein, as Democrats pressed to turn the spotlight onto former President Donald Trump’s connections to the late sex offender. “I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,” Clinton said in an opening statement shared on social media. He said he severed ties with Epstein well before the financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses. House Oversight…

The United States on Friday designated Iran a “state sponsor of wrongful detention,” the first country blacklisted under a new policy that could eventually lead to a U.S. travel ban for the Islamic Republic. The move comes as Washington builds up its military presence near Iran and threatens to strike over concerns tied to Tehran’s disputed nuclear program. “The Iranian regime must stop taking hostages and release all Americans unjustly detained in Iran, steps that could end this designation and associated actions,” U.S.…

Paramount Skydance will acquire Warner Bros Discovery in a $110 billion (€93 billion) transaction, ending a high-stakes bidding war after Netflix declined to match Paramount’s latest offer, the companies said. The deal, with an equity value of about $81 billion, is slated to close in the third quarter of 2026, pending regulatory approvals and other customary conditions. Reuters first reported that a deal had been reached, citing an audio clip from a global town hall. Shares of Paramount rose about 1% in extended trading,…

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday raised the prospect of a “friendly takeover” of Cuba, saying Secretary of State Marco Rubio is handling contacts with Havana “at a very high level,” as tensions spike and reports surface of back-channel talks with a member of the Castro family. “The Cuban government is talking with us, and they’re in a big deal of trouble,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House for a trip to Texas. “They have no money. They have no anything right now, but they’re talking with us,…

In Kharkiv, school starts beneath the city. Since 2024, pupils in Ukraine’s second-largest urban center have attended classes underground, a wartime adaptation to relentless Russian missile and drone strikes that has turned metro stations and purpose-built shelters into classrooms. Kharkiv sits roughly 30 kilometers from the front line. At the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the city was heavily bombed; today, air raid alerts still sound multiple times a day, sending a metronomic reminder of danger across a…

‘Ambulances are a target’: Irish volunteers detail peril and resolve in Ukraine’s east As the war in Ukraine enters its fifth year, two volunteers from County Clare describe a battlefield transformed by drones, a frontline that stretches for hundreds of miles and a civilian life that continues in uneasy parallel with nightly air raids. For Oran McInerney of Doonbeg, the job is speed and nerve. An emergency medical technician who has traveled to Ukraine repeatedly over the past four years, he worked with a U.S.-based…