National-World

By Avery Schmitz, Isa Cardona, Lou Robinson, Duncan Senkumba, CNN (CNN) — The Venezuelan military has been actively promoting on social media its nationwide preparations to defend against a possible US offensive, as tensions with the Trump administration continue to escalate. Experts say the new and exaggerated show of force, which included low-altitude fighter jet

By Catherine Nicholls, Chris Lau, Jadyn Beverley Sham and Lex Harvey, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — A deadly inferno tore through a massive housing complex in Hong Kong earlier this week, killing at least 146 people with many still missing, in the city’s worst disaster in decades. About 40 people are still thought to be

By Christopher Lamb, CNN Rome (CNN) — Pope Leo XIV begins a six-day visit to Turkey and Lebanon on Thursday, his first foreign trip since his election and one on which he’s expected to emphasize key themes of his fledgling pontificate – among them dialogue and unity. Overseas trips are an important part of the

By Eugenia Yosef, Dana Karni and Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN (CNN) — Israeli forensic examiners have identified the remains of a deceased Israeli hostage returned from Gaza as those of Dror Or, the prime minister’s office said on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Hamas transferred the remains to Israel through the Red Cross. The handover leaves

By Isa Soares, Vasco Cotovio, Michael Rios, CNN Bogotá, Colombia (CNN) — As US military activity ramps up in the Caribbean and the Pacific, Colombia’s president alleged the Trump administration’s pressure campaign on Venezuela is more about accessing the South American country’s oil than fighting drug trafficking. “(Oil) is at the heart of the matter,”

By Helen Regan, CNN (CNN) — Global demand for rare earth minerals is driving the toxic pollution of some of Asia’s most important rivers, threatening the health and livelihoods of tens of millions of people. Rare earths are at the center of furious geopolitical competition, especially between the United States and China, the latter of

Story by Associated Press Paris (AP) — A couple of star giant pandas who lived in France for 13 years and gave birth to three cubs were on their way back to China on Tuesday, the Beauval Zoo said. Huan Huan, the female, and her partner Yuan Zi, both 17, are traveling on a 12-hour

Story by the Associated Press (AP) — Joan Branson, the wife of British billionaire Richard Branson, has died at age 80. Branson announced her death Tuesday on Instagram and LinkedIn. No other details were disclosed. “Heartbroken to share that Joan, my wife and partner for 50 years, has passed away,” he said. “She was the

Story by Reuters (Reuters) — The EU’s highest court ruled on Tuesday that same-sex marriages must be respected throughout the bloc and rebuked Poland for refusing to recognize a marriage between two of its citizens that took place in Germany. The court said Poland had been wrong in not recognizing the marriage of the couple

By Hira Humayun, CNN (CNN) — Two dozen schoolgirls who were kidnapped from a boarding school in Nigeria’s northwestern Kebbi state last week have been freed, according to officials, as the country grapples with a wave of mass abductions in recent days. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu welcomed their release on Tuesday. “I am relieved that

By Lauren Kent, CNN (CNN) — Meetings in Switzerland. Talks in the United Arab Emirates. A possible Ukrainian presidential visit to the United States. And yet, despite the recent flurry of diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine and officials touting promising developments, more often than not in off-the-record briefings, it’s hard to say if