CNN – World

By Jessie Yeung, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — The Hong Kong residential towers engulfed by smoke and flames on Wednesday were surrounded by an ancient construction material familiar to anyone who’s spent time in the one of the world’s most densely packed urban hubs. It’s nearly impossible to walk down the streets of Hong Kong

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

By Max Saltman, Julia Vargas Jones, CNN (CNN) — Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro must begin serving his 27-year prison sentence for plotting an attempted coup, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ruled Tuesday. The former president’s defense team had chosen not to file a final appeal after his conviction for plotting a coup in

By Barbie Latza Nadeau, Jack Guy, CNN Rome (CNN) — It was the dark hair on the back of the neck, hands and chin of the elderly woman renewing her identity card that first tipped off authorities to an alleged crime and led to the arrest of a 57-year-old man in northern Italy. The man,

By Joseph Ataman, CNN Paris (CNN) — Four more people suspected of involvement in the robbery of the French crown jewels from the Louvre have been detained, the Paris prosecutor’s office told CNN Tuesday. Two men, aged 38 and 39, and two women, aged 31 and 40, all from the Paris region, were detained by

By Christopher Lamb, CNN Rome (CNN) — The Vatican has issued a warning against the rise of polyamory, insisting marriage is the stable, lifelong and exclusive partnership between a man and woman. A new document defending monogamy, signed off by Pope Leo XIV, was written as “various public forms of non-monogamous unions – sometimes called

CNN By Rhea Mogul, CNN (CNN) — A volcano in Ethiopia has erupted for the first known time in 10,000 years, spewing plumes of thick smoke and ash high into the sky and impacting air travel thousands of miles away in India. The long-dormant Hayli Gubbi volcano in the Afar region in Ethiopia’s northeast roared

By Natasha Bertrand, Lex Harvey, CNN (CNN) — US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll held meetings with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi on Monday about a proposed plan for ending the war in Ukraine, with talks to continue Tuesday, a US official told CNN. The meetings, which follow days of intense diplomatic efforts as the US

By Jessie Yeung, Kocha Olarn, CNN Bangkok, Thailand (CNN) — A “once in 300 year” storm has battered southern Thailand, bringing floodwaters more than eight feet high that in one city cut off access to a maternity ward holding 30 newborn babies, staff and officials said. At least 19 people across southern Thailand have died,

By Rhea Mogul, CNN (CNN) — A volcano in Ethiopia has erupted for the first known time in 10,000 years, spewing plumes of thick smoke and ash high into the sky and impacting air travel thousands of miles away in India. The long-dormant Hayli Gubbi volcano in the Afar region in Ethiopia’s northeast roared to