World

Supporters and relatives of hostages captured in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks burst into a meeting at Israel’s Parliament on Monday to demand that lawmakers take greater action to secure the captives’ release from Gaza. The protest reflected the growing frustration of hostage families who have become increasingly concerned about the fate of their family…

For more than a month now, the Biden administration and other allies of Israel have been urging its leaders to scale back the war in Gaza and reduce civilian casualties. It’s now clear that Israel’s leaders have followed the advice, at least partially. The most tangible sign of the change is the decline in deaths…

Bearing witness, at close range and often at great risk, is the essence of a dispatch, and in 2023, our correspondents filed 80 of them from 37 countries, capturing the human experience from almost every angle: the good, the bad and the wrenching. In a year marked by conflicts, dozens of dispatches came directly from…

In the intense war of words over the Israel-Gaza war, a particular phrase has popped up repeatedly. At protests, on fliers and in some mainstream publications, it is common to see Israel described — or more likely, assailed — as a “settler-colonial” state. The concept of settler colonialism originates in academia, where its use has…

The Russian pop star winced as the black kitten he was cuddling in Russian-occupied Ukraine licked the crook of his neck for about the 15th time. Several weeks earlier, the musician, Dima Bilan, had been in Moscow, mingling in a see-through shirt with celebrities at an “almost naked” theme party that caused an uproar in…

As the traveling brass band ended San Giovanni Lipioni’s annual holiday concert with a rendition of Wham’s “Last Christmas,” the gray-haired villagers seated in the old church of the central Italian hill town gazed dotingly at the few young children clapping to the music. “Today there is a little movement,” Cesarina Falasco, 73, said from…

U.S. official heads to Middle East for hostage talks Brett McGurk, President Biden’s Middle East coordinator at the White House, departed for Cairo yesterday for talks aimed at the release of more hostages held by Hamas in exchange for a pause in Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip, U.S. officials said. Egypt and Qatar…

A landslide in southwestern China’s Yunnan Province on Monday left at least two people dead and another 45 people buried, according to Chinese state media, as a cold wave blanketed much of the country. State media said that more than 500 people had been evacuated. Aerial footage of the disaster site from the state broadcaster,…

The U.S. military said on Sunday that it had declared two Navy SEALs dead after they went missing 10 days ago during an operation at sea to intercept weapons from Iran headed to Houthi fighters. They are among the first known U.S. fatalities in Washington’s campaign against the Houthis, who have launched dozens of attacks…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a gigantic new temple in the Indian city of Ayodhya on Monday, the conclusion of a mostly 20th-century odyssey in which Hindu nationalists eventually tore down a centuries-old mosque that has now been replaced with a structure devoted to the Hindu deity Ram. Leading up to the temple’s consecration,…