World

The gulf between what the United States military is recommending and what Israel appears intent on doing in the Gaza Strip could not be wider.

A failed crop, followed by a wave of financial speculation, put cocoa prices on a roller coaster this year, rattling an industry reliant on inexpensive crops and labor. This is not how things normally go in the cocoa market.

U.S. officials have long seen their country as a Pacific power. But the Biden administration says that is no longer good enough to foil what it sees as the greatest threat to the democratic island of Taiwan -- a Chinese invasion that could succeed within days.

The Biden administration is set to announce new tariffs as high as 100% on Chinese electric vehicles and additional import taxes on other Chinese goods, including semiconductors, as early as next week, according to people familiar with the matter.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia started a new offensive around his country’s second-biggest city as Kremlin forces moved to breach the border in the northeast.

One key American official is quietly keeping Washington’s lines of communication open across the Middle East as the U.S. and Israel endure their worst falling-out in decades over the war in Gaza.

Ukrainian drones struck two oil depots and a refinery across Russia in a 24-hour period, including one deep in Russian territory, officials on both sides said Thursday, as Kyiv presses a campaign aimed at hampering the country's military operations and putting strain on its most important industry.

Israel is ready to “stand alone” in the fight against its enemies, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Thursday, after President Biden warned that he would halt the flow of certain weapons if Israeli troops invaded Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Fine brandy, a Tour de France jersey and old grudges against NATO: On his first European tour in five years, Chinese President Xi Jinping is engaging in a diplomatic dance that is seen by some as a concerted Chinese bid to stress-test the transatlantic alliance.

The U.K. won’t support a major Israeli operation in Rafah, Foreign Secretary David Cameron said, echoing the stance of the U.S. but stopping short of matching President Joe Biden’s warning that he would stop additional weapons shipments to the Middle East nation if it went ahead.

 The UK expelled a top Russian envoy and imposed new restrictions on the country’s diplomats, in one of the most high-profile responses yet to what allied officials describe as a coordinated espionage campaign to weaken support for Ukraine.

The Biden administration dispatched the head of the CIA to meet Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, part of an effort to limit Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah and push for a cease-fire deal with Hamas.

Russians are learning to live with the war that Vladimir Putin has unleashed in Ukraine. With Putin being sworn in on Tuesday for another six years as president, the invasion has become part of everyday life for many Russians, confounding expectations that the pressure of international sanctions and deepening isolation would eventually turn them against him. Far from protesting, many are rallying around the flag.

Israeli forces took control of the Rafah border-crossing in Gaza on Tuesday morning ahead of a possible assault on the city.

Hamas said Monday it agreed to a Qatari-Egyptian cease-fire proposal and Israel said it would send meditators to negotiate, reviving hopes of an extended pause to the fighting in Gaza even as Israel vowed to press on with its long-awaited military campaign in Rafah.

President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Monday as the Israel military urged civilians to move out of the southern Gazan city of Rafah, according to U.S and Israeli officials.