This summer, for the first time in my life, I was the — recipient? beneficiary? some (not me!) would say victim — of a surprise birthday party. It was a delight through and through, but the thing I keep marveling at is how genuinely surprising it all was, from the …

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said on Saturday that the number of civilian casualties in Lebanon was “far too high” and that he would “like to see Israel scale back some of the strikes it’s taking, especially in and around Beirut.” Mr. Austin is the most senior U.S. official …

Iraqi regulators have suspended the license of a Saudi-owned television channel and are taking steps to terminate its right to operate in Iraq after the channel aired a report describing former leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran’s Quds Force as “faces of terrorism.” The suspension of the channel, MBC Media …

After spending more than 810 days in a cramped cell with little more than his books to keep him company, one of Guatemala’s most renowned journalists was released to house detention on Saturday night as he waits to find out whether he will be granted a new trial. The decision …

Electricity cuts across an entire nation. A capital rationing water. A mayor encouraging people to shower together to save precious drops. The world’s largest river system, the Amazon, which sustains some 30 million people across eight countries, is drying up. A record-breaking drought that is well into its second year …

For months, Serhii Hnezdilov, a Ukrainian soldier, pushed for troops exhausted by years of war with Russia to be replaced with fresh conscripts. He expressed his concerns in interviews, on social networks and in a podcast, drawing on his five years of fighting in an infantry brigade. But Mr. Hnezdilov, …

Panda exchanges, like the one that sent two bears to Washington’s National Zoo this week, are governed by closely held contracts. In most countries, they are never released. Lawyers for the Smithsonian, which operates the National Zoo, cited a confidentiality clause and refused to release a 2020 contract. The U.S. …

Israeli bombs have blown up its munitions stores and killed thousands of its fighters, including many seasoned commanders. And yet, Hezbollah keeps fighting. Since Israel invaded southern Lebanon nearly three weeks ago, its forces have confronted a flexible enemy that uses the environment to launch complex and sometimes deadly operations. …

The killing of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader whose decision to attack Israel more than a year ago set off the ever-widening war tearing up the Middle East, could be the key to ending the bloodshed. Now that Israel has decapitated Hamas in Gaza, the thinking goes, it might be …

A lawyer and a party official for the leading opposition candidate in Mozambique’s recent presidential election were fatally shot in their car late Friday night, inflaming tensions in a southern African nation that was already on edge after the highly disputed vote this month. The lawyer, Elvino Dias, had been …