By VIVIAN NEREIM, MAX BEARAK and CAROLINE HOUCK Saudi Arabia said Thursday it was forming a military coalition to protect shipping, as attacks in the Red Sea and the renewed hostilities between the United States and Iran further rattle the global economy. Fourteen countries affirmed their support for the new maritime coalition, the Saudi Defense Ministry said in a statement. It remains unclear how the coalition will operate, and which ships or aircraft participating countries

People take shelter in a metro station in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, during Russian air strikes in the early hours of Thursday, July 30, 2026. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said that a family of five had been killed at home in the latest in a series of large-scale aerial assaults by Moscow. (Jedrzej Nowicki/The New York Times) By CONSTANT MÉHEUT Russia pounded Ukrainian cities overnight with a barrage of missiles and drones that killed at least eight people and wound

By JOHNNY DÍAZ and FRANCESCA REGALADO A powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck southwestern Japan on Tuesday afternoon, killing 13 people and injuring dozens of others, damaging buildings and homes, igniting fires and prompting a search for people who may have been trapped in rubble. Here’s what to know. Where did the earthquake happen? The earthquake hit around 4:30 p.m. local time in Kumamoto prefecture on Kyushu island, the southernmost of Japan’s main islands. The earth

A solar-powered electric tricycle ferries passengers in Havana on June 30, 2026. President Donald Trump has tried to strangle Cuba by blocking its oil imports. But six months later, the island is finding ways to endure. (Lisette Poole González/The New York Times) By JACK NICAS For months, President Donald Trump has been predicting that Cuba is about to collapse. “It’s just going to fall,” he told reporters on Jan. 4, a day after taking control of Venezuela’s oil, which had be

By FRANCESCA REGALADO, RIVER AKIRA DAVIS and LEO SANDS A powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit southwest Japan on Tuesday afternoon, igniting fires near its epicenter, damaging buildings and highways, and injuring dozens, according to Japan’s public broadcaster. Fire officials said they were racing to rescue people feared trapped inside a shopping mall in a southern neighborhood of Kumamoto city, after its second floor collapsed and injured at least two people. Aerial footage

People at an evacuation center in Villamanta, Spain, a town southwest of Madrid, July 26, 2026. (Joseph Fox/The New York Times) By JASON HOROWITZ As the worst wildfires in Spanish history tore through the country, Elena Sánchez paused from selling beers in a kiosk on the edge of an artificial lake in Madrid and pointed west toward the sunset. It was the wrong color. “It’s not supposed to be like that,” Sánchez, 54, said Sunday evening, looking at a hazy gray blush — the fire’

A child comforts a dog outside an evacuation center in Villamanta, Spain, a town southwest of Madrid, July 26, 2026. Firefighters in Spain and France were racing against the clock Tuesday to keep ferocious wildfires near Madrid and Bordeaux in check before a scorching heat wave hits both areas. (Joseph Fox/The New York Times) By CARLOS BARRÁGAN, ROSER TOLL PIFARRÉ and SÉGOLÈNE LE STRADIC Firefighters in Spain and France were racing against the clock Tuesday to keep ferocious

Seals frolic frozen in bronze statue in a public square in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, on June 20, 2025. (Ivor Prickett/The New York Times) By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN Anganni Mikaelsen was cruising past icebergs in his boat when he spotted a glistening head pop up in the water. Pow! His rifle shattered the tranquility. Mikaelsen was hunting seals, as Greenlanders have for centuries. People here eat seals, feed them to sled dogs and wear sealskins. They trade the pelts for money and

Consuelo Lorza, 88, and her 11-year-old granddaughter, Sara, at an evacuation center in Villamanta, Spain, a town southwest of Madrid, on Sunday, July 26, 2026. In central Spain, thousands of people are sleeping in shelters or in their cars, some of them evacuated multiple times ahead of advancing flames, awaiting word on what they left behind. (Joseph Fox/The New York Times) By CARLOS BARRAGÁN Arantxa Alcázar stepped into her garden on Thursday when she heard police officers

By AMELIA NIERENBERG and TATIANA FIRSOVA Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany on Monday called for tougher monitoring of individuals who are security threats, a day after prosecutors said the suspect in Saturday’s terrorist attack near a gay Pride event in Berlin was released from detention in May. “If we cannot detain such potential offenders, we must do everything we can to restrict their freedom of movement as much as possible,” Merz said at a news conference. On Sunday, G