Pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, after his conviction on charges of of “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces,” at the Apple Daily newsroom in Hong Kong, Aug. 12, 2020. The sentence for the media mogul, along with long prison terms for his editors, shows how Hong Kong enforces Xi Jinping’s red lines with a new severity. (Lam Yik Fei/The New York Times) By DAVID PIERSON For decades, media mogul Jimmy Lai

President Barack Obama and President Raúl Castro during an arrival ceremony at the Revolutionary Palace in Havana, Cuba on March 21, 2016. The Trump administration, which has tightened the U.S. chokehold on Cuba by cutting off foreign oil, is betting that this is the Cuban communist revolution’s last year. (Stephen Crowley/The New York Times) By FRANCES ROBLES and DAVID C. ADAMS Celebrations broke out in front of Miami’s Versailles restaurant nearly 20 years ago after Fidel C

Visitors in the afternoon sun at a beach in Albufeira, Faro district, Portugal, on March 19, 2024. Portugal on Sunday elected a former leader of the country’s Socialist Party with wide establishment support in a landslide victory over his nationalist opponent. (Gonçalo Fonseca/The New York Times) By JASON HOROWITZ Portugal on Sunday elected António José Seguro, a former leader of Portugal’s Socialist Party with wide establishment support, in a landslide victory over his natio

Juan Pablo Guanipa, a centrist opposition party leader, waves the flag of Venezuela as a caravan of supporters transport him following his release from prison in Caracas on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. Hours after releasing Guanipa, the Venezuelan interim government took him back into custody after it said he breached the terms of his release conditions. (The New York Times) By GENEVIEVE GLATSKY Venezuela on Sunday freed a group of prominent opposition leaders, according to statemen

President Donald Trump and Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. In a snap election held Sunday, voters offered a resounding mandate for Takaichi’s economic policies and tough stance on immigration and China. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times) By JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ, RIVER AKIRA DAVIS, KIUKO NOTOYA and HISAKO UENO Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of Japan made a big gamble on Sunday, holding a snap election only 110 d

Supporters of the Move Forward Party in Nonthaburi, Thailand, May 18, 2023. In a surprising outcome that analysts say reflected in part the growing unpredictability in global affairs, it was the nationalist vision that prevailed in Sunday’s election in Thailand. (Lauren DeCicca/The New York Times) By SUI-LEE WEE It boiled down to a choice between two starkly different visions of Thailand’s future: one dominated by nationalism, respect for the monarchy and defense of the statu

View of Coral Bay and East End in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, Nov. 19, 2024. In 1917, the United States bought Caribbean islands from Denmark and agreed to respect Denmark’s hold over Greenland. The deal resurfaced with President Trump’s recent threats to seize Greenland. (Erika P. Rodríguez/The New York Times) By AMELIA NIERENBERG President Donald Trump’s recent fixation with Greenland has brought attention to a little-known snag. More than a century ago, the United State

By ANATOLY KURMANAEV and ANNIE CORREAL Venezuelan security agents have questioned two prominent businessmen who have faced money laundering charges in the United States, according to five Venezuelans and a U.S. official. The move against the men, with ties to the deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, signaled a deepening cooperation between the two countries. The politically connected businessmen, Raúl Gorrín and Alex Saab, were detained in the capital, Caracas, overnight