By ERIC SCHMITT The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its escort warships entered the southern Caribbean Sea on Wednesday and will remain in the region for at least a few days as part of the Trump administration’s campaign to pressure the Cuban government, according to the military’s Southern Command and a U.S. official. Right now, the administration intends to use the Nimitz, and its wing of fighter jets, as a show of force, not as a platform for major military operations, as

A woman walks into a furniture workshop with images of, from left, Fidel Castro, the Cuban flag, Raúl Castro, and Che Guevara, right, in Havana, on Wednesday, May 20, 2026. (Lisette Poole/The New York Times) By EMMA BUBOLA As the news of the U.S. indictment of Raúl Castro, the former president of Cuba on charges of murder, spread across the world, many Cubans were kept in the dark. Widespread blackouts on the fuel-starved island and spotty phone signals meant word of the new,

In a photo from the World Health Organization, Health supplies from the World Health Organization are unloaded at the airport in Bunia city in the Ituri Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on Tuesday, May 18, 2026. Health officials have reported more than 130 suspected deaths and 513 cases, a sharp rise since the outbreak was first identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. (World Health Organization via The New York Times) By LYNSEY CHUTEL, YAN

Raul Castro, right, then president of Cuba, confers with his brother Fidel Castro during the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba in Havana on April 19, 2011. The U.S. Justice Department has indicted Raul Castro, the former president and defense minister of Cuba, on murder and conspiracy charges tied to the downing of two American civilian planes in 1996. Castro was charged along with five others in the case. (José Goitía/The New York Times) By ALAN FEUER, FRANCES RO

Secretary of State Marco Rubio holds a briefing at the White House in Washington on Tuesday, May 5, 2026. “Today’s designations further restrict the Cuban regime’s ability to suppress the will of the Cuban people,” Rubio said in a statement earlier this week. (Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times) By FRANCES ROBLES The Trump administration on Monday intensified its pressure campaign against Cuba’s government, issuing sanctions on three government agencies and 11 top officials.

President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping of China review members of the Chinese military outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing during their two-day summit, on Thursday, May 14, 2026. With the upheaval in the Persian Gulf disrupting oil and gas supplies, Russia is looking to deepen its energy ties to China. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times) By IVAN NECHEPURENKO and DAVID PIERSON President Vladimir Putin of Russia arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a state visi

By MINHO KIM Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said Sunday that weapons sales from the United States remained a crucial element for maintaining peace and stability in the region, comments made after President Donald Trump suggested a multibillion dollar weapons deal with the island could be used as a “negotiating chip” with China. Lai made a point to thank Trump for his support since his first term as president, including “a sustained increased in the scale and value of arms s

Alex Saab, center, during an election rally for Nicolás Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, July 25, 2024. The successor to Venezuela’s captured President Nicolás Maduro is purging the people who kept him in power. (Alejandro Cegarra/The New York Times) By SIMON ROMERO A scandal-plagued billionaire tycoon close to Venezuela’s deposed president, Nicolás Maduro, was extradited to the United States over the weekend, Venezuela’s government said. The extradition of Alex Saab, a Colombia

By ALI WATKINS and MAAHIL MOHAMED The bodies of the remaining four Italians who went missing while scuba diving in the Maldives last week have been located in a deep underwater cave, the Maldives National Defense Force said Monday. Authorities had recovered one body on Thursday, the day the group of five researchers went missing. The four bodies were “located inside the Vaavu Atoll cave on a joint search and recovery operation,” the Maldives agency said in a statement posted

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after arriving at the White House on Marine One in Washington, May 15, 2026. The president has sought to force Iran to accept his terms on its nuclear program or else face renewed war. An emboldened Iran has rebuffed Trump’s demands. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times) By AARON BOXERMAN President Donald Trump threatened renewed war with Iran on Sunday night in his latest ultimatum to the country, which has so far resisted U.S. demands