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

Trump departed Beijing on Friday with almost nothing concrete to show for his two-day summit with Xi. By ANTON TROIANOVSKI There was a vague agreement that China would purchase Boeing jets and more U.S. soybeans. There was discussion about Iran and opening the Strait of Hormuz, and a nod to other issues, such as cracking down on chemicals used to make fentanyl. But President Donald Trump departed Beijing on Friday with almost nothing concrete to show for his two-day summit wi

President Barack Obama, left, with President Raúl Castro of Cuba at an exhibition baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban national baseball team in Havana, March 22, 2016. Last week, the Trump administration dramatically ramped up pressure on Cuba. The American embargo has left the country’s oil reserves empty. The U.S. military and spy agencies have stepped up surveillance flights around the island. (Stephen Crowley/The New York By JULIAN E. BARNES, TYLER PAG

A gas station in Havana, Cuba on May 2, 2026. In January, the Trump administration cut off oil shipments from Venezuela, which had been supplying a large amount of Cuba’s oil. (Lisette Poole/The New York Times) By FRANCES ROBLES After months of a debilitating energy crisis that has caused widespread power outages, Cuba’s oil reserves has run dry, the government said, which is likely to plunge the country into even more frequent, bigger and longer nationwide blackouts. The gov