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WASHINGTON—Resilient demand, easing inflation and China’s reopening should allow the global economy to grow a bit faster than previously expected, the International Monetary Fund said.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.BEIJING—President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping reunited on Thursday morning in Beijing, kicking off a summit centered on improving their economic relationship, as the war in Iran and U.S. commitment to Taiwan loom.Speaking inside the Great Hall of the People, both leaders projected optimism for two days of talks.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The Trump administration’s attempts to shrug off exchanges of fire with Iran this week deepened concerns among Arab Gulf states that any deal to end the war will expose them to future conflict with a vengeful Iran.Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, dismissed the attacks by Iran on ships in the Strait of Hormuz this week as “low harassing fire.” On Thursday, President Trump said Iran “trifled with us.”The efforts to play down the attacks came as the Trump administration tried to protect a fragile cease-fire and keep peace talks moving forward.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.WASHINGTON—The antiabortion lobby expected to be more triumphant by now: A conservative Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Republicans control both chambers of Congress, and the self-styled “most pro-life president in history” again occupies the Oval Office.But abortions are up in the years after the overturning of Roe, and the antiabortion lobby has a new locus for blame.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.It has been a bruising week for the news cycle, starting with gunfire outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and ending with a geopolitical jolt from the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) exit from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec).Let’s begin with Washington.President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and other senior officials were rushed to safety after shots were heard outside the venue hosting the annual gathering of journalists and political leaders.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.President Trump says he is weighing whether to reduce the number of U.S. troops stationed in Germany. If he goes ahead, it would reshape the military presence that has allowed America to project power in Europe, the Middle East and beyond.Trump’s remarks came amid a spat with German Chancellor Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who told a group of students that the U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.WASHINGTON—Hours after gunfire erupted outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Sen. Kevin Cramer called President Trump to check on him.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.WASHINGTON—King Charles III arrives in Washington on Monday to publicly celebrate 250 years since a nascent U.S. republic ousted his forebears, and privately ensure that a fraying trans-Atlantic relationship can cope with another two-plus years of President Trump.The four day visit—billed as King Charles’s most high-wire diplomatic act since coming to the throne—will include a speech to Congress, the first time a British monarch has spoken there since 1991, a private audience with Trump and state dinner in Washington, as well as trips to New York and Virginia.The attempted attack at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner cast a shadow over the visit.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.WASHINGTON—The U.S. has burned through so many munitions in Iran that some administration officials increasingly assess that America couldn’t fully execute contingency plans to defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion if it occurred in the near term, U.S. officials said.The U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.If the Iran War has taught us nothing else, it’s that weaponizing shipping routes is now the military move du jour. That has rightly turned attention to the Taiwan Strait, but in this era of intense US-China rivalry, the Strait of Malacca is just as important.The shipping route—which carries roughly 40% of global trade and around 80% of China’s imported oil—has long been regarded as vulnerable to disruption. Southeast Asia’s divisions will make any crisis much harder to contain.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.WASHINGTON—The United Arab Emirates has opened talks with the U.S. about obtaining a financial backstop in case the Iran war plunges the oil-rich Persian Gulf state into a deeper crisis, U.S. officials said.U.A.E.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The Trump administration spent months demanding the Federal Reserve cut interest rates. This week, two people with close ties to the White House said waiting to move makes some sense.Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran, speaking at an economic forum in Washington, D.C., said Thursday he is reconsidering his rate cut outlook for the year, trimming his projection from four cuts to potentially three and acknowledging the inflation picture had become more complicated even before war with Iran began.The remarks came just days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also took a slight turn from his earlier stance on monetary policy.Cuts should come eventually, Bessent said at a Washington conference, but waiting for clarity on the Iran situation makes sense.

speech last September. Then, he told his parliament that Washington’s aim for denuclearization was a “delusional obsession.”The two leaders haven’t met since 2019, and the North Korean leader ignored an offer to reconnect when Trump visited South Korea last fall. The Kim regime hasn’t held formal nuclear talks with the U.S.

After reaching a framework for a trade deal with India that raised the hope of bilateral ties settling down, Washington has thrown a fresh curve ball. On Tuesday, the US commerce department announced varying import duties on solar panels from three Asian countries, including a whopping 126% on those from India. The other two, Indonesia and Laos, also face similarly high tariffs.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—President Trump delivered what his advisers billed as a marquee speech about the economy on Thursday afternoon. But for much of the day, Trump had other matters on his mind.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is not in retreat, although many have been predicting its untimely demise for some time. Far from shrinking, President Xi Jinping’s signature lending plan is adapting, and in doing so becoming harder to counter. It’s shifting from financing megaprojects to becoming a long-term development partner, particularly for fast-growing economies in the Global South.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Critical Minerals Ministerial Meeting convened in Washington D.C. last week underscored the extent to which resource security has become central to contemporary geopolitics.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Bengaluru | Mumbai: Relief will start trickling into India’s export hubs, where months of weak orders and job losses had followed the steep tariff hike by the US, the country's largest export market. Washington's move to cut tariffs on Indian goods is set to ease the pressure on labour-intensive exporters, such as textiles and gems and jewellery.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—In a dizzying three weeks on the world stage, President Trump deposed Venezuela’s leader, threatened its neighbors with military action, raised the specter of new strikes on Iran and ignited—then tamped down—a diplomatic crisis with Europe over his efforts to acquire Greenland. At each fresh turn, Congress has found itself scrambling to keep up, sparking new debates among lawmakers about how to claw back constitutional powers from the presidency over matters of foreign policy in the Trump era.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—After pulling back from strikes on Iran last week, President Trump is still pressing aides for what he terms “decisive" military options, U.S. officials said, as Iran appears to have tightened its control of the country and targets protesters through a crackdown that has killed thousands.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—In the days after Donald Trump approved a risky operation to oust Venezuela’s autocratic leader, some administration officials privately came up with a new moniker for the emboldened commander in chief: “President of the World." The nickname reflected Trump’s expanding ambitions and increasingly aggressive posture as he enters the second year of his second term. The president is pushing boundaries at home and abroad as he looks to demonstrate power, cement his legacy and beat the clock ahead of midterm elections that could end unified Republican control in Washington.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. For decades only diehard royalists took Reza Pahlavi seriously. Iran’s regime, its opponents and Western diplomats dismissed the son of the last shah as the “Clown Prince".