Israel and Hamas reached an agreement on an initial six-week truce in part by putting off their most intractable disputes to a nebulous second phase — which neither side is sure they will reach. Under the agreement, 16 days into the initial cease-fire, Israeli and Hamas officials are expected to begin negotiating next steps: an […]

As a truce took hold on Sunday in Gaza, potentially ending the longest and deadliest war in a century of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, two men used the same metaphor to describe how they felt. “The weight on my chest has lifted,” said Ziad Obeid, a Gazan civil servant displaced several times during the war. “We have […]

In the early weeks of the war, her mother expressed concern that Israeli military operations in Gaza could endanger the hostages. Romi Gonen’s older sister, Yarden, told The New York Times in February that she regularly went to a plaza in Tel Aviv where families of hostages have held vigils. “None of us is doing […]

President Biden and his aides came into office with deep experience in trans-Atlantic affairs. But over four years, they focused too on the Pacific, where China strains to be the dominant player. Their main effort: building up alliances to counter China. President-elect Donald J. Trump has already signaled a different approach to China. He invited […]

One sector that most publishers in Africa say is rapidly growing is children’s books. Lola Shoneyin, a novelist and the publisher of Ouida Books in Nigeria, is leading a project to train writers, agents, illustrators, editors and graphic designers on the publication of children’s books. The project, known as BookStorm, was born from a trip […]

“That to me, I think, has a practical answer, which is government-to-government agreements that emplace effective security safeguards and transparency around the hardware, the model weights and the know-how, and that’s what we have worked through in our M.O.U. [memorandum of understanding] with the U.A.E., and I believe that is a sustainable model for having […]

Could this be the year, as President-elect Donald J. Trump has promised, when Russia’s war against Ukraine is brought to an end? The possibility of peace brings “tears to my eyes,” said Valeria, 30, an English teacher from eastern Ukraine. As Mr. Trump prepares to return to the White House on Monday, he is promising […]

Over the past year, a pair of legal bombshells have put India’s growing relationship with the United States to one of its biggest tests yet. Just as the two sides were announcing unprecedented expansions in defense and technology ties, U.S. prosecutors accused Indian government agents of plotting to assassinate an American citizen on U.S. soil. […]

Putting aside that argument, there are certainly some diplomatic opportunities Mr. Trump can seize, though history and ominous recent warnings suggest that he may soften up his adversaries and his allies with threats of military action if he doesn’t get what he wants. (See: Iran, Greenland, Panama.) Here is a scorecard to keep handy in […]

The mediating country Qatar on Saturday announced a time for the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas to take effect the next day, setting off final preparations for a truce that much of the world hopes will end 15 months of destruction in Gaza. The deal should go into effect at 8:30 a.m. local time […]