WASHINGTON—The Pentagon has quietly begun withdrawing top military officers from U.S. embassies in Africa and downgrading other such posts world-wide, a move officials say is necessary to shift resources to counter China and Russia on the geopolitical stage and meet congressional caps on the number of generals and admirals in the U.S. military. The position … Read more
Output at Libya’s Sharara oil field, seen here in 2014, has been shut almost continuously since early January. Photo: ismail zetouni/Reuters Oct. 11, 2020 10:50 am ET Production at Libya’s largest oil field restarted Sunday afternoon, Libyan officials said, a move that could quickly increase the country’s overall output after an extended shutdown and add … Read more
U.S. officials are aiming to open travel between New York City and London with shortened traveler quarantine periods as soon as the holidays, according to people familiar with the matter. The growing availability of Covid-19 tests in the U.S. has prompted officials at the Transportation Department, Department of Homeland Security and other agencies to revive … Read more
U.S. and Russian negotiators made progress Monday on a new framework accord that would freeze each side’s nuclear arsenal and outline the parameters for a detailed treaty that would be negotiated next year, a senior Trump administration official said. The accord, if it comes together in the coming month, would give each side something it … Read more
Russia’s top arms-control negotiator has rejected the Trump administration’s core requirements for a new nuclear arms-control treaty, dealing a blow to the White House’s hopes of concluding an election-year framework agreement with Moscow. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told The Wall Street Journal that the Trump administration’s demands that a future treaty cover all Russia, … Read more
Beijing has sped up development of a blacklist that could be used to punish American technology firms, but officials say leaders are hesitating to pull the trigger, with some arguing a decision on the list should wait till after the U.S. election. The debate highlights Beijing’s continued grappling with how to respond to the Trump … Read more
HONG KONG—At least five organizations say they won’t help companies audit their supply chains in China’s Xinjiang region, where human-rights activists say a police-state atmosphere and government controls make it too difficult to determine whether factories and farms are relying on forced labor. China’s increasingly repressive tactics in the northwestern region, where large numbers of … Read more
A search by U.S. authorities for Chinese researchers with ties to China’s military is leading to intensifying cat-and-mouse tactics involving what prosecutors say are foiled escapes, evidence tossed into a dumpster and a chase through an airport. FBI agents have questioned dozens of researchers this summer about their work and military affiliations. In recent weeks, … Read more
BRASÍLIA—Brazil’s conservative president, Jair Bolsonaro, has responded to international criticism over deforestation in the Amazon by lashing out at other world leaders and environmentalists and asserting that what the rainforest needs is more economic development, not less. But Mr. Bolsonaro’s vice president, Hamilton Mourão, struck a decidedly different tone in an interview with The Wall … Read more
As looters tore through Baghdad after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Kanan Makiya heard they were heading toward a memorial for a founder of the political organization that produced Saddam Hussein and became a major force of disruption in the Middle East. He and Mustafa al-Kadhimi, both human-rights activists, raced to the building, where they … Read more