Over 1,000 migrants dead in Mediterranean crossings in 2025: UN

The United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday that more than 1,000 migrants have died attempting to cross the Central Mediterranean so far this year.

Japanese chemist Susumu Kitagawa, Australian researcher Richard Robson, and American scientist Omar Yaghi have jointly won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their groundbreaking development of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) — an innovation that has revolutionized materials science and environmental chemistry.

France has been thrust into fresh political uncertainty after Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu tendered his resignation only weeks into the job, becoming the fifth head of government to quit under President Emmanuel Macron’s leadership in just two years.

US President Donald Trump has announced that several European leaders will travel to Washington early this week to discuss potential ways of ending the ongoing war in Ukraine. 

In 2024, global military expenditure surged to $2.72 trillion, marking a 9.4% rise compared to the previous year — the sharpest annual increase since the end of the Cold War, according to a report released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Pope Francis died at age 88 after suffering a prolonged illness, the Vatican announced on Monday. He suffered a “prolonged asthma-like respiratory crisis" associated with thrombocytopenia, according to a previous Vatican statement.

European leaders meeting in Paris for emergency talks on Monday called for higher spending to ramp up the continent`s defence capabilities but remained split on the idea of deploying peacekeepers to Ukraine to back up any peace deal.

The European Union will counter any tariffs imposed by the United States with equivalent measures, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot stated on Monday, cautioning Washington against escalating a trade conflict.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer highlighted the critical significance of closer relations with the US and renewed European ties for Britain`s national security.

Countries at the COP29 summit in Baku adopted a 300 billion US dollar a year global finance target on Sunday to help poorer nations cope with impacts of climate change, a deal its intended recipients criticised as woefully insufficient.

The major battle in Baku is over how much rich nations will help poor countries to decarbonize their energy systems, cope with future harms of climate change and pay for damage from warming`s extreme weather. The old goal of 100 billion US dollar a year in aid is expiring and Baku`s main focus is coming up with a new, bigger figure.

World leaders gathered in Azerbaijan on Tuesday for the COP29 climate summit, though notable figures from major nations are absent, affecting the tone of the discussions. 

The 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) commenced in Azerbaijan on Monday, bringing together world leaders, policymakers, and activists with a renewed commitment to address intensifying climate crises.

At least 51 people are known to have died after torrential rain caused flash floods in south-eastern Spain, authorities have said.

New centers of power, policy decision-making and economic growth are emerging in the world, BRICS countries said Wednesday in the Kazan Declaration issued at the 16th BRICS Summit.

Russia said the West was playing with fire by considering allowing Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with Western missiles and cautioned the United States on Tuesday that World War Three would not be confined to Europe.