Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding meetings with his top security aides to discuss the next attack on Iran, two days after a Hezbollah drone strike on his coastal home north of Tel Aviv. The planning for such an assault has been underway for three weeks, since Tehran fired some 200 ballistic missiles at Israel following Israeli assassinations of leaders of Hezbollah and other Iran-sponsored militias. Muslim worshippers pray near buildings destroyed by Israeli strikes in Khan Yunis, Gaza, on Friday. Photographer: Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty Images Against a backdrop of a strengthening world economy but a worsening global political outlook, finance ministers and central bank chiefs gather in Washington this week for the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, coinciding with the summit of BRICS nations in Russia. Hanging over the outlook is a sharply polarized US presidential election coupled with soaring government debt, escalating conflict in the Middle East, the grinding war between Russia and Ukraine, and tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Mozambican police fired teargas in the capital, Maputo, to scatter protesters demonstrating over claims of fraud in the Oct. 9 elections and the weekend slaying of a lawyer of opposition presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane and an official of his party. The fiery preacher and former lawmaker urged his supporters to paralyze the southeast African nation by joining a nationwide strike against the vote in which the latest count shows he’s trailing the ruling party’s candidate, Daniel Chapo. As they scrap for undecided voters, US Vice President Kamala Harris and her Republican rival, Donald Trump, are taking fundamentally different approaches to the last 15 days of their presidential race. While Harris focuses on the swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, Trump is engaging in a frenetic blitz of splashy events and unconventional media appearances. Indonesia’s new president, Prabowo Subianto, endeared himself to voters as a kindly grandfather vowing to give free meals to schoolchildren. Now to get things rolling in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, the former general is signaling his strongman approach, using his maiden speech yesterday to rail against corruption and poverty. The Chinese military criticized the US and Canada for “undermining peace and stability” by sending warships through the Taiwan Strait, just days after Beijing conducted major drills around the island. Pakistan’s ruling coalition approved a set of constitutional changes in a show of strength in parliament by cutting the powers of the Supreme Court to choose the chief justice. As its world-class chip industry devours electricity, Taiwan is open to using nuclear technology to meet surging demand, Premier Cho Jung-tai said in an interview, in a sign that Taipei is rethinking its opposition to reactors. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva canceled a trip to Russia for an annual BRICS summit after cutting his head in an accident at his residence in Brasilia. |