Pope Francis met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday, as he urged lawmakers to overcome "the narrow confines" of partisan politics to fight climate change.
Context: Francis spoke to parliamentarians who were in Rome for a meeting before the UN's climate conference, which comes as scientists caution that the window for keeping alive the Paris Agreement's most ambitious temperature target is rapidly closing, Axios' Andrew Freedman reports.
The Ethiopian military has intensified airstrikes over the last few days as it continues an assault against rebel forces from the Tigray region in a nearly yearlong civil war, Bloomberg reports.
Driving the news: The reports of the intensified conflict comes days after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was sworn in for a new term in Africa's second-most populous country.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold a trilateral meeting at the State Department on Wednesday with the foreign ministers of Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
Why it matters: This is the first such meeting since the signing in 2020 of the “Abraham Accords,” normalization agreements Israel struck with Bahrain and the UAE. It is a substantial step by the Biden administration to strengthen the treaty between the countries.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced Saturday that he is resigning, days after prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into corruption allegations against him, the New York Times reports.
Driving the news: Kurz, who plans to remain as the leader of his party, denies allegations that he used federal money to pay off pollsters and journalists for favorable coverage, per Reuters.
An Uber driver who plotted to join the Taliban and kill Americans was convicted Friday on two terrorism-related charges, the Washington Post reports.
The big picture: The Taliban's swift takeover of Afghanistan earlier this year was in part enabled by recruiting fighters like Delowar Mohammed Hossain and spreading propaganda to potential members all around the world, per the New York Times.
A U.S. delegation will meet with "senior Taliban representatives" in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday and Sunday, a State Department spokesperson confirmed to Axios.
Why it matters: It will be the first in-person meeting at a senior level since the Taliban reclaimed Afghanistan.
President Biden has nominated former Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly to serve as ambassador to the Vatican, the White House announced Friday.
Why it matters: Donnelly, a former Indiana senator, served as co-chair of Catholics for Biden during the 2020 election and defended Biden's faith in an Indianapolis Star op-ed.
A suicide bombing inside a Shiite mosque in northern Afghanistan on Friday killed more than 45 people and wounded dozens of others, AP reports.
Driving the news: ISIS-K, an Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for the blast, which took place as people gathered for Friday noon prayers at the Gozar-e-Sayed Abad Mosque in the city of Kunduz, per AP. It's the highest death toll in an attack since U.S. and NATO troops withdrew from the country in August.
State of play: Over 130 nations backed a 15% minimum global tax rate after years of negotiations. Smaller countries — such as Ireland, Hungary and Estonia — were against raising corporate tax rates because international businesses were attracted in locations that had lower tax rates, per CNBC.
International Criminal Court judges on Friday said they asked UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the ICC's governing body for assistance in identifying who represents Afghanistan at international bodies, Reuters reports.
Driving the news: The request comes after the ICC said Friday that it can't make a ruling on a request by the court's prosecutor to resume an investigation into alleged war crimes of Afghanistan.
Dissident journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov were awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression," which the Nobel Committee described as "a precondition for democracy and lasting peace."
Ressa, who co-founded the Philippine news site Rappler in 2012, has been prosecuted for her reporting on Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and his government's deadly anti-drug campaign.
Muratov is the founder of Novaya Gazeta, described by the committee as "the most independent newspaper in Russia today."
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) narrowly voted 21-18 Thursday to end the body's war crimes investigation in Yemen despite Western states' push to continue the mission.
Why it matters: The political conflict between a Saudi-led military coalition and Iran-allied Houthi rebels has killed over 8,200 civilians, including 2,270 children, and injured 13,283 civilians since 2015, the UNHRC says.
The Biden administration is publicly keeping its distance from the leader of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, ahead of a key meeting Friday that could decide her fate.
Why it matters: The global economy is at risk from any new COVID-19 variant. The IMF is confronting a credibility crisis, and questions about whether China is exerting undue influence on multilateral institutions in Washington. As the fund's biggest shareholder, the U.S. has an important say in its future direction.
