Washington, D.C., U.S.A. 

“France is not only America’s oldest ally but one of our closest allies,” said President Barack Obama as he welcomed French President François Hollande to the White House. According to the BBC, Hollande announced on Feb. 11 that mutual trust had been restored despite prior concerns arising from U.S. National Security Agency spying. On Wednesday, Feb. 12, the French leader travelled to San Francisco and met with chiefs of Silicon Valley giants including Facebook, Twitter and Google, the BBC reports.

Nanjing, China 

For the first time since their splitting in 1949, China and Taiwan held official intergovernmental talks on Tuesday, Feb. 11. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council policymaker Wang Yu-Chi told CNN that, while no specific agreements would be signed, the meeting marks a “significant step to develop and normalize” relations between the two nations. Wang’s visit to Nanjing is expected to last four days, the start of which was “soured by the exclusion of two Taiwanese reporters from covering the meeting,” CNN reports.

Tripoli, Libya

On Feb. 10, the Washington Post obtained and published a video of top terror suspect and al-Qaida member Anas al-Libi’s capture by U.S. commandos, courtesy of a closed-circuit camera in al-Libi’s neighborhood. In a dramatic 30-second raid on Oct. 5, 2013, commandos ousted al-Libi from his car, shoved him into a commando-operated vehicle and later transported him to the U.S., where he pleads not guilty to murder and conspiracy charges, according to the video and an accompanying article by Washington Post.

Istanbul, Turkey 

Violence and government-imposed restrictions heavily restrict journalists from reporting controversy and conflict in Syria. Fortunately for protesters opposed to the Assad regime, young civilian activists, who were hard-pressed to leave Syria, established “opposition radio stations” to broadcast anti-Assad-themed music shows. On Tuesday, Feb. 11, Istanbul-based Radio Watan aired its premiere broadcast, led by singer Wasfi Massarani. “The traitor’s army kills us / it fires bullets at us,” Massarani sang. “We are unarmed / nothing in our hands / our blood flows in the streets.”