Various areas across the northern Iraqi Kurdistan region have witnessed an escalation in Turkey’s ongoing strikes against alleged targets belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) group. On Sunday, four people were killed in “a Turkish airstrike on a vehicle” in the Sulaymaniyah’s Province’s Halsho area in Kurdistan, Kurdish-language television …
Read More »Russia mocks G7 leaders for criticizing Moscow while calling for ‘stable’ ties
Russia has mocked the US-led Group of Seven’s criticism of Moscow’s “destabilizing behavior” in their concluding joint statement while also making an ironic call for “stable and predictable” ties with the country. “The G7 countries approved the joint statement where, in addition to the traditional call on Russia to stop …
Read More »Taiwan says will be ‘force for good’ after unprecedented G7 support
Taiwan will be a “force for good” and continue to seek even greater international support, the presidential office said, after the Chinese-claimed island won unprecedented backing from the Group of Seven of major democracies. The G7 leaders on Sunday scolded China over human rights in Xinjiang, called for Hong Kong …
Read More »Ex-EU Brexit negotiator Barnier: UK reputation at stake in Brexit row
Michel Barnier, the European Union’s former Brexit negotiator, said on Monday that the reputation of the United Kingdom was at stake regarding tensions over Brexit. EU politicians have accused British Prime Minister Boris Johnson of not respecting engagements made regarding Brexit. Growing tensions between Britain and the EU threatened to …
Read More »China to launch first human spaceflight since 2016
Shenzhou-12, meaning ‘Divine Vessel’, will be the third of 11 missions needed to complete China’s space station by 2022. A Chinese spacecraft will blast off from the Gobi Desert on a Long March rocket in the coming days, ferrying three men to an orbiting space module for a three-month stay, …
Read More »Indonesia police investigate death of politician who opposed remote gold mine
Indonesian police are looking into the death of a politician from Sulawesi island who opposed a gold mine project there, after environmental groups and the human rights commission called for an investigation. Helmud Hontong, 58, the deputy regent of the remote Sangihe islands, in North Sulawesi province, was pronounced dead …
Read More »Another Ortega critic arrested for ‘inciting foreign interference’ in Nicaragua
Nicaraguan police arrested another opposition leader on Sunday as an increasingly authoritarian President Daniel Ortega seeks to tighten his grip on power ahead of his bid for reelection later this year. Opposition leader Suyen Barahona is the latest Ortega critic to be detained, the eleventh political leader overall caught in …
Read More »Israeli parliament votes to end Netanyahu’s 12-year rule
Benjamin Netanyahu’s record 12-year tenure as prime minister comes to an end as 60 MKs vote for the new government. Israel’s parliament has voted to end Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year-long tenure as prime minister, approving in his stead an administration that has pledged to heal a nation bitterly divided over the …
Read More »India: Fire rips through Rohingya camp, leaving hundreds homeless
Hundreds of Rohingya rendered homeless after a massive fire razes Rohingya camp in the Madanpur Khadar area of Delhi. A massive fire has destroyed a Rohingya refugee camp in the Indian capital, New Delhi, leaving hundreds of people homeless. The blaze broke out at about 11:30 pm on Saturday and …
Read More »EU and UK’s ‘sausage war’ sizzles at G7 as Macron and Johnson spar
Growing tensions between Britain and the European Union threatened to overshadow the Group of Seven summit’s conclusion on Sunday, with London accusing France of “offensive” remarks that Northern Ireland was not part of the United Kingdom. Ever since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in 2016, the …
Read More »The Bidens meet with the Queen
When Joe Biden was preparing for his first audience with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II as a young senator, his mother — an Irish American born with the surname Finnegan — had a piece of advice. “Don’t you bow down to her,” she told him in 1982, according to a memoir …
Read More »Two children and an old man killed in shooting incident near Rome
A gunman opened fire killing two children and an elderly man in a town near Rome on Sunday, local authorities said, in a rare shooting incident in Europe. The attacker, a man in his 30s, was later found dead in a nearby house, having apparently killed himself as police were …
Read More »Tens of thousands gather in Madrid to protest plans to pardon jailed Catalan independence leaders
A huge crowd of protesters has assembled in Madrid, decrying government plans to pardon jailed Catalan leaders behind the failed 2017 independence bid, and demanding the resignation of the country’s PM over the move. Some 25,000 people gathered in central Madrid on Sunday, according to estimates by Spain’s National Police. …
Read More »Tens of thousands rally against far-right ideas in France
Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets to demonstrate against the rise of far-right extremism across France, as tensions run high over the prospect of Marine Le Pen being elected president next May. More than 100 left-leaning organizations staged nationwide “Liberty March” rallies on Sunday to demonstrate …
Read More »Greece says coastguard vessel ‘harassed’, damaged by Turkish patrol boat
The Greek coastguard said that one of its patrol vessels was “harassed” by a Turkish patrol boat on Sunday, causing minor damage, a day before the Greek and Turkish leaders hold talks in Brussels. There were no injuries in the incident, which occurred east of the Aegean Island of Lesbos, …
Read More »China cautions G7: ‘small’ groups don’t rule the world
China on Sunday pointedly cautioned Group of Seven leaders that the days when “small” groups of countries decided the fate of the world was long gone, hitting back at the richest democracies as they sought to act in concert to counter Beijing’s might. The re-emergence of China as a leading …
Read More »Security guard shot and killed in ambush during attempted bank robbery
The victim served as a sheriff’s deputy for 35 years before retiring in 2019. A security guard was shot and killed when he was ambushed as he stood guard outside of a bank during an attempted bank robbery. The incident occurred at approximately 1 p.m. at the First Midwest Bank …
Read More »Algerian parliamentary election results expected within days, authority says
The results of an Algerian parliamentary election in which fewer than a third of voters took part will be announced within a few days, the head of the voting authority said late on Saturday. The ruling establishment has tried to use elections along with a crackdown on dissent as a …
Read More »465 arrested in Capitol riot case, including at least 50 who have served in the military
America watched as hordes of rioters broke into the U.S. Capitol on January 6 — crushing through windows, pressing up stairways, and sending lawmakers and law enforcement running for their lives. The flood of protesters who streamed into the Capitol that day left federal authorities with an equally immense task: …
Read More »South Korea to exempt some people vaccinated overseas from COVID-19 quarantine
South Korea will exempt some travellers who have received their COVID-19 vaccine shots overseas from its mandatory two-week quarantine starting July 1, health authorities said on Sunday. As of May 5, the quarantine exemption was only applicable to people fully vaccinated in South Korea. The new policy will apply only …
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