Biden announced his intent to nominate Dr. Rachel Levine for the position on Tuesday, and should she get confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first openly transgender to be confirmed in U.S. history.
The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, said Monday that the country was producing almost 500 grams of uranium enriched to 20 percent purity a day, after beginning to do so earlier this month in breach of the 2015 nuclear accord.
Police and government officials last week raided a homeschool house run by the highly persecuted Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, China, the Christian Post (CP) reports. Following the raid on January 14, members of the 5,000-strong ERCC congregation took to social media imploring Christians around the world to pray for them.
The U.S. government on Tuesday declared that China’s communist government is guilty of carrying out genocide and crimes against humanity against Uighur ethnic minorities and others in western China.
The Asharq Al Awsat Arabic international newspaper reported Sunday that Russia hosted a meeting for Syrian and Israeli officials at the Russian airbase in Hmeimim, Syria last month, Jewish Press reports. Neither Damascus nor Jerusalem has confirmed the report.
The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) has reported that, even in the midst of coronavirus lockdowns affecting the whole country for months, there were over 300 incidents of religious persecution against Christians in India last year, International Christian Concern said. In its report, EFI noted that Christian persecution has more than doubled since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi and his right-wing nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014.
An Iranian media network has said nine Iraqi army soldiers were killed and dozens were wounded in airstrikes near Baghdad, Iraq on Monday night, Israel National News (INN) reports. Citing an Iraqi security source, the Al-Alam network said the strikes had targeted Iraqi army and Shiite militia positions.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Monday that Israel will likely need to extend its current lockdown restrictions, despite its successful vaccination campaign.
The City of David was recognized as a “testament to America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and founding principles” by the US Embassy in Jerusalem and the US Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad at a special ceremony on Monday.
The large gatherings and possibly armed protests anticipated by the FBI at statehouses across the country ahead Wednesday’s presidential inauguration did not materialize this weekend.
Some 2,000 National Guard members were sworn in as deputies by the U.S. Marshals Service, one of several civilian law enforcement agencies that will assign special police duties to the troops ahead of Inauguration Day.
International experts probing the origins of the novel coronavirus are holding virtual meetings from their Wuhan hotel rooms as they work their way through a mandatory 14-day quarantine period which began last Thursday, after the Chinese government eventually allowed the team to enter the outbreak epicenter city.
For the first time in nearly 50 years, pro-lifers won’t assemble for the annual March for Life event in Washington. Instead, because of concerns related to the pandemic and safety issues around the Capitol, organizers want participants to stay home and attend virtually. The event takes place, Friday, January 29th.
Joe Biden will sign a series of executive actions undoing U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s key policies within hours after taking the oath of office on Wednesday, his top aid says.
A Russian court has jailed the nation’s most prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny for 30 days despite several countries’ calls to release him immediately. The decision came shortly after Navalny was detained following his return from Germany, where he received medical treatment for nerve agent poisoning.
Forty-six Pygmies were slaughtered by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) Islamist militia group in Ituri province in eastern DR Congo on Thursday, the Defense Post reports. Described as a “terrorist group” by International Christian Concern (ICC), the ADF is accused of slaughtering over 1000 Congolese citizens in the last year.
A Hindu nationalist leader in India’s Madhya Pradesh state has demanded that local authorities shut down all churches in the state’s tribal areas, falsely claiming that Christians are carrying out mass conversions on “gullible indigenous peoples,” International Christian Concern reports. Head of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Azad Prem Singh threatened violent action if his January 11 demand is not met within 30 days.
An official from the incoming Biden administration has told a caravan comprising thousands of Honduran migrants traveling to the US that they should not believe the “lie” that the United States border will be open next month, Reuters reports. While it is known that President-elect Joe Biden plans to reverse much of outgoing president Trump’s crackdown on immigration, the official said it will “take time” to implement the new policies.
German regional authorities are opening detention centers in which to hold people who repeatedly refuse to quarantine after exposure to COVID-19, the Daily Mail reported Monday. Legal experts have said state governments are authorized to detain people for breaking quarantine rules under the Disease Protection Act, passed by the German Bundestag last March.
For the second time in as many weeks, the Air Force has flown B-52 bombers over the Middle East in what are known as “presence patrols,” officials said Sunday.