52 Killed In Russia’s Worst Mine Accident In Decade
A devastating explosion in a Siberian coal mine deep beneath the service left at least 52 miners and rescuers dead, Russian officials said Thursday.
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Children, Pregnant Woman Drown In Channel
Among 27 migrants who died after their boat sank near Calais, France, were 17 men, seven women – one of whom was pregnant – and three children, France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.
Taliban Hunting For Christians In Afghanistan
Christians in Afghanistan have reportedly turned off their phones and moved to undisclosed locations amid an ongoing crackdown by the ruling Islamist Taliban group.
Iran Orders Review Of Jailing Christians
A top Iranian court has ordered a review of five-year prison terms given to nine Christian converts who left Islam, according to sources familiar with the court’s thinking.
Rights groups outraged as Blinken removes Nigeria from US list of countries tolerating or promoting religious violence
Christian and government organizations have expressed fury at last week’s decision by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to remove Nigeria from a US list of countries identified as allowing or engaging in violent persecution of minority faith groups, Politico reports. Outrage at Blinken’s decision follows the bipartisan US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) 2021 report in which Nigeria is described as a “killing field for Christians.”
‘US won’t launch a single military operation against Iran,’ former official says
As world powers prepare to reconvene in Vienna for renewed nuclear talks with Iran, former National Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror said that “without a military threat and pressure on Iran, nothing will result from a deal.”
WHO calls special meeting to discuss new Covid variant found in South Africa with ‘a large number of mutations’
The World Health Organization is monitoring a new variant with numerous mutations to the spike protein, scheduling a special meeting Friday to discuss what it may mean for vaccines and treatments, officials said Thursday.
Israel launches diplomatic blitz ahead of renewed Iran nuclear talks
Israel will make its position heard ahead of the return to nuclear talks with Iran by world powers on Monday, with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid scheduled to visit London and Paris next week.
8 killed in bombing in Somalian capital claimed by Al-Shabaab
Eight people were killed in a car bombing near a school in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Thursday, police said, the latest attack claimed by Al-Shabaab jihadists in the troubled country.
US says it’ll amp up pressure on Iran if it does not start cooperating with IAEA
The US warned Thursday it could raise the stakes in international pressure on Iran if the Islamic Republic continues to hinder efforts by the UN nuclear watchdog to monitor its nuclear program.
Afghani Christians facing employment discrimination and dire economic conditions
As Afghanistan descends further into chronic economic and political catastrophe, the nation’s Christians are facing hunger and even more severe employment discrimination than they were before the US withdrawal and the Taliban takeover in August, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Afghanistan ranked two on the US Open Doors Watch List 2021 of top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted – even before the Taliban took power this summer.
In Morocco, Gantz signs Israel’s first-ever defense MOU with an Arab country
Defense Minister Benny Gantz signed a memorandum of understanding with his Moroccan counterpart on Wednesday, the first such agreement between Israel and an Arab state ever, Israeli officials said.
Top US general says Iran ‘very close’ to bomb, plans are ready if diplomacy fails
A top US general said Iran has the ability to build a nuclear weapon in a very short time and that the US military was ready with other options to prevent this should diplomacy fail.
CIA Warns Russia Over ‘Havana Syndrome’
The director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency reportedly warned Russia’s secret services of “consequences” if they are behind health incidents known as “Havana Syndrome” afflicting U.S. diplomats and spies worldwide.
Fauci says having a COVID booster to be considered fully vaccinate ‘on the table’
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top U.S. infectious disease expert, says having a COVID-19 booster shot being the new threshold for being fully vaccinated is “on the table.”
US: Men Guilty Of Killing Unarmed Black Man Ahmaud Arbery
A nearly all-white jury found three White men from the U.S. state of Georgia guilty of killing a young unarmed Black man in a case that tested racial bias in the American justice system.
New Government In Germany To Phase Out Coal, Legalize Drugs
Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, will have a new government of Social Democrats, Greens, and liberal parties that seek to phase-out coal by 2030 while legalizing “soft” drugs.
UN in the dark over Iran’s nuclear capabilities ahead of key talks on international agreement
UN nuclear inspectors have warned part of their surveillance of Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program has gone dark.
Pentagon creates new UFO office, acknowledges ‘national security concerns’
The Defense Department late Tuesday night formally created a new office to track and organize UFO sightings across the U.S. military, acknowledging that persistent cases of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) “raise potential national security concerns” that cannot be ignored.
U.S. jobless claims plunge to 199,000, lowest in 52 years
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits plummeted last week to the lowest level in more than half a century, another sign that the U.S. job market is rebounding rapidly from last year’s coronavirus recession.