While France’s President Emanuel Macron has said vaccination against COVID-19 will not be mandatory, French Prime Minister Jean Castex got cabinet approval Monday for a bill that would require proof of vaccination in order to access public transport among locations and activities, France24 reports. The bill now passes to the French parliament.
Islamic terrorists in Sudan have burned down a church’s worship tent five times and have threatened to kill congregants if they put up another tent and continue to worship, Morning Star News reports. Sudanese Christians hope that Islamic persecution against them will diminish as dictator Omar al-Bashir was deposed in Apr. 2019 and Sudan has a new transitional government led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.
The Trump administration slapped new sanctions on Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime Tuesday, in a further effort to end the civil war that has raged in Syria since 2011, the Sara Carter show (SCS) reported. Following sanctions imposed in 2019, the newest measures affect Syria’s central bank and a number of entities and individuals connected to Assad.
Russia and China are continuing to work together to reduce their dependence on the US dollar, as both countries seek to mitigate the impact of United States sanctions against them, CNS News reports. Trading between Russia and China reached a record $110 billion in 2019, and the two countries have committed to increasing their trade turnover to $200 billion by 2024.
Washington was in turmoil late Tuesday after U.S. President Donald J. Trump threatened not to sign a coronavirus stimulus package saying struggling Americans deserve much better.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump on Tuesday pardoned 15 people, but he did not extend amnesty to death row people.
Eleven Christian Armenian prisoners of war have been killed by their Azerbaijani captors in the contested Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, despite the presence of Russian peacekeepers, aid workers told Worthy News.
The United States has responded to Russia’s call to continue negotiations on the New START arms-control treaty by reiterating a U.S. proposal and saying the Russians have “rejected” attempts to restart the talks.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz have agreed to impose a third national lockdown to curb a surge in new COVID-19 infections, Israeli television reported Tuesday.
Special counsel John Durham is “making good progress” in his investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, Attorney General William Barr said this week.
Over 100 doctors in Israel have signed a letter of protest against the government’s COVID-19 lockdowns and its alternative restrictions such as the closure of schools, the Times of Israel (TOI) reported Sunday. The physicians’ protest was made as the number of daily coronavirus cases in Israel surged to nearly 3,000 Tuesday through Friday last week, and as a new wave of restrictions looked likely.
The characteristically stable Antarctic continent has been shaken by an unprecedented spate of 30,000-50,000 tremors in the last three months, Israel365 News reported Monday. According to a report by the University of Chile’s National Seismological Centre, the wave of tremors was concentrated in the 60 miles wide Bransfield Strait which extends 300 miles from the Antarctic Peninsula in a north-easterly direction.
Israel’s COVID-19 cabinet approved a decision Monday to ban all foreigners, including those with current visas, from entering the country starting December 23, the Jerusalem Post reports. Aimed at slowing Israel’s current surge in coronavirus cases, the ban will be in place for at least 10 days, with the option to extend as needed.
Five police officers were injured and 29 people were arrested during anti-lockdown protests in Britain on Saturday, ITV reports. Demonstrators had gathered in London to protest against tough new COVID-19 restrictions being imposed to combat a mutant variant of the coronavirus that is believed to be more contagious than the earlier form.
Six Hungarian opposition parties say they unite to oust the increasingly autocratic Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has suffered in the polls amid ongoing corruption scandals.
A peer-reviewed study measuring the effectiveness of a controversial drug cocktail that includes hydroxychloroquine concluded that the treatment lowered hospitalizations and mortality rates of coronavirus patients.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr has turned his back on embattled President Donald J. Trump by declining to appoint a special counsel to investigate the president’s claims of massive voter fraud during the 2020 election.
Post-Brexit trade talks between Britain and the European Union remained grid-locked Sunday evening, even as there remain just days to go before the official transition period comes to an end on December 31, the Associated Press reports. In the event no agreement is reached by the end of the year, the two parties will default to trading on World Trade Organization terms, with all the tariffs and barriers that this will entail.
Israel is progressing with moves to legalize recreational marijuana in the next few months, while its burgeoning cannabis industry looks to expand its manufacturing, production and export capabilities, Ynet News reports.
Anti-lockdown protesters clashed with police during a demonstration Monday at the Oregon Capitol as lawmakers met in a special session to decide on funding for coronavirus relief.