World News

ith a warming climate melting more Arctic ice cover and global industries eager to exploit the region for shipping, fishing, drilling and mining, the United States and Russia sounded a rare, cooperative note going into an Arctic meeting this week.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron, his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II will hold talks Tuesday aimed at seeking a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, the French presidency said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP) said Monday that Russian authorities should unfreeze the bank accounts of U.S.- funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and cease labeling media outlets as “foreign agents.”

A German has court has upheld a municipality ban on prayer vigils held in front of a pre-abortion advisory center, Catholic World reports. On May 14 the Karlsruhe Administrative Court dismissed a challenge to the ban by Pavica Vojnović, who had organized bi-annual prayer vigils outside the Pro Familia advice center, an International Planned Parenthood associate in Pforzheim, southwest Germany.

The World Economic Forum announced Monday that it had called off its planned annual gathering of global political, economic and business leaders, which had been set for August in Singapore.

The United States is taking new steps to make it more difficult for the Islamic State terror group to move money, including donations from international supporters, through Syria and Turkey.

Cyclone Tauktae, which has already killed six people in southern parts of the COVID-ravaged country, was expected to make landfall on Monday evening in Gujarat state with winds of up to 109 miles per hour.

China has landed its first spacecraft on Mars, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

A common respiratory virus is potentially on the rise in kids in the United Kingdom because of COVID-19 lockdowns, medical professionals told The Sun.

German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) says one of its freelance journalists has been sentenced to 20 days in jail in Belarus. The punishment came shortly after a senior military officer was jailed for leaking documents to the press about a government crackdown on protesters.

Cyclone season is off to a roaring start in the Indian Ocean, as rapidly intensifying Tauktae marks the region’s first named storm of the year.

Current evidence still suggests that the coronavirus originated from a lab in Wuhan, China, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday, warning that the risk of bioweapons and bioterror arising from the region is “very real.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged rich nations not to vaccinate children. Instead, the WHO says, the jabs should be donated to the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX).

Hundreds of Christians attended a mass funeral in a remote village of Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province Wednesday to mourn four people killed by militants linked to the Islamic State group.

The US State Department has published its International Religious Freedom (IRF) Report for 2020, providing an overview of religious freedom and persecution around the world, International Christian Concern reports. This year’s IRF condemned countries including Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and China for their abuses of religious freedom, and stated that the US would continue to address the issue.

The State Department on Wednesday declared that the Chinese government continues to engage in genocide and crimes against humanity through the repression of predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other minorities in western China.

Renowned for being a Holocaust denier who advanced Iran’s nuclear program, former Iranian former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad registered Wednesday as a candidate for his country’s presidency, the Associated Press reports. Ahmadinejad was previously in office for two four-year terms from 2005 to 2013.

Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday confirmed that the British government would soon be introducing legislation to “ensure the integrity of elections,” a nod toward a proposal by Boris Johnson’s government to require voter identification during elections in the United Kingdom. 

“Fluctuations” at Iran’s Natanz plant pushed the purity to which it enriched uranium to 63%, higher than the announced 60% that complicated talks to revive its nuclear deal with world powers, a report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday.

The United States on Tuesday called on governments worldwide to take action against Lebanon’s Iranian-backed militant group Hezbozllah, as the Treasury Department sanctioned seven Lebanese nationals it said were connected to the group and its financial firm, Al-Qard al-Hassan (AQAH).