Armed men stormed onto the set of a public television channel in Ecuador as it broadcast live on Tuesday, threatening people and shouting they had “bombs,” as others reported hearing gunshots, the Associated Press reported. The men, with faces covered, entered the set of the TC...
Read full story →
The Supreme Court of India decided on Monday that 11 men, found guilty of gang-raping a Muslim woman and killing her relatives during one of the country’s deadliest religious riots, and who were released two years ago by a state government, should report back to...
Read full story →
Australia’s parliament passed a law this week that would ban the display of Nazi salutes and hate symbols in public, a move aimed at addressing a spike of antisemitism in the country amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, CBS...
Read full story →
The Election Commission of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) invalidated 82 candidates in December’s general election last week, amid claims of fraud and irregularities and calls to re-run all the elections, including the presidential race, Reuters reported. The list of disqualified candidates included three...
Read full story →
The man who slaughtered 77 people on an island in Norway in 2011 went back to court on Monday to sue his country for disregarding his human rights in detention, the Associated Press reported. Anders Behring Breivik has spent the past 12 years in isolation while...
Read full story →
Bhutanese voters go to the polls Tuesday, as economic challenges overshadow the country’s longstanding practice of favoring happiness over growth, which has seen spiking youth unemployment and a brain-drain, Agence France-Presse reported. The philosophy of focusing on well-being is enshrined in the Buddhist kingdom’s constitution, and...
Read full story →
Senegal’s leading opposition figure, Ousmane Sonko, is unlikely to be able to run in next month’s presidential elections following a decision by the country’s Supreme Court to uphold a defamation conviction against him, and one by the Constitutional Council rejecting his candidacy, Al Jazeera reported...
Read full story →
Global supermarket chain Carrefour will stop selling PepsiCo products in some of its European stores in protest over price increases for some popular items, such as Lay’s potato chips and Lipton tea, the Associated Press reported. The French multinational, one of the largest supermarket chains in...
Read full story →
A new bill to allow elderly prisoners to serve their remaining prison time under house arrest is causing outrage in Uruguay, because it could see the release of former military officials jailed for abusing human rights during the country’s dictatorship four decades ago, the BBC...
Read full story →
An Argentine court this week suspended a series of labor law changes decreed by newly-elected President Javier Milei, reforms that are part of the “shock” therapy the libertarian leader seeks to implement to improve Argentina’s deep economic crisis, Agence France-Presse reported. Last month, Milei issued an...
Read full story →
McDonald’s Malaysia filed a $1.3 million lawsuit against a pro-Palestinian group promoting boycotts against companies allegedly supporting Israel, saying that movement has hurt its business, Reuters reported this week. The licensee of McDonald’s in Malaysia, Gerbang Alaf Restaurants Sdn Bhd, sued the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions...
Read full story →
Serbia began allowing drivers with Kosovo license plates to enter the country, ending a long-running dispute between the two Balkan neighbors that at times has turned violent, Euronews reported. Following Kosovo’s independence from Serbia in 2008, the issue of license plates sparked disputes between the two...
Read full story →
South Korean police on Wednesday raided the residence and office of a man who stabbed the country’s opposition leader in the neck earlier this week, an attack that shocked the nation and prompted calls for more security for politicians, the Associated Press reported. On Tuesday, a...
Read full story →
At least 103 people were killed and more than 188 injured in central Iran after two explosions detonated near the burial site of slain Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, in what authorities have described as a terror attack, CNN reported. Iranian state media said the twin blasts...
Read full story →
A court in Sierra Leone charged former President Ernest Bai Koroma and 12 others – including former police and correctional officers and a member of Koroma’s security detail – with treason, and other offenses for Koroma, over their alleged involvement in an attempted coup in...
Read full story →
Israel’s top court on Monday struck down a controversial judicial reform law that had triggered mass protests throughout the country in the months preceding the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, with some officials saying the turmoil had set the stage for the massacre, the BBC reported. The...
Read full story →
The Somali government condemned an agreement Tuesday between Ethiopia and the breakaway region of Somaliland, warning that such a deal violates national sovereignty and risks the stability of the Horn of Africa, Al Jazeera reported. Earlier this week, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Somaliland President...
Read full story →
A Bangladeshi court this week convicted Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus and three others over labor law violations, a verdict that critics described as politically motivated as the South Asian nation prepares for general elections this weekend, the Independent reported. A Dhaka labor court found...
Read full story →
Japanese authorities issued a series of tsunami warnings and evacuation orders across the country Monday after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake shook the country’s western coast, sparking fears of a repeat of 2011’s disaster, the Washington Post reported. The Japan Meteorological Agency said the quake erupted off the...
Read full story →
Europe’s longest-serving monarch, Danish Queen Margrethe II, will abdicate the throne this month, after serving as Denmark’s beloved monarch for more than five decades, the Guardian reported. The queen made the surprise announcement during her New Year’s speech, saying she would step down on Jan. 14,...
Read full story →