Australia will remove depictions of British monarchs from its banknotes, a move that has sparked a fierce debate in the country where the monarch remains its head of state, the Associated Press reported Thursday. The central bank said the new Australian $5 bill will feature an...
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Pope Francis kicked off a visit to Africa this week, telling crowds of more than a million people in the Congo to forgive those who have harmed them, while admonishing world powers to “stop choking” Africa, the Associated Press reported. On his first stop in the...
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More than half a million British workers went on strike across the country Wednesday over pay disputes and working conditions, the biggest walkout in the United Kingdom in more than a decade, CNBC reported. The strikes included hundreds of thousands of teachers, along with civil servants,...
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An Iranian court sentenced a couple to more than 10 years in prison after a video of them dancing in front of a monument in the capital was posted on social media, part of a crackdown by Iran’s authorities against flouting rules amid ongoing mass...
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China’s Sichuan province is dropping restrictions on unmarried people having children, part of an effort by officials to boost the country’s plummeting birth rate, CNN reported. Currently, the Sichuan government only allows married couples to register the birth of up to two children. Starting in Feb., everyone...
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The western Canadian province of British Columbia decriminalized the possession of small amounts of hard drugs on Tuesday, in a radical policy shift to address an opioid crisis that has killed thousands, CBS News reported. The new policy means that adults found with up to 2.5 grams of...
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Protests broke out in Indonesia, Pakistan and elsewhere this week over the burning of the Muslim Holy Book at far-right demonstrations in Sweden and the Netherlands, with diplomatic repercussions especially hitting the Scandinavian country, which is up for NATO membership, the Associated Press reported. On Monday,...
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France is bracing for a new wave of strikes and transportation chaos Tuesday over a government plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 years of age by 2030, the latest battle over this type of reform, the Local France reported. Earlier this month,...
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A suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a mosque in the city of Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan Monday, killing at least 93 worshippers and wounding scores more, the latest in a series of attacks that have become a flashpoint between Afghanistan and Pakistan, NBC News reported. The...
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Czech retired general Petr Pavel won the country’s presidential runoff this week by a landslide, in a vote overshadowed by disputes related to the Ukraine war, the Guardian reported. Results showed that pro-Western Pavel secured more than 58 percent of the vote against his populist rival,...
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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s troops were responsible for the 2018 chemical weapons attack in the Syrian town of Douma that killed 43 civilians, according to an extensive investigation by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the Washington Post reported. The global chemical weapons...
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Haitian police attacked the official residence of Prime Minister Ariel Henry over the weekend to protest against the recent killings of officers by the armed gangs ransacking the Caribbean country, as it continues to reel from political and economic crises, the Telegraph reported. On Thursday, officers...
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Mauritania began trying former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz for graft this week in a landmark trial for the Sahel country where prosecutions against former leaders are unprecedented, Agence France-Presse reported. Aziz and nine other defendants, including prime ministers, are facing a slew of charges including...
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Indian authorities in the capital this week arrested dozens of students, who were planning to screen a banned BBC documentary about the 2002 riots in Gujarat state and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role in the violence, Bloomberg reported. Police arrested around 70 students of the Jamia...
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A group of left-wing lawmakers submitted a motion to impeach Peruvian President Dina Boluarte over her handling of the mass demonstrations that have gripped the Andean nation following the removal of her predecessor last month, Al Jazeera reported Thursday. The legislators – allies of ousted President...
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A group of Lebanese lawmakers staged a sit-in at the country’s parliament this month in an effort to protest Lebanon’s long-running political deadlock and urge other legislators to act amid the country’s deep economic woes, the Washington Post reported Thursday. Since last week, legislators Najat Saliba...
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Russia’s military intelligence agency is suspected of directing a Russia-based white supremacist group to carry out the letter bombing campaign in Spain last year, the Moscow Times reported. In late November and early December, six letter bombs were addressed to prominent government, military and diplomatic targets...
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The Brazilian government ordered an investigation into the potential crimes of genocide against Brazil’s Yanomami people this week, as the Indigenous community grapples with malnutrition and disease that officials have directly linked to illegal mining, the Washington Post reported. Justice Minister Flávio Dino said he had...
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Moroccan lawmakers voted unanimously to review the country’s relationship with the European Parliament this week after the latter passed a resolution urging the North African nation to respect press freedoms, Agence France-Presse reported. Both Moroccan houses of parliament agreed to “reconsider (their) relations with the European...
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Argentina and Brazil are mulling the creation of a common currency for the two nations, an ambitious plan that has been met with skepticism from economists, CNBC reported Tuesday. The proposal was unveiled during a meeting in Argentina this week between Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula...
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