South Korea’s incoming president is proposing to abolish a centuries-old method of counting a person’s age, a move that could have a significant impact on the country’s society and culture, the BBC reported. There are three ways to count the age of an individual in South...
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India’s Supreme Court ordered authorities Wednesday to stop the demolition of illegal shops and walls in a predominantly Muslim neighborhood of New Delhi, a verdict that came days after religious violence shook the area, Reuters reported. The verdict also followed the police-supervised demolition of buildings in...
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More than 448 people have died during South Africa’s devastating floods, according to government officials, as the country moved to deploy the military in the affected eastern regions, Fox News reported. Last week, torrential rains caused flooding and mudslides that destroyed nearly 4,000 homes and displaced...
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A former independence fighter and Nobel Peace Prize laureate is set to win East Timor’s runoff presidential election this week, amid hopes that the new president will end the political impasse in Asia’s youngest democracy, the Associated Press reported Wednesday. Jose Ramos-Horta secured nearly 62 percent...
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China and the Solomon Islands signed a security pact Tuesday, an agreement that drew the ire of Australia and the United States amid concerns over Beijing increasing its military presence in the Pacific, the Guardian reported. Chinese officials said the deal was signed by the foreign...
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Israel’s fragile unity government faces a potential collapse after an independent Arab party suspended its membership in the ruling coalition, amid the breaking out of fresh violence between Israelis and Palestinians and recent attacks by Hamas, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Islamist Ra’am party said...
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Libya’s rival factions failed to reach a deal on constitutional arrangements for elections this week, a development that has raised concerns about another potential split in the North African country following more than a decade of civil war, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. On Monday, lawmakers...
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Swedish authorities detained 26 people following weekend riots over a plan by a far-right and anti-Islam Danish group to burn the Muslim holy book, the Quran, in a number of towns, the Local Sweden reported Monday. Police said that at least 40 people were wounded, including...
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Mexico’s president failed to secure enough votes in parliament to amend the constitution and implement a sweeping energy reform bill, which had spooked investors and the United States, the Financial Times reported Monday. Opposition lawmakers in the lower house voted against the legislation, denying President Andrés...
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French prosecutors began analyzing a report by the European Union’s fraud agency accusing far-right presidential contender Marine Le Pen and other members of her National Rally party of misusing public funds while serving in the European Parliament, the Associated Press reported. Last month, the European Anti-Fraud...
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Palestinians and Israeli police clashed at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem over the weekend, the latest unrest that has followed an uptick in violence in recent weeks that has raised concerns over a wider conflict, the New York Times reported Sunday. Sunday’s clash was the...
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The United Kingdom will send future asylum seekers to Rwanda under a controversial scheme that has raised alarms among human rights groups and refugee advocates, Al Jazeera reported. Under the plan, the British government would screen arriving asylum seekers and deliver their personal information to Rwanda...
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Somalia’s newly elected parliament convened for the first time Saturday, a few days after lawmakers were sworn in following a long-delayed voting process and a political struggle between the president and the prime minister, Africa News reported. Hundreds of lawmakers from both houses of parliament took...
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German authorities arrested four people suspected of plotting to kidnap the country’s Health Minister Karl Lauterbach and destroy infrastructure in order to trigger “a civil war,” the Washington Post reported Thursday. Police said the individuals are alleged to be part of a Telegram chat group called...
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Salvadoran police have arrested more than 10,000 alleged gang members as of this week, nearly three weeks after the government declared a state of emergency in response to the killings of dozens of people by criminal gangs, VICE reported Thursday. In late March, populist President Nayib...
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A proposed new criminal identification law caused a stir in India over privacy concerns and fears that it will be used to target dissenters, the BBC reported this week. Last week, parliament approved the Criminal Procedure (Identification) bill, which would require detained individuals to share sensitive...
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A British court sentenced an Islamic State supporter to life in prison for the murder of Conservative lawmaker David Amess last year, an attack that has been described as a strike “on the heart of democracy” in Britain, the Guardian reported Wednesday. The court ruled this...
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Gunmen killed more than 150 people in northern Nigeria this week in a series of attacks described as the worst violence the West African country has seen this year, CBS News reported Wednesday. Armed assailants on motorcycles attacked a group of villages in the northern Plateau...
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New Zealand’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a man accused of murder could be extradited to China, a ruling that could set a precedent for future extradition cases and has raised concerns over whether the defendant will receive a fair trial in China’s legal system,...
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Sri Lanka defaulted on its $51 billion foreign debt Tuesday amid an economic crisis that has prompted mass demonstrations demanding the government’s resignation, Agence France-Presse reported. The suspension of payments marks the country’s first default since Sri Lanka became independent in 1948. Officials said that the...
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