Since the invasion of Ukraine last year, Russia has become diplomatically isolated from the West – but not everywhere in Europe. Russophobes, in fact, are sounding alarms about the candidacy of Roberto Fico in Slovakia’s general election on Sept. 30. “We are a peaceful country,” said...
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Ethnic Armenian leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh agreed Thursday to end the territory’s self-governing status – a week after Azerbaijan took control of the region following decades of conflict, the Wall Street Journal reported. “The Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) ceases to exist,” according to a decree issued by...
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Thousands of Indigenous people protested in the Colombian capital Bogota this week to voice their concerns over the ongoing wave of violence that has disproportionately affected their communities across the country, Al Jazeera reported. Members of the so-called “Minga” – a collective movement of Indigenous people...
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Burkinabè authorities foiled a coup attempt this week, according to the ruling junta, an incident that comes less than a year after Burkina Faso experienced a military takeover amid an ongoing jihadist insurgency in the Sahel region, the BBC reported. Government officials alleged that a group...
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This week, Russia conducted a series of air strikes on three Ukrainian regions, targeting Mykolaiv and Odesa in the south and Kirovohrad in central Ukraine, Reuters noted. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 34 of the 44 incoming “Shahed” drones used in the attack. While some drones...
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The thylacine, known also as the Tasmanian tiger, went fully extinct when the last one died in a Tasmanian zoo in 1936. Despite the lack of a surviving member of the species, scientists recently successfully recovered RNA from the marsupial carnivore, the first time such a...
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Late last year, pro-democracy activists, political dissidents, and others gathered in South Africa to discuss how they might compel King Mswati III, the absolute monarch of the tiny, independent landlocked nation of Eswatini, to resign. Soon after, in January 2023, gunmen shot and killed Swazi human...
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North Korea expelled American soldier Travis King, who crossed into the country two months ago complaining of ill-treatment while in the US Army, CBS News reported. State-controlled media said King confessed to illegally entering the country through neighboring South Korea on July 18. On early Thursday...
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The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) began a landmark trial Wednesday that will force 33 countries to defend themselves against allegations that they did not take proper action against climate change, Euronews reported. The case centers on a lawsuit filed three years ago by six...
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China’s rubber-stamp parliament unveiled a new bill this month that would ban clothing considered offensive to the Chinese people, a move critics say underscores the government’s increasing restrictions on personal freedom and expression, the Washington Post reported. The National People’s Congress published a draft that would...
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Before the Tyrannosaurus rex and its friends terrorized the Earth, there was another predator that dominated the planet 40 million years before dinosaurs emerged, Science Alert reported. Meet the Pampaphoneus biccai, described as “a gnarly-looking beast … (that) must have evoked sheer dread in anything that...
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Another nightmare appears to be unfolding on the far edge of Europe. Thousands of ethnic Armenians over the past week have fled the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh after Azerbaijani forces seized the territory, seeking refuge in the nearby republic of Armenia. Armenian officials, meanwhile, say Azerbaijan is “ethnic...
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Kenya and the United States signed a defense agreement this week that will see the African nation receive resources and support for security deployments as it prepares to lead a multinational mission to violence-torn Haiti, Al Jazeera reported. The defense pact follows a meeting between US...
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Israel’s tourism minister flew to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to participate in a United Nations-sponsored conference, marking the highest-level visit yet by an Israeli official to the kingdom, and a significant development in the potential normalization of ties between the two countries, Bloomberg reported. Minister Haim...
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Human rights groups are accusing the Zimbabwean authorities of launching a crackdown against opposition politicians and their supporters shortly after the country’s general elections that many critics say were stolen by the incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his ruling party, the Guardian reported Tuesday. Following last...
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Humans have been contributing to the extinction of whale species since long before industrial-scale whaling in the 19th and 20th centuries, according to a new study. A research team found evidence that medieval European hunters played a significant role in the demise of some species from...
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Mohammed Ounasser lost his wife and two daughters when a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Morocco on Sept. 8 and leveled their village of Tnirte in the High Atlas Mountains. “This once-idyllic hamlet, nestled in apple and apricot groves, is now just a giant pile of...
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Kosovar police and ethnic Serb gunmen clashed in Kosovo’s restive northern region this week, a deadly skirmish that killed at least four people and is likely to stir up tensions between Pristina and neighboring Serbia, Reuters reported Monday. On Sunday, gunmen attacked the village of Banjska,...
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Tens of thousands of schoolteachers marched in Nepal’s capital of Kathmandu this week to protest an education reform law, leading to the closure of around 29,000 schools attended by millions of students across the country, the Associated Press reported. The protests, which began last week, are...
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Iran thwarted 30 planned explosions in Tehran earlier this month, according to authorities, attacks aimed at creating chaos in crowded areas of the capital, Al Jazeera reported this week. On Sunday, security forces arrested 28 individuals in connection with the planned attacks during raids in a...
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