FAMILY THREATENED: Retired police sergeant Michael McMahon said he thought he was hired by a construction company as he pursued a US-based Chinese citizen
A former New York City police sergeant charged with acting as an illegal Chinese agent for allegedly intimidating a US-based fugitive from China went on trial on Wednesday and argued he did not know that the country’s government was behind a private surveillance job he took.Federal prosecutors in Br
Nineteen people have been killed and 106 more injured in shelling at a market in a poor area south of Khartoum, the Sudanese Doctors’ Trade Union has said.Six tank shells were fired from al-Shajara, one of the few areas the army controls in Khartoum, and targeted the neighborhood of Mayo, an area th
It is rare these days for a turbaned cleric in Iran to attract a large following of adoring young fans on Instagram, but Sayed Mahdi Tabatabaei has done it by rescuing street dogs in defiance of a local taboo.Tabatabaei posts regularly — to his more than 80,000 followers — heartbreaking stories of a
An absence of women among China’s top leadership is concerning, the UN said in a report, as it recommended China adopt statutory quotas and a gender parity system to quicken equal representation of women in government.The recommendations for China by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimina
SYMBOLIC: The bill sponsored by a cross-party group of lawmakers was hailed as a ‘historic moment’ in the fight for marriage equality, but is unlikely to pass
Lawmakers in South Korea have proposed the country’s first same-sex marriage bill, in a move hailed by civic groups as a defining moment in the fight for equality.The marriage equality bill, proposed by South Korean lawmaker Jang Hye-yeong of the minor opposition Justice Party and co-sponsored by 12
Sudan’s army yesterday suspended talks over a ceasefire and enabling humanitarian access, a Sudanese diplomatic source said, raising fears of fresh bloodshed and chaos.The talks with the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began early last month and had produced a declaration of commitment
OUTSPOKEN: Cresenciano Bunduquin, who was killed by motorcycle-riding shooters, hosted a program about ‘hard-hitting’ local issues such as illegal gambling and politics
A radio broadcaster was yesterday fatally shot outside his home in the central Philippines, police said, the latest in a long list of journalists killed in the country.Cresenciano Bunduquin, 50, was killed by motorcycle-riding shooters in Calapan City in Oriental Mindoro province, police Colonel Sam
Philippine mother of three Stella Sibonga is desperate to end a marriage she never wanted, but divorce in the Catholic-majority country is illegal, and a court annulment takes years.The Philippines is the only place outside the Vatican where divorce is outlawed.Pro-divorce advocates say that the ban
Elected officials and representatives of Israel’s Arab minority on Tuesday demonstrated in Jerusalem against the crime plaguing their communities, calling on the government to increase security, an Agence France-Presse reporter said. About 50 current and former members of parliament, as well as muni
The Australian House of Representatives yesterday voted overwhelmingly for a referendum to be held this year on creating an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, a federal advocacy body that would give the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority more say on government policy.While the Voice would advo
Japan yesterday passed a law allowing nuclear reactors to operate beyond 60 years, as it tries to reinvigorate the sector to meet energy challenges and climate targets.The bill intends to “establish an electricity supply system that will achieve a carbon-free society,” a parliament spokesman said.Un
UNCLAIMED ATTACK: The fire at the Afipsky refinery was put out, Russia said, while the White House press secretary said the US opposed Ukrainian attacks in Russian territory
A Ukrainian drone sparked a fire at an oil refinery in southern Russia and shelling hit a Russian town close to the border for the third time in a week, damaging buildings and setting vehicles ablaze, Russian officials said yesterday.A day after Russia accused Ukraine of sending drones to attack bui
NATO’s chief on Tuesday voiced guarded optimism on welcoming Sweden to the alliance as the US pressed holdout Turkey to drop its objections, two days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won re-election. Sweden and Finland last year reversed decades of hesitation and formally applied to join
Moscow is trying to destabilize Moldova, but the tiny former Soviet republic can join the EU by 2030 alongside its breakaway Transnistria region, despite the current presence of Russian troops, its president said.The secret to solving Moldova’s separatist conflict would be to pursue economic reforms
CALL FOR DE-ESCALATION: Antony Blinken criticized the Kosovar leader for installing ethnic Albanian mayors, saying that the move ‘unnecessarily escalated tensions’
The US on Tuesday said that it was suspending Kosovo from a military exercise in its first sanction over a decision to install ethnic Albanian mayors that sent tensions soaring with the Serb minority.Western powers that have historically supported Kosovo have urged de-escalation after the move on th
A woman who accused US President Joe Biden during the 2020 US presidential race of sexual assault appeared on Tuesday in Moscow, where she said she was asking US President Vladimir Putin for Russian citizenship.Tara Reade, who worked in Biden’s congressional office for a short period in 1993, said s
DEFENSE TIES: Papua New Guinea’s prime minister has said Australia wants to strike an ‘ambitious’ security treaty involving navy, air force and army collaboration
Papua New Guinea (PNG) said that a proposed security treaty with Australia would be delayed as it consults “domestic processes,” a week after signing a defense agreement with the US that sparked student protests.Papua New Guinea, a few kilometers to Australia’s north, is being courted by China and t
One of Australia’s two active volcanoes on an island near Antarctica — known as Big Ben — has been spotted by satellite spewing lava. The lava flow on the uninhabited Heard Island, about 4,100km southwest of Perth and 1,500km north of Antarctica, is part of an ongoing eruption that was first noted m
After the sun sets in Harare, the streets of Zimbabwe’s capital suddenly burst to life. Carts, cars and trucks turned into makeshift, unauthorized shops sell anything from potatoes to babies’ diapers on the pavements of the city center.Shopping is best done at night in times of hyperinflation and ec
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