Category: Blog

U.N. human rights experts on Friday called for the release of two Saudi Arabian women they say were arbitrarily detained and denied basic rights after tweeting criticism of the kingdom’s policies. Salma al-Shehab was sentenced to 34 years in prison and Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani was sentenced to 45 years last summer after they were […]

Earth’s average temperature set a new unofficial record high on Thursday, the third such milestone in a week that already rated as the hottest on record. The planetary average hit 63 degrees Fahrenheit, surpassing the 62.9-degree mark set Tuesday and equaled Wednesday, according to data from the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, a tool that […]

Wildfires raging across Canada have already broken records for total area burned, the number of people forced to evacuate their homes and the cost of fighting the blazes, and the fire season is only halfway finished, officials said Thursday. “It’s no understatement to say that the 2023 fire season is and will continue to be […]

An American Jesuit who runs outreach ministry for LGBTQ Catholics was been tapped by Pope Francis on Friday to be among participants at a major Vatican gathering of bishops and laypeople later this year. The Vatican unveiled the names of bishops, priests, nuns and laypersons who will take part in the weeks-long meeting that the […]

Three helicopter tour operators pleaded guilty on Friday to safety breaches when New Zealand’s White Island volcano erupted in 2019, claiming 22 lives. Volcanic Air Safaris Ltd., Kahu NZ Ltd. and Aerius Ltd. were to go on trial in Auckland District Court next week along with six other entities and people following the tragedy at […]

A fire that broke out in a Milan nursing home early Friday killed six residents and injured about 80 others, Italian firefighters said. The blaze began about 1:30 a.m., apparently in the room of two female residents who were among the dead, firefighters said. A man and three other women also died. Two of the […]

NATO leaders will agree next week to help modernize Ukraine’s armed forces, create a new high-level forum for consultations and reaffirm that it will join their alliance one day, the organization’s top civilian official said Friday. But the war-torn country will not start membership talks soon. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that when U.S. President […]

Iraq opened an investigation into the case of a dual Israeli-Russian academic who has been missing in Iraq since March, a government spokesman said Friday. Bassem al-Awadi’s comments were the first official Iraqi statements since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Wednesday that Elizabeth Tsurkov is still alive “and we hold Iraq responsible for […]

JERUSALEM—In a statement after the United Nations condemned Israel’s operation to degrade Palestinian terrorism infrastructure in the West Bank city of Jenin, the Jewish state’s ambassador to the U.N. on Thursday issued a stinging rebuke of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres while welcoming a pro-Israel Executive Order (EO) from Republican New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu.  […]

At least six people were killed in a blast reported at a central Russian explosives factory.  The Promsintez explosives plant, located in the Samara region of Russia, erupted Friday with an explosion that killed six and injured at least two others.  “Eight people were injured, six of whom died,” RIA Novosti news agency reported. The […]