Category: Blog

Beijing has canceled a visit from a top European diplomat amid ongoing disagreements on a range of issues, marking a potential step backward in relations.  “Unfortunately, we were informed by the Chinese counterparts that the envisaged dates next week are no longer possible and we must now look for alternatives,” EU spokesperson Nabila Massrali said […]

The U.S. Navy on Wednesday said it stopped Iran from seizing two commercial tankers in the Gulf of Oman following a series of attacks and seizures on vessels in the region since 2019. The first seizure attempt occurred around 1 a.m. local time on a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker TRF Moss but ended after U.S. […]

The satellite North Korea failed to put into orbit wasn’t advanced enough to conduct military reconnaissance from space as it claimed, South Korea’s military said Wednesday after retrieving and studying the wreckage. North Korea had tried to launch its first spy satellite in late May, but the long-range rocket carrying it plunged into the waters […]

The head of the U.N. atomic agency toured Japan’s tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant on Wednesday and said he is satisfied with still-contentious plans to release treated radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Mariano Grossi observed where the treated water will be sent through a pipeline to a coastal […]

A suicide bomber riding in a vehicle targeted a security checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least three soldiers and a 10-year-old boy and wounding 14 other civilians, officials said. The bombing occurred in Miran Shah, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan and is a former stronghold of the militant […]

Award-winning Russian reporter Elena Milashina is in “difficult” condition after being beaten during a trip to Chechnya, Russia.  Milashina’s editor confirmed her arrival back in Moscow on Wednesday in a statement to Agence France-Presse. “Milashina is in Moscow in hospital. Her condition is, frankly, difficult: she was really severely beaten, beaten with a stick,” said […]

A powerful summer storm lashed the Netherlands and parts of Germany on Wednesday, killing at least two people, blowing trees onto houses and forcing one of Europe’s busiest airports to cancel or delay hundreds of flights. The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute issued its highest-level alert in three provinces as Storm Poly hit the country with […]

Amsterdam’s long-awaited plans to diminish its red-light district and establish a legal alternative “erotic center” continue to face pushback from sex workers, bartenders and entrepreneurs.  City officials introduced new measures to crack down on related issues that make the famous red-light district less attractive, with noise limits and substance abuse at the forefront of new […]

Reports of North Korean citizens going maskless in large groups indicate the country has rolled back its intense COVID-19 restrictions. South Korean analysts are speculating that the hermit nation has ended its blanket mask requirements as of the beginning of July.  SOUTH KOREA DRAWS HARD LINE ON NORTH KOREAN AID, NO LONGER A ‘SUPPORT DEPARTMENT’ […]

A 23-year-old man in Denmark who opened fire at a mall last year and killed three people believing the victims were zombies was sentenced Wednesday to detention in a secure medical facility. The Copenhagen District Court convicted the man, who was not identified during the trial because of court rules, of murder and attempted murder […]