At the beginning of January, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps seized a South Korean tanker in Gulf waters and detained its crew. The incident comes amid rising tensions between Iran and South Korea concerning Iranian oil assets that were frozen in South Korean banks as a result of U.S. sanctions against
The ruling party of French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday November 30 it would entirely rewrite a draft plan that would have placed limits on people’s ability to share images identifying police officers following large scale protests against police violence that took place over the weekend. Over 133,000 people
Four Thai activists, including human rights lawyer and protest leader Arnon Nampa, were freed from a Bangkok prison early on November 3. Upon their freeing, the activists vowed to continue their fight to oust Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and reform the monarchy. The four were arrested with dozens of others
Myanmar holds nationwide elections on November 8, but with a rapidly increasing COVID-19 infection and death rate, traditional campaign activities cannot occur. Instead, the parties turned their attention to social media and the unique aid of trishaw drivers. In Myanmar, trishaw—three-wheeled passenger bikes—are a common and popular form of public
On Monday, India’s top court ordered prominent lawyer and civil rights activist Prashan Bhushan, 63, to pay a symbolic fine of one rupee, less than two cents, after convicting him for criminal contempt for tweets posted in August. The tweets in question criticized the Supreme Court’s chief justice and claimed
Serbia purchased a new generation of medium-range, radar-guided surface-to-air missiles from China within the last year, showing a deepening partnership between the two countries. The purchase came to light due to the release of a state-run arms company Jugoimport SDPR’s annual report, which was submitted to the state Business Registers
Ethiopia’s government said on Sunday that over 166 people were killed in the course of anti-government protests that erupted in the country last week. The state’s capital and other protest hotspots remain under heavy guard by security forces. After the protests began, the government also instituted a blanket internet shutdown
Earlier this week, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro led a rally of his supporters in a protest against the country’s Supreme Court. Currently, the Court is in the midst of investigating the right-wing Bolsonaro for his interference in police affairs, as well as beginning an inquiry into alleged libel and intimidation
The European Union recently held an online summit where over eight billion dollars was pledged to aid in developing a vaccine to battle COVID-19, and to fund research studying the diagnosis and treatment of the virus. The final donors included more than thirty countries and several UN and philanthropic organizations
At least twenty-five Malian soldiers are dead after an attack on a military base in Bamba, a small town located in the north of Mali. According to Al Jazeera, twelve of the assailants were “‘neutralized’ during the ‘terrorist’ attack early on Monday morning, the government said in a statement, without
In India’s capital city of Delhi, 43 are now dead and thousands more are injured after a sharp uptick in Hindu nationalist violence against Muslims, spurred by the rhetoric and actions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s populist government. Over four days, a mob of Hindu nationalists set mosques on fire
Nearly a decade after the initial release of his controversial WikiLeaks website, Julian Assange is still a significant point of contention and is now fighting extradition from the United Kingdom to the United States on charges of espionage. Assange first gained notoriety in 2010 after publishing a classified video from
Earlier this week, the Dominican Republic suspended municipal elections four hours after the commencement of voting. Officials enacted this suspension after discovering a problem with the electronic voting system. At this time, election officials are still investigating what caused the glitch with the system. The country opted to hold a
On the afternoon of Sunday 9 February, armed soldiers and police officers aided President Nayib Bukele in a storming of the El Salvador parliament building. According to CNN, he took this action as a means of demanding that “opposition lawmakers vote to approve his plan to secure a $109 million
Pope Francis converted a nineteenth-century palace in St. Peter’s Square, neighboring the Vatican, into a homeless shelter in the heart of Rome. For the past seven decades, the Palazzo Migliori was the home of the Calasanziane order of religious women. They vacated the building last year, and those in charge
Last Thursday, the Polish legislature passed measures that would allow judges to face disciplinary action if they rule on cases in a way with which the government disagrees. This legislation will significantly reduce the autonomy of judges, giving that authority to the Minister of Justice, Zbigniew Ziobro. Poland’s ruling party,
On Saturday evening, a missile struck a mosque in a military training camp in Marib, Yemen. The al-Estiqbal military training camp is within Marib, which, according to Reuters, is “held by the internationally-recognized government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.” The attack killed 79 people as well as wounding 81
On Monday, a high court in Pakistan reversed a guilty verdict and death sentence for former leader Pervez Musharraf on charges of treason, ruling the court’s formation unconstitutional. This special court sentenced Musharraf, who is currently seeking medical treatment in Dubai, to death in December on charges of treason resulting
On Sunday, pro-government lawmakers in Venezuela announced the swearing-in of a new president of the National Assembly after barring several opposition congressmen, including leader Juan Guaidó, from entering the legislative building. Guaidó is the incumbent National Assembly President and was presumed to win reelection to the position. Instead, he and
Ahead of a year-end deadline posed by North Korea to engage in new denuclearization talks, leader Kim Jong Un urged the United States to pursue ‘positive and offensive’ security measures. According to Reuters, Kim Jong Un is expected to make a speech on New Year’s Day advocating for a “new
