Month: November 2019

Hong Kongers are voting Sunday in a local election widely seen as a de facto referendum on pro-democracy protests that have recently taken a more aggressive turn.  The territory is on edge following days of intense clashes between police and groups of mostly student protesters,…

President Donald Trump's new national security adviser is criticizing what he says is silence from the rest of the world about China's confinement of more than 1 million Muslims in re-education camps, linking the lack of a global outcry to China's economic clout.    National…

A Hong Kong university campus under siege for more than a week was a deserted wasteland Saturday, with a handful of protesters holed up in hidden refuges across the trashed grounds, as the city’s focus turned to local elections. The siege neared its end as…

U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland has been a key witness in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Sondland was appointed to his post after donating $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee. The practice of awarding ambassador positions to wealthy political supporters…

In late December, it will be one year since Moscow detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan on espionage charges. During his 11 months in the infamous Lefortovo prison, Whelan has denied the allegations and complained of systematic mistreatment. His family in the U.S. is working to…

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's indictment is expected to sharpen the battle lines in Israel's already deadlocked political system and could test the loyalty of his right-wing allies, Israeli commentators said Friday.                     The serious corruption charges announced Thursday appear to have dashed already slim…

Tens of thousands of people in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore are at risk of respiratory disease because of poor air quality related to thick smog hanging over the region, an international rights group said Friday.                     Amnesty International called for “urgent action” for…

Pope Francis Friday called on bishops in Thailand to keep their doors open for priests and to spread the faith as their missionary predecessors did. "Be close to your priests, listen to them and seek to accompany them in every situation, especially when you see…

A study of grazing in Yellowstone National Park found that bison essentially mow and fertilize their own food. This allows them to graze in one area for two to three months during the spring and summer while other hoofed mammals must keep migrating to higher…

It wasn’t until she became a high school senior that Kayla Ireland had another black person as a teacher in Waterbury, a former manufacturing hub where the students are mostly minorities and the educators are generally white. The imbalance never troubled her much, except for…

A major Internet outage in Iran aimed at suppressing anti-government protests has extended into a 5th day, with access levels rising slightly as authorities said they reconnected several regions to the web. Real-time technical data corroborate reports in #Iran news media that some connectivity is…

U.S. diplomat Gordon Sondland told the impeachment panel investigating President Donald Trump Wednesday that despite the president's denial, U.S. aid to Ukraine was conditioned on investigations benefiting Trump's personal political interests. Sondland's testimony could mark a pivotal turning point in the impeachment inquiry in the…

Syrian forces shelled a displaced-persons camp in rebel-held Idlib Wednesday, killing at least 15 civilians, anti-government activists said. The missiles set a number of tents on fire; two missiles fell just outside a maternity hospital in the camp in Qah, near the border with Turkey.…

With urban populations surging around the world, cities will struggle to keep residents safe from fast-growing heat risks turbo-charged by climate change, scientists and public health experts warned this week. Heat is already the leading cause of deaths from extreme weather in countries including the…

The United States has imposed new sanctions on individuals and networks for providing financial support to the Islamic State (IS) terror group. The U.S. Treasury Department announced Monday the new round of sanctions targeting four individuals and five companies operating in Syria, Turkey, Afghanistan and…

Contrary to Pyongyang’s belief that nuclear weapons and missile programs safeguard its security and ensure its survival, experts said they make the country less safe because they leave it prone to U.S. military targets. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “thinks that nuclear weapons are…

In 1990, a bikini-clad Madonna wrapped in a U.S. flag urged MTV viewers to vote in Senate elections as the youth television network partnered with a "Rock the Vote" campaign that mixed pop culture and politics. Thirty years on, with Millennials and Gen Z poised…

Less than 200 student protesters remain barricaded inside a Hong Kong university that has been surrounded by riot police since Sunday. Over the past 24 hours, a slow trickle of pro-democracy demonstrators have left the campus, either by attempting to flee or by surrendering to…

A Moscow City Court has upheld a decision to prolong the pretrial detention of Paul Whelan, a U.S. citizen charged in Russia with espionage, until December 29. Lawyers for the detained former U.S. Marine, who has rejected the charges, had argued at an appeal hearing…

Less than 200 student protesters remain barricaded inside a Hong Kong University that has been surrounded by riot police since Sunday. Over the past 24 hours, a slow trickle of people have left the campus, either by attempting to flee or by surrendering to police,…

Residents in several Bolivian cities are reporting food and gasoline shortages because of protests by supporters of ousted President Evo Morales, who resigned after a disputed election and nationwide unrest.                     Bolivia's interim government said Monday that its efforts to resupply La Paz face…

The United States on Monday granted another 90 days for companies to cease doing business with China's telecoms giant Huawei, saying this would allow service providers to continue to serve rural areas. President Donald Trump in May effectively barred Huawei from American communications networks after…

The Ukrainian journalist Oleg Sentsov, who was jailed in Russia for reporting on the country’s illegal annexation of Crimea, and murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi were among those honored at the recent Magnitsky Awards ceremony in London. The awards pay tribute to those who risk…

New research has found that U.S. agriculture uses child workers without proper training and care for their safety. The report published last week in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine says 33 children are injured every day while working on U.S. farms, and more child…

British photographer Terry O’Neill, whose images captured London’s Swinging ’60s and who created iconic portraits of Elton John, Brigitte Bardot and Winston Churchill, has died at age 81. O’Neill died Saturday at his home in London following a long battle with cancer, according to Iconic…

Fighting reportedly intensified between Turkish-backed Syrian fighters and U.S.-backed Kurdish forces Sunday over a major highway and a strategic town in northeastern Syria. Local news reported that Turkish military and allied Syrian militias continued shelling positions belonging to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in…

Iran’s supreme leader Sunday backed the government’s decision to raise gasoline prices and called angry protesters who have been setting fire to public property over the hike “thugs,” signaling a potential crackdown on the demonstrations. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments came as authorities apparently shut down…

Sri Lanka’s former wartime defense chief Gotabaya Rajapaksa was set to become president after his main rival conceded defeat Sunday in an election that came months after bombings by Islamist militants threw the country into turmoil. Rajapaksa oversaw the military defeat of Tamil separatists under…