The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Sunday blamed the United States for the surge of violence in Afghanistan, including Saturday’s bombing massacre at a girls’ school in Kabul, because the U.S. was supposedly irresponsible to withdraw its forces so “abruptly” from Afghanistan after twenty years of deployment.
Chinese state media on Sunday accused the United States of “fussiness,” “hypocrisy,” and “smears” because U.S. officials worried about the potential damage from the rocket China left tumbling out of control in Earth’s orbit last week.
A spokesman for the Taliban announced Sunday night the group ordered its forces to pause offensive operations for the three days of Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan.
Burmese poet Khet Thi, an ardent opponent of the junta that seized control of Myanmar from its elected civilian government in February, was arrested by regime forces on Saturday along with his wife Chaw Su.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists last week published a lengthy report from New York Times, Nature, and Science writer Nicholas Wade that strongly argued for the theory that Chinese coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory.
A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday refused to answer if China would consider releasing patent protection from its coronavirus vaccines so they could be manufactured worldwide, as the U.S. government has proposed.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — which viciously opposed travel bans during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, when its actions ensured the Wuhan coronavirus would infect the rest of the world — on Thursday agitated for isolating its regional rival India from the rest of the world to contain its coronavirus outbreak.
China is aggressively seeking to establish an Atlantic naval base in Africa that can service submarines and aircraft carriers, Gen. Stephen Townsend, chief of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), warned Thursday.
The Rhodium Group, a climate research organization based in New York, reported on Thursday that China’s greenhouse gas emissions now exceed the entire rest of the developed world combined.
Iraqi President Barham Salih claimed in an interview on Wednesday that Baghdad has “more than once” hosted secret talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Chinese state media on Wednesday scrambled to reassure the rest of humanity there is no reason to fear the huge, out-of-control rocket the Chinese left tumbling around the Earth at 18,000 miles per hour last week, quoting “Chinese space analysts” who said the rocket will probably come down in the ocean, so it will likely not kill anyone or destroy anything.
China on Thursday announced the suspension of economic dialogue with Australia amid deteriorating relations over human rights issues, Chinese espionage and political interference, and Australia’s withdrawal from two projects tied to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Iraqi Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi resigned Tuesday, saying he had a “moral obligation” to do so — and a need to preserve “my career path, my family, and professional history” — after a fire at the Ibn al-Khatib Hospital in Baghdad on April 24 killed about 130 people.
Seychelles, the East African archipelago currently recognized as “the most vaccinated nation on Earth” because such a high percentage of its tiny population has been inoculated against Chinese coronavirus, reimposed emergency restrictions on Tuesday because infections have become “critical” once again.
India’s ambassador to the United States, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, held a virtual meeting on Tuesday with U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director Dr. Anthony Fauci to discuss India’s coronavirus crisis and the progress of its vaccination program.
Syria’s Supreme Constitutional Court on Monday approved three of the 51 applications submitted to run for president in the May 26 election.
China’s envoy to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, told reporters Monday that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave a “positive” response to China’s invitation to attend a virtual U.N. Security Council summit on Friday.
China used an immense Long March-5B rocket last week to boost the living quarters module of its planned space station into orbit. The 21-ton body of the rocket is now whipping around the Earth in an uncontrolled orbit and could fall to Earth within the next few days, potentially raining debris on an inhabited area.
Iranian state media reported Tuesday that a senior Swiss diplomat fell to her death from a high-rise apartment building in Tehran.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday gave a public scolding to Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for disparaging the late Brig. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in an interview leaked to the media last week.
An event in Alberta, Canada on Saturday and Sunday billed as the “No More Lockdowns Rodeo Rally” drew thousands of attendees – plus stern criticism from provincial officials, who declared the rodeo “a clear breach of current public health restrictions” and said participants “knowingly put their fellow Albertans at risk.”
The Nigerian government announced on Saturday that “non-Nigerian passport holders and non-residents who visited Brazil, India or Turkey within 14 days preceding travel to Nigeria, shall be denied entry into Nigeria.” The ban is set to take effect on Tuesday
A social media account run by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mocked India’s deadly coronavirus crisis on Saturday with a post deleted after public outrage in both China and India.
China’s state-run Global Times on Thursday reported that BioNTech, the German company that partnered with American company Pfizer to produce its coronavirus vaccine, is “considering to evaluate” mixing its mRNA product with the vaccine manufactured by China’s Fosun Pharma.
Iranian officials and state media on Friday interpreted conciliatory remarks from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in an interview on Tuesday as proof the Saudis realize their intervention in Yemen was a failure, and have abandoned any hopes of defeating Iran in a struggle for regional authority.
Russian dissident Alexei Navalny appeared by video in a Moscow court on Thursday to appeal a libel case against him. Navalny was difficult to recognize, shaven-headed and skeletal after losing 50 pounds in a hunger strike, but he gave a fiery speech to the court in an unsuccessful effort to get the charges dismissed.
Russian state media reported Thursday that an “extended Troika conference on Afghanistan reconciliation” would be held in Doha, Qatar, on Friday — the day before the May 1 deadline for American and NATO forces to withdraw.
Afghanistan has long been infamous for its opium poppies, but law enforcement agencies across the world are warning of a new boom in the Afghan drug trade fueled by methamphetamines.
Reuters reported Wednesday that “major Chinese investors” are in talks to buy a stake in Saudi Aramco, the national oil company of Saudi Arabia.
Facebook revealed Thursday that it blocked all posts containing the hashtag #ResignModi in India for several hours Wednesday.
President Joe Biden’s address to Congress on Wednesday night included some remarks on foreign policy that expressed a disturbing mindset toward American interests and national security.
China’s state-run Global Times on Wednesday continued its effort to capitalize on the coronavirus pandemic in India by accusing the United States of selfishness for “sitting on tens of millions of vaccines” instead of sharing them with other nations.
Officials in Beijing on Tuesday imposed a hefty fine on the producers of a stand-up comedy show that was deemed “offensive” for unspecified reasons. It was the first case in which Beijing’s increasingly popular comedy scene was punished for content violations.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the de facto chief executive of Saudi Arabia, said in a televised interview Tuesday that he wants to improve relations with regional rival Iran.
Hong Kong officials announced Tuesday they would ban the annual June 4 Victoria Park vigil to commemorate the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square due to coronavirus restrictions. The vigil was banned for similar reasons in 2020.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) appears to have a strange love-hate relationship with filmmaker Chloe Zhao, alternately praising her achievements and using its censorship powers to suppress all mention of her Oscar wins on Sunday. It is hard to see why the CCP would decide to erase Zhao, who has not been a strident public critic of China’s authoritarian regime.
The customs agency for Beijing released data on Monday that showed trade with the United States increasing by 133.4% in the first quarter of 2021 to reach $12.5 billion. Total trade for the city with all partners was up by 8.8 percent from the pandemic year of 2020, and 1.9 percent higher than pre-pandemic totals in 2019.
In leaked audio of a March interview that evidently was not intended for consumption outside the Iranian regime, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif complained that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forced him to lie to the world about the downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet in January 2020.
India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) said on Sunday it has asked Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms to remove posts that create “panic” about the coronavirus surge in India by spreading “fake or misleading information.” Opposition politicians and international free speech advocates denounced the action as political censorship by the embattled government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Chinese state media on Sunday slammed the United States as “selfish” and “indifferent” for denying India the raw materials it needs to ramp up vaccine production.
