Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre appointed Mukhtar Robow — a former deputy chief of al-Shabaab, which is a Somali branch of the international jihadist terror organization al-Qaeda — as Somalia’s new religion minister on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro met with China’s Latin American envoy, Cai Wei, on Tuesday in Caracas to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries, Maduro announced on social media.
Argentine socialist Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner once again faced charges of extreme corruption this week, the Argentine news site Infobae reported on Monday, citing accusations by prosecutor Diego Luciani that Fernández engaged in an “extraordinary” level of corruption during her presidency from 2007 to 2015.
A new Japanese economic security law came into effect on Monday, Kyodo News reported, noting that it aims to bolster a stable global supply of crucial technologies such as semiconductors and protect their patents in the face of increasing Chinese interest in such materials.
A Kenyan government agency threatened Facebook with a suspension last week if it did not promptly remove advertisements that allegedly breached Kenyan hate speech laws ahead of a Kenyan general election on August 9, though Kenyan government ministers said on Monday that such a suspension would not occur, Voice of America (VOA) reported.
An exchange of fire between Taliban militants and Iranian border guards on Sunday allegedly caused one death among the Taliban, a southern Afghan police official told Reuters, though Iranian state media reports confirming the border clash made no mention of the alleged casualty.
The governments of Japan and Indonesia agreed on Wednesday to ramp up coordination across the defense sector in the coming months in an effort to counter Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific region, Kyodo News reported.
Tunisians voted in favor of a new constitution this week that will grant the North African nation’s president, Kais Saied, “unchecked powers,” Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported on Tuesday, noting that voter turnout in the referendum was “poor,” as 30.5 percent of eligible voters participated.
The director of Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, said on Tuesday that he expects Moscow to end its participation in the International Space Station (ISS) by 2024, Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency reported.
New Delhi plans to install a new batch of surface-to-air missile systems along India’s northern Himalayan border with China by October, the Times of India reported on Monday, as the two neighbors remain engaged in a border standoff that began in June 2020.
The Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ) on Wednesday accused the Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe of “threatening” a local newspaper called The Standard after it published articles about alleged “violations by Chinese mining companies,” Voice of America (VOA) reported.
Several Afghan refugees living in Madagascar staged a demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy in Antananarivo, the African island nation’s capital, on Monday to protest what they described as stalled efforts by the embassy to process their refugee visa applications, Al Jazeera reported.
A Liberia-flagged tanker carrying about 700,000 barrels of Russian fuel oil arrived in Cuba last week, the Latin American news website Infobae reported on Sunday, noting that the shipment demonstrated that Moscow was not only supporting Cuba’s communist regime but also finding outlets for oil stock shunned by the West in response to Russia’s latest war with Ukraine.
The political party of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was ousted from office in April, won a “crucial” by-election in Pakistan’s Punjab province on Sunday, prompting Khan on Monday to call for fresh national elections, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported.
Alan Dershowitz said Democrats are unable to credit Donald Trump for securing the Abraham Accords between Israel and the UAE.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro told reporters on Thursday that he has figured out how to “resolve” the latest war between Russia and Ukraine, adding that he plans to share this insight with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky next week during a scheduled telephone meeting, Brazil’s Universo Online (UOL) media outlet reported.
Michael Lima Cuadra, the director of a pro-democracy organization called Democratic Spaces, posted a video to his Twitter account Saturday in which he and former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom honored the first anniversary of anti-Communist protests that swept across Cuba on July 11, 2021.
Japanese voters turned out in large numbers Sunday to help the nation’s conservative, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and a junior coalition party win enough seats to forge a two-thirds majority in the Upper House chamber of Japan’s national legislature, the Asahi Shimbun reported on Monday.
Photos appearing to show Chinese vendors offering beverage discounts in celebration of former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s assassination began to crop up on Chinese social media platforms including Weibo on Friday, Taiwan’s Apple Daily newspaper reported.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi publically wished the Dalai Lama good health on his birthday on Wednesday, the Times of India reported on Thursday, noting that Modi may have intended the gesture as a signal to Beijing that New Delhi maintains a firm diplomatic footing in the Himalayas despite an ongoing border dispute between India and China along unmarked sections of the mountain range.
China’s state-run Global Times on Wednesday suggested that a recent increase in Chinese naval activity near waters surrounding the Japanese archipelago will soon “become routine,” as Beijing ramps up its militaristic ambitions across the greater Pacific Ocean.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. became the Philippines’ 17th president last week after over four decades in politics that began under the shadow of his father, former Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
Japan’s foreign ministry confirmed Thursday that a flotilla of Chinese Navy ships that entered waters near Japan’s Tsushima Strait on June 12 completed a circumnavigation of the archipelago after a nearly three-week mission that saw the ships end their journey near Taiwan, Kyodo News reported.
Independent grocery shop owners in Quito told Ecuador’s El Comercio newspaper on Wednesday that they have struggled with intense food shortages in recent days caused by distributors’ fears of violence by leftist rioters.
Japan’s government said this week it spotted three Chinese warships “sailing an unusual route around the archipelago,” the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Wednesday, noting that the sighting comes amid heightened tensions between Tokyo and Beijing over maritime territorial disputes.
A Chinese government-funded school touting the precepts of China’s ruling Communist Party recently opened near Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Tuesday, noting that the facility teaches “leadership” skills to local African politicians.
An Iranian state news agency called the Young Journalists Club (YJC) recently broadcast a fabricated story alleging Portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo referred to Israelis as “the most hated” soccer fans and “assassins,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported on Monday.
Several thousand people marching on behalf of a powerful native tribe lobby within Ecuador called the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) entered Quito on Monday night demanding financial concessions from the nation’s federal government, Semana magazine reported Tuesday.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry on Monday condemned a recent decision by FIFA World Cup organizers to change Taiwan to “Chinese Taipei” on an official Qatar government website granting spectators’ permits for the upcoming soccer tournament, the Taipei Times reported Wednesday.
A court in Seoul on Friday ordered Hover Lab, a right-wing YouTube channel, to pay former South Korean Justice Minister Cho Kuk and his children nearly $40,000 in compensation after finding the channel guilty of defaming the family, Yonhap News Agency reported.
A former U.N. employee alleged on Tuesday that the Ethiopian government intentionally prevented its representatives from declaring an official famine last year in the country’s northern Tigray region, which has been devastated by Ethiopia’s ongoing civil war, the media platform Devex reported.
China’s state-run Global Times on Wednesday dismissed recent Japanese government efforts to forge closer ties with Taiwan, suggesting that Beijing should “break the leg” of any third party like Tokyo that tries to interfere with the China-Taiwan relationship.
Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin may hold an in-person meeting on the sidelines of the “Shangri-La Dialogue” security summit in Singapore later this week, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Tuesday citing an anonymous source close to China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Canada’s Air Force will face “severe consequences” if it continues alleged acts of provocation against Chinese aircraft while conducting U.N. Security Council-backed air surveillance of North Korea, Beijing warned Monday as quoted by Reuters.
The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden presented the government of Sri Lanka — which is currently incapable of purchasing basic goods such as food and fuel due to a dire financial crisis — with an “environmental conservation” workshop this week, Sri Lanka’s News First website reported Tuesday.
The Univisión-Televisa conglomerate has made a deal with a left-wing coalition financed in part by George Soros to purchase 18 Spanish-language radio stations around the country, reports revealed this week – including historic anti-communist Miami station Radio Mambí.
Chinese warplanes allegedly harassed a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) plane “on several occasions” from April 26 to May 26 as it attempted to monitor possible sanction evasion activities by Pyongyang in international airspace near North Korea, Reuters reported on Thursday.
Hong Kong police warned the public Thursday not to “test” police officers with “unauthorized assemblies” on the upcoming anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, the Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) reported.
An Indian governmental delegation met with leaders of the Taliban in Kabul on Thursday for the first time since the group seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021, Asian News International (ANI) reported, noting that the high-level meeting concerned bilateral relations and humanitarian aid.
Members of South Korea’s ruling, conservative People Power Party (PPP) were projected to win at least 12 of 17 governmental posts in local elections nationwide on Thursday, Yonhap News Agency reported, noting that the PPP’s “landslide” victory would provide South Korea’s newly elected President Yoon Suk-yeol with “an added mandate” to push forward with his conservative agenda.
