The Trump administration’s “blockade” of illegal Venezuelan oil shipments is among the few serious efforts at controlling the “shadow fleet” or “dark fleet” – the vast armada of tankers flying false flags, submitting false paperwork, shutting down their identification equipment, and helping rogue nations like Russia, Iran, and Venezuela evade U.S. sanctions against their oil industries.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released a report on December 12 that found freedom of expression has declined sharply over the past decade.
Reuters claimed on Monday to have viewed a draft report from the Pentagon that said China “is likely to have loaded more than 100 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) across its latest three silo fields” which are located near the Mongolian border.
Hindus in the Indian capital of New Delhi protested on Tuesday after a Hindu man was lynched and burned alive by a mob in Bangladesh.
Maritime tracking data released on Monday showed that international oil tankers have dramatically scaled back loading activity at Venezuelan ports, fearful of a crackdown by the Trump administration on illegal sanctions-busting oil shipments.
El Salvador’s Villa Navidena, the Christmas Village in the capital city of San Salvador, featured familiar holiday favorites like Santa Claus, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and the Grinch in a parade on Sunday.
Fighting broke out in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Monday between Kurdish fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and security troops loyal to President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
The Japanese government is preparing to revise its immigration rules to make it more difficult for foreigners to obtain citizenship, including doubling the required period of residency in Japan and adding a requirement for Japanese language proficiency.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Monday denied accusations from the European Council (EC) that Tehran has been assisting Russia with its invasion of Ukraine.
The assembly of Japan’s Niigata prefecture on Monday passed a vote of confidence in Governor Hanazumi Hideyo’s plan to restart the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, which has been shut down ever since the earthquake that caused the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were each sentenced to 17 years in prison for corruption on Saturday. Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), denounced the ruling as a “black chapter in history” and declared there is “no rule of law in Pakistan.”
Shipping giant Maersk announced on Friday that one of its ships successfully navigated the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait for the first time in almost two years, potentially signaling a return to using the cost-effective trade route after the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists of Yemen shut it down with missile and drone attacks.
Chinese state media has been heavily promoting a rumor that the administration of Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae wants to develop nuclear weapons that could potentially be used against China.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry announced on Friday it has filed a case with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against certain Indian tariffs and subsidies, saying they give Indian domestic industries an “unfair competitive advantage” and “harm Chinese interests.”
Opposition lawmakers from the Democratic Party (DP) of Albania unleashed chaos in parliament on Thursday, lighting flares, throwing water bottles at Speaker Niko Peleshi as he tried to restore order, and scuffling with police.
The Islamic State’s power was diminished with the loss of its “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq and the elimination of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but it remains a worldwide threat capable of directing and inspiring terrorist attacks, as last week’s murders in Syria and Australia demonstrate.
The Australian government is touting tougher hate speech laws in the wake of the terrorist shooting rampage at Bondi Beach in Sydney last weekend, including higher penalties for promoting violence and plans for a watchlist of organizations that “promote violence or racial hatred.”
Israeli officials are reportedly investigating a possible Iranian connection to the murder of senior MIT nuclear scientist Prof. Nuno F. G. Loureiro, who was shot at his home on Monday evening by unknown assailants and died in the hospital a few hours later.
The Southern Transitional Council (STC), the Yemeni separatist movement that abruptly abandoned its alliance with the deposed national government last month and began snapping up oil-rich territory in southern Yemen, is urging the United States to support them against the Iran-backed Houthi extremists who control the northern half of the country.
South African immigration police on Tuesday raided a U.S. refugee processing center in Johannesburg and arrested seven Kenyans who were allegedly working there illegally, along with two U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) officers.
A report released on Wednesday by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce warned that China is exploiting joint nuclear research partnerships financed by the Department of Energy (DOE) and some of the sensitive technology China stole has found its way into the hands of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Missouri is being sued by the municipal government of Wuhan, China, in retaliation for Missouri’s 2020 pandemic lawsuit against China.
The Southern Transitional Council (STC) of Yemen, a group of separatists who have largely been aligned with the internationally-recognized government of Yemen ever since it was deposed by Houthi insurgents in 2014, has marched its fighters into another province — taking more territory away from its erstwhile allies and stoking fears of a renewed civil war.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said on Monday that she would like to see an oil pipeline built through British Columbia to the West Coast, but if the pipeline is not built, she would consider shipping Alberta’s oil across the border through Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington to reach Pacific ports.
Israel reportedly warned Australia about threats to Jewish communities from “Iran-directed terror activity” months before the Bondi Beach attack.
President Donald Trump said on Monday that he asked Chinese dictator Xi Jinping to free Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy Hong Kong media mogul who is awaiting sentencing after he was found guilty of “colluding with foreign forces” on Monday.
Syria’s ousted dictator Bashar Assad fled to Moscow when he was driven from power and has reportedly settled into a new life as a celebrity ophthalmologist since his usefulness to the Russian government has come to an end.
President Donald Trump says the U.S. “will retaliate” for the murder of three Americans in Syria, which he described as an “ISIS attack.”
The Democratic Party (DP) of Hong Kong voted to disband on Sunday, citing intense pressure from Chinese officials who wanted to eliminate the last vestiges of political resistance to the Chinese Communist Party on the island.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blames Australian PM Anthony Albanese for encouraging antisemitism.
The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday announced the elimination of Ra’ad Sa’ad, a Hamas official who planned the October 7 attack.
President Donald Trump announced on Friday that Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to “cease all shooting,” following a tense week of escalating clashes that threatened to destroy the ceasefire agreement he negotiated between the two countries in July.
In an interview with Al Jazeera News on Wednesday, Hamas Abroad leader Khaled Mashaal claimed that “fifty-one percent of American youth are supportive not only of the Palestinian cause, but of Hamas.”
Syria has approved the first Jewish organization to be officially recognized since Syria became an independent nation in the 1940s.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday in Turkmenistan to discuss the war in Ukraine. Their meeting was unexpectedly interrupted by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who demanded an audience with Putin to secure his support against India and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Australia’s ban on social media for children under 16 went into effect on Wednesday amid heavy resistance from the nation’s teenagers, ominous threats from regulators, and apprehension around the world.
The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has detained four young Afghan men who posted social media videos of themselves dressed as characters from the British crime drama “Peaky Blinders,” a show set in the early years of the 20th Century.
Portugal’s chief narcotics police officer, Artur Vaz, said on Monday that Latin American drug cartels are shipping huge amounts of cocaine to Europe, frequently using cheap “narco-subs” that have proven difficult for European coastal patrols to detect.
Japanese Defense Minister Koizumi Shinjiro said on Wednesday that a combined demonstration of Russian and Chinese airpower near Japan’s southern islands was “clearly intended as a show of force against our nation, which is a serious concern for our national security.”
President Donald Trump on Wednesday afternoon announced that the United States has seized an oil tanker bound for Cuba as it was sailing off the coast of Venezuela.
