National Security

The UK Guardian on Thursday published interviews with several of the almost 400 people imprisoned at the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton in Saudi Arabia in late 2017.

Chinese state media on Thursday derided the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance for daring to criticize China’s ugly crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong, spraying extra venom at Australia, which the state-run Global Times sneeringly dismissed as a “vassal of the U.S.”

Protests against alleged vote-rigging in a recent legislative election continued on Wednesday for the third straight day in Pakistan-administered Gilgit Baltistan, a northern region in the disputed Kashmir territory bordering China.

CARACAS – Venezuela’s socialist regime has made it nearly impossible for citizens to renew or obtain new passports – a violation of international human rights law that could leave millions stranded and deprived of identity in the middle of Latin America’s worst-ever migrant crisis.

Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro used a national broadcast on Thursday to blame President Donald Trump’s presumptive loss in the 2020 election on the legitimate president of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, whom he called “stupid,” an “imbecile,” and a “rat.”

South Australia imposed an extremely strict coronavirus lockdown on Wednesday, attracting international attention when residents complained they were denied permission to walk their dogs.

The foreign minister of Saudi Arabia said in a recent interview surfacing this week that nuclear weapons development was “definitely an option” if neighboring rival Iran continued on its path to illegally build its own nuclear bombs.

Police in Hong Kong raided the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) on Friday to collect evidence after more than 100 graduating students participated in a rally in support of the region’s pro-democracy movement.

An underground movement that describes itself as a “provisional government” remains fully engaged in a plan to overthrow North Korea’s communist regime, according to a new bombshell report published this week.

World Health Organization (W.H.O.) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issued a statement on Thursday denying allegations from the government of Ethiopia that he is secretly backing the Tigray rebels in his home country’s steadily escalating civil war.

Refugees from northern Iraq’s Nineveh province said in interviews this week they regret returning home, as their villages still have no basic services six years after an invasion by the Islamic State terror group forced them to flee the area.

Major General Hossein Salami, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), sent a warning to Washington on Thursday, saying Tehran was not limited to “a specific geographical area” in militarily defending the “vital interests” of country.

China is the “biggest stumbling block” for India in its bid to win a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the Hindustan Times reported Thursday.

Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) continues to circumvent U.S. sanctions by operating via a network of shell companies registered in Hong Kong, an investigation by Radio Free Asia (RFA) revealed on Wednesday.

The Villa Villa Cafe and Bar in Hong Kong published a photo of a custom cake it baked for a customer this week depicting American presidential candidate Joe Biden sniffing the hair of a distressed cartoon girl drawn in the Japanese anime style.

The Australian Defense Force (ADF) released a report on Thursday detailing the results of a four-year investigation into alleged abuses by Australian troops in Afghanistan. The report found 39 unlawful killings were committed between 2005 and 2016 by Australian special forces soldiers, 19 of whom will now face criminal investigation and the potential loss of military honors. 

India is the only G20 nation doing its “fair share” to meet the climate change mitigation commitments it agreed to under the 2015 Paris Climate Accord, a 2020 Climate Transparency report published on Wednesday revealed.

Hundreds of members of the Yukpa indigenous group of Venezuela traveled across the country from their native Zulia state to Caracas, arriving on Wednesday seeking a meeting with socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro but found his repressive police force greeting them, instead.

The University of Michigan (U-M) released a gloomy report about growing Internet censorship on Tuesday, warning that even countries with high liberty ratings from human rights advocates like Freedom House are censoring Internet content with increasingly heavy hands.

The editor-in-chief of belligerent Chinese state propaganda outlet Global Times, Hu Xijin, dismissed half the world as living “by the law of the jungle” in a column Thursday meant to lift the spirits of Chinese communists.

Ethiopian Army Chief of Staff Berhanu Jula gave a televised address on Wednesday in which he denounced Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a longtime member of the Ethiopian government but currently head of the World Health Organization (WHO), as a “criminal” for supporting the Tigray separatists who are fighting against the government in Addis Ababa. Berhanu called on Tedros to step down from his position at WHO, which did not immediately respond to his allegations.

China’s use of forced abortions and sterilizations to weed out undesirable elements in the population is nothing new, declares a leading human rights expert, but reflects policies that go back 100 years.

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) banned private parties on Wednesday from taking place over Christmas, the New Year, and the country’s National Day to prevent the spread of the Chinese coronavirus.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Thursday issued a stern warning to the Five Eyes intelligence group — an international intelligence-sharing bloc consisting of Australia, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States — after it condemned Beijing’s move to disqualify four opposition leaders in the Hong Kong Legislative Council (LegCo).

Government officials in Sudan appealed for international assistance on Monday to deal with surging numbers of Ethiopian refugees fleeing the country’s recent internal conflict.

Recent Chinese media reports indicate that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is forcing universities in the country to incorporate “Xi Jinping Thought,” or the socialist philosophies and writings of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, into their curriculum.

Hijabs designed for cats, which cover the cat’s ears similarly to how the Islamic headscarves cover a woman’s hair, are becoming increasingly popular in Indonesia, the local outlet Coconuts reported on Tuesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump may withdraw nearly all U.S. forces from Somalia in the near future, U.S. officials allegedly said on Tuesday.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has given his backing to what is being touted as the biggest investment program in the country’s armed forces since the end of the Cold War three decades ago.

PARIS (AP) — An American who had been scheduled to appear as a star witness at the trial in Paris of an Islamic State operative was hospitalized Thursday in the French capital, casting doubt on whether he would still be able to testify about his role in the dramatic capture of the gunman that averted a possible mass slaughter aboard a high-speed train.