World

The U.S. Embassy in Cuba has resumed offering visa and consular services Wednesday for the first time in five years following a series of unexplained health incidents tied to an illness dubbed the “Havana Syndrome.”  The embassy confirmed this week it will begin processing immigrant visas, with a priority placed …

Vietnamese authorities announced Wednesday that the 10-year-old boy trapped down a 115-foot deep concrete hole since New Year’s Eve is dead, according to reports.  The boy, identified as Thai Ly Hao Nam, initially was heard crying for help when he slipped through a 10-inch diameter shaft at a bridge construction …

Tehran handed down two death penalty sentences this week to two teenagers who were involved in the nationwide demonstrations protesting the Khamenei regime and who were deemed to have waged “enmity against God” and “corruption on Earth.” Arshia Takdastan, 18, was sentenced by Iran’s Revolutionary Court in the northern city …

A series of offensive cartoons depicting Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has provoked outrage in Tehran.  The magazine’s latest issue features the winners of a recent cartoon contest in which entrants were asked to draw the most offensive caricatures of Khamenei, who …

Coronavirus cases have surged in China since the country relaxed its draconian “zero-COVID” strategy last month, but officials there are likely undercounting the extent of the outbreak, a World Health Organization official said on Wednesday.  “We believe the current numbers being published from China underrepresent the true impact of the …

The Tokyo government announced their plans to provide benefits of 5,000 yen ($38) per person per month to residents of Tokyo aged 18 or young to assist parents with the cost of their children’s education. On Wednesday, Governor Yuriko Koike instructed officials to consider “bold measures, such as a handout …

A non-binary gender-queer Anglican priest in the United Kingdom is on record claiming to use the clerical position in hopes of “normalizing” such behavior among children. “I try to get involved in, not just in my religious work but outside it, with the local secular LGBT youth groups,” said Rev. …

Pro-Putin operatives with connections to the Kremlin have joined forces with fringe political movements in Germany in an attempt to push Europe’s largest economy away from its support of Ukraine. “We must stop being vassals of the Americans,” right-wing German politician Markus Beisicht said at a rally in Cologne of …

On the eve of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s funeral, I am reflecting on my one personal encounter with him. Realizing, too, that if he hadn’t shocked the world in 2013 by resigning, I probably would never have had the opportunity to perform for him, let alone meet him. Now that …

China warned the U.S. late last month to stop using “salami tactics” that constantly challenge the country’s “red line” on Taiwan.  The comments from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs came after a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.  Chinese Foreign Minister …