Türkiye’s President Tayyip Erdogan officially approved Sweden’s bid to join NATO on Thursday, marking the end of months of delay and leaving Hungary as the remaining hurdle to Stockholm’s NATO membership. The approval came about 20 months after Sweden first requested to join NATO in the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Swedish Prime Minister [...]

The Senate of the Czech Republic has voted against ratifying the Istanbul Convention, a convention from the Council of Europe (COE) intended to curb domestic violence and violence against women. Czech Minister for European Affairs Martin Dvořák expressed his frustration with the failed vote Thursday on X (formerly known as Twitter) calling it an “international disgrace.” [...]

Chinese music student Xiaolei Wu was convicted Thursday on charges that he harassed a democracy activist at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Wu was convicted following a four-day jury trial of one count of cyberstalking and one count of interstate transmissions of threatening communication. The incident leading to Wu’s arrest began on [...]

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) urged the US on Thursday to halt passage of military ships in the Taiwan Strait. A spokesperson for the PRC Ministry of National Defense stated that the US must “stop abusing international law,” and  “cease all dangerous provocations.” The statement was in response to the recent passage of a [...]

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an exclusive report Thursday revealing that UK businessman Ian J. Stones, who spent decades working in China and disappeared from public view in 2018, was actually convicted of espionage and is being held by the Chinese government. The Financial Times questioned Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin about the [...]

Statistics released by France and Belgium on Thursday show the number of antisemitic acts had risen sharply in both countries since Hamas’ attack on Israel and the initiation of the war in Gaza. The French Ministry of the Interior and the Service for the Protection of the Jewish Community of France (SPCJ) announced on Thursday [...]

Over 1,259 employees of the Protestant Church of Germany have committed sexual abuse since 1946, according to an independent report published Thursday. The study also found that at least 2,225 individuals have been victims of the abuse. Researchers examined documents from the 20 regional churches of the Protestant Church of Germany (EKD) as well as [...]

The Kenyan High Court in Nairobi ruled on Friday that the state’s decision to deploy police officers to Haiti was unconstitutional. According to the court, Kenya can only send police officers to Haiti if Kenya and Haiti have a reciprocal agreement under sections 107 and 108 of the National Police Service Act. The decision comes [...]

A Moscow court ruled on Friday to extend the detention of imprisoned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by two months. Gershkovich, a US citizen, has been detained in Moscow since March 29, 2023 on espionage charges. This is the fourth extension of his sentence. He will now spend more than a year behind bars [...]

The Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) heard Russia’s appeal Friday against the sanctions imposed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC). The IOC in October 2023 banned the ROC with immediate effect for “breach of the charter.” The step came on the heels of the ROC recognizing the [...]