China announced 12 US military-industrial companies and their senior executives as new sanction targets on Wednesday. The sanctions include the freeze of movable, immovable and other types of properties in China, and the refusal to issue visas and deny entry (including to Hong Kong and Macau) to 10 senior executives of the companies. The Chinese [...]

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday named a caretaker president and outlined constitutionally mandated succession plans following Ebrahim Raisi’s death in a helicopter crash. The helicopter carrying Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian  crashed in foggy conditions in northeastern Iran on Sunday, according to official state media. Search and rescue teams found [...]

Harvard University’s leadership has failed to implement a spate of recommendations related to curbing antisemitism on campus, according to a report released Thursday by the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce. According to the report, Harvard’s Antisemitism Advisory Group (AAG) presented university leaders with recommendations in December 2023. These recommendations included enforcing zero [...]

US Congressman Henry Cuellar, who has served as a Democratic representative of Texas for nearly two decades, was indicted on Friday with his wife on charges of bribery, unlawful foreign influence, and money laundering. In announcing the indictment, the US Department of Justice stated the couple is accused of having accepted about $600,000 in bribes [...]

As the international community marked World Press Freedom Day on Friday, advocacy groups and officials around the globe sounded the alarm over increased violence and threats against journalists. Advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Friday released its annual World Press Freedom Index, warning that a marked surge in political oppression across the globe remains a [...]

Warsaw’s main synagogue, Nożyk Synagogue, was attacked Wednesday with three firebombs, also known as Molotov cocktails, local media reported. A 16-year-old suspect was arrested Thursday morning in connection with the attack. The attack on Nożyk Synagogue happened early Wednesday morning, at around 1 A.M. Michael Schudrich, Poland’s American-born Chief Rabbi, reported minimal damage and no [...]

Opening statements concluded Monday in the case that designated Donald Trump as the first former US president to be charged with a crime. Trump is accused of falsifying business records to conceal information with the aim of unlawfully influencing the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. The case centers on 34 counts of business record falsification in the first degree, [...]

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly (D) vetoed SB 233 on Friday, a Senate bill aimed at prohibiting gender-affirming care for transgender youth, including surgery, hormone treatments, and puberty blockers. Additionally, it proposed revoking the licenses of doctors providing such care and restricting state funds for gender-affirming treatments. Kelly stated that she vetoed the bill because “he [...]

A report released by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) on Thursday shows that citizens surveyed from 19 countries generally lack confidence in the performance of their political institutions and the credibility of elections. Many of them may favor a strong, undemocratic leader. The study covered 19 countries and regions. Included among [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Tuesday that Switzerland violated its human rights obligations by failing to adequately address the impacts of climate change, following a complaint brought by a group of elderly women activists. In a majority vote of 16 to one, the Grand Chamber of the ECHR found that Switzerland had [...]