In the wake of the events of the Egyptian Arab Spring, a couple who founded an organization to work with street children found themselves charged with sex crimes and human trafficking and thrown in prison for 3 years. According to the couple, one day a father came to them looking for a child they said … Read more
Sweden is fortifying its island against potential incursion by Russia. They are conducting military exercises on the island. The island was demilitarized 12 years ago, assuming then that Russia had become weak or non-threatening. But in light of recent Russian military activity in Crimea and Ukraine, Sweden has stepped up defenses. Gotland has a strategic … Read more
China started to claim property in Mischief Reef a few years ago, and has since been building islands there to assert its claim. The U.S. said they’d continue to conduct navigation exercises in the area. Read more
After a siege that began yesterday, the militants gained control of Marawi, a city of 200,000 in the south of the country. President Duterte spoke publicly of how anyone who fought against the government would fare, saying, “You will die.” Duterte declared martial law in the south yesterday. He said he will extend martial law … Read more
The man who blew himself up and killed and injured dozens of others at the Ariana Grande concert this week was a 22-year-old British-born man of Libyan descent. He had recently returned from Libya. Libyan authorities arrested family members of the man in that country, and UK police and special forces forced their way into … Read more
British media are referring to the UK PM’s recently toughened stance as her “war on terror,” using the same term used previously by President Bush and PM Blair. The UK’s terrorist threat level has been “severe” for a long time now, but after the Manchester bombing May raised it to “critical,” concerned about another attack. … Read more
President Duterte declared martial law in the south of the country on the island of Mindanao after Islamic extremists, long active in the country and now somewhat “allied” with ISIS, attacked the city of Marawi. Several have been killed on both sides of the fight. Read more
Manchester Police Chief Ian Hopkins identified the suspected suicide bomber suspect as 22-year-old Salman Abed. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, although they do that with almost every attack. Authorities have reported multiple fatalities and injuries. Concert-goers were evacuated. British authorities issued a serious threat level warning across the country, suspecting a possible second … Read more
Julian Assange has been holed up in a room in London for years after being given refuge by Equador in their London embassy building. In 2010, he was charged with sex crimes in Sweden — a couple of women he was involved with at the time made complaints not long after Wikileaks published video and … Read more
He sent a message to the third meeting of the Russia – Islamic World strategic world group in Grozny, Chechnya (held there for the first time), which was later published by the Kremlin website. The message included the following statement: “Today, many Muslim countries are facing serious challenges, including terrorism and violent extremism, growing ethnic … Read more
Two days before the French Election, there is a media blackout for anything political. This is supposed to provide a few days of uninterrupted consideration of the candidates, without the distraction of big news headlines, scandalous revelations, or campaigning last minute. Similar things are done in other countries. In the UK, for example, on the … Read more
Many parties are concerned about hacking having an effect on the election, and there are questions about whether false material is mixed in with the email leaks, which are purported to be from four top-level members of the Macron campaign. Macron is the front-runner in the the election, which is itself a runoff (with Macron … Read more