Over 1.5 million people a month — almost 195 million people to date — have renounced their links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since the Tuidang Movement (in mandarin Chinese Tuidang means ‘withdraw from the party’) was founded in January 2005, spurred by the publication of the ‘Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party’, an editorial … Read more
SEOUL, South Korea — US Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert underwent a surgery after being slashed in his right cheek and left hand with a knife by a Korean activist during a breakfast meeting in central Seoul Thursday. Lippert, being bleeding from wounds, was removed from the Sejong Centre for the Performing Arts with the aid … Read more
THESSALONIKI, Greece — Over the past weeks, many hours of airtime and many inches of newspaper columns have been dedicated to the controversy of Greek national debt. The “modest proposal” presented by the Greek Government for debt renegotiations has drawn the attention of media across Europe. The Greek side of the debate has voiced great concern about the austerity policies … Read more
SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean teenager who disappeared near the Syrian border in Turkey last month has been found to be receiving training from the Islamic State (IS), South Korea’s spy agency said Tuesday. The head of the National Intelligent Service (NIS), Byung-kee Lee reported during a closed-door parliamentary meeting that the 18-year-old, surnamed … Read more
BELGRADE, Serbia — Kosovo is well known for the war and consequent NATO campaign against Serbia. Armed conflict ended in 1999, and the forces of the Western alliance took control of the Serbian province, where they maintain a fragile peace over the area. Tuesday, the young state celebrated seven years of independence, but a fancy and expensive ceremony is not … Read more
For centuries the Wixarika people have occupied the lands of Western Mexico. This indigenous group, directly related to the Yuto-Azteca tribes, has lived an independent life away from the big empires of Mesoamerica, encouraging the development of a solid and unique identity in the region. At the time of the conquests, the Wixarika people found refuge in the … Read more
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia is currently experiencing many floods, as is common at this time of year. The country’s emergency services and relief groups are well known for helping many people, but many more go almost unnoticed, slipping through the net of helpers so often seen on TV screens here. Mister Udi, who this reporter met on his … Read more
SARRE-UNION, France – It’s Sunday shortly before 5 p.m. and the police have been advised of the desecration of a Jewish cemetery in eastern France. According to initial reports, 300 graves have been degraded. It’s just a huge fields of rubble that the perpetrators have left behind them. No statements, no claims –the steles were just broken. A huge monument honoring the … Read more
SIEM REAP, Cambodia — Last month, a group from Methodist churches in the United States traveled to Cambodia as part of an outreach program targeting females, mainly in the countryside. Their main goals were to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to provide additional education that is otherwise mostly out of the reach of … Read more
BERLIN, Germany — Two weeks since the coalition of the radical-left Syriza party won the elections in Greece, freshly assigned Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis completed his tour of the European capitals in Berlin last Thursday, Feb 5. In the German capital, Varoufakis’ meeting with his German counterpart, Wolfgang Schäuble, in a call for a … Read more
According to the latest information from authorities, 31 of the 58 people who were on board (53 passengers and five crew members) died in the crash of TransAsia Airways Flight GE 235 Wednesday morning, 11 a.m local time. The plane left the capital towards the small island of Kinmen, next to the Chinese mainland but … Read more
The prevailing assumption about dark matter is that has no interaction with light, but European physicists who investigated a possible signature of dark matter at the edges of theM101 Pinwheel galaxy now believe that light may be interacting with dark matter to produce “light halos” — detectable glows around the edges spiral galaxies. “Dark Matter can … Read more