A heated back-and-forth between China and Canada kicked off in the final hours of the UN General Assembly Monday, after Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau referenced the “two Michaels” recently released from detention in China. Garneau suggested Canadian nationals Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were imprisoned by the Chinese government in retaliation for Canada’s treatment…
The earliest bird reared by humans may have been a cassowary — often called the world’s most dangerous bird because of its long, dagger-like toe. Territorial, aggressive and often compared to a dinosaur in looks, the bird is a surprising candidate for domestication. However, a new study of more than 1,000 fossilized eggshell fragments, excavated…
Afghanistan and Myanmar have withdrawn from their speaking slots at the United Nations General Assembly at the last minute, amid disputes over who should represent those countries. Both saw their elected governments overthrown earlier this year. Afghanistan’s UN representative Ghulam Isaczai — an appointee of the country’s former democratic government, which crumbled under the Taliban’s…
Barbers in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province are now prohibited from shaving men’s beards and playing music in their shops, according to a statement issued by the province’s Taliban-led department of virtue and vice. The new regulations mark the latest in a series of restrictions placed on the people of Afghanistan based on the Taliban’s strict interpretation…
Mali plans to hire private Russian mercenaries to assist with security in the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Saturday. “Given the external support has been diminished from those who assumed an obligation to help eradicate terrorism there, they have turned to a private Russian military company,” Lavrov said at a press briefing at…
Dinosaurs loom large in the imagination of many kids and, for some, it’s an obsession they never really grow out of. My passion for dinosaurs arrived much later in life. As a journalist in Hong Kong, I was lucky enough to interview some of China’s most eminent paleontologists and marvel at amazing fossils firsthand when…
Marines’ gesture moves a woman to tears, Nicole Richie’s birthday celebration got hotter than expected, and a “very well behaved” pup interrupts a reporter’s live shot. These are the must-watch videos of the week. ‘The most American thing ever’ A group of Marines came to the aid of a woman and others stranded in their…
Health officials in the United States have said Covid-19 vaccine boosters can begin for older and higher-risk people there. But at least 15 countries around the world — most of them in Africa — have yet to give at least one vaccine dose to more than 3% of their population. Among them are Nigeria, Africa’s…
The eastern city of Jalalabad in Afghanistan has seen a spate of attacks against the Taliban this week by the group IS Khorasan (ISIS-K), an affiliate of ISIS. ISIS-K claimed three attacks in the city on Wednesday and Thursday. Through ISIS’ official Amaq media outlet, it claimed to have killed six Taliban personnel in three…
Former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont was arrested on the Italian island of Sardinia on Thursday on charges related to his activities in Catalonia’s failed bid in 2017 to secede from Spain, a court official and his lawyer told CNN. His lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, told CNN the arrest was carried out on a Spanish Supreme Court…