Bethlehem Locked Down Due to Coronavirus
The city of Bethlehem was on lockdown Friday, after the first Palestinian cases of the deadly coronavirus were discovered there.
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For Putin, Victory in Syria Is Personal
When Turkey’s president visited Russia last summer, the sun shone as he shared ice cream and admired fighter jets with a friendly Vladimir Putin.
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Macron Survives No-Confidence Votes on Pension Reform
The French government faced down two no-confidence votes Wednesday over an overhaul of the country’s byzantine pensions system, a key victory after fierce protests and a massive transport strike that brought France to a standstill for weeks this winter.
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Opera Union Board Member Quits, Alleging Cover-up
A senior member of the main U.S. union that represents opera performers resigned Monday, accusing the leadership of a cover-up in its investigation of sexual harassment accusations against superstar Plácido Domingo.
Read moreNorth Korea Fires Missiles Into the Sea
North Korea fired two presumed short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern sea on Monday, South Korean officials said, resuming weapons demonstrations after a months-long hiatus that may have been forced by the coronavirus crisis in Asia.
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Mexico Court Jails Man Over Murder of Journalist Valdez
One of the murderers of acclaimed journalist and AFP contributor Javier Valdez Cardenas was sentenced Thursday to 14 years and eight months in prison by a Mexican court.
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The Rampant Corruption Spurring Lebanon Protests
The Lebanese government had frozen recruitment, but around the time of a key election thousands of people suddenly landed civil servant jobs.
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About Time: Major Leagues Get First Black Umpire Crew Chief
Major League Baseball has appointed its first African American umpire crew chief, promoting Kerwin Danley to the position this week.
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Disney CEO Bob Iger Steps Down in Surprise Move
Disney CEO Bob Iger, who steered the company’s absorption of Star Wars, Pixar, Marvel and Fox’s entertainment businesses and the launch of a Netflix challenger, is stepping down immediately, the company said in a surprise announcement Tuesday.
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Opera Union Finds Plácido Domingo Abused Power
An investigation into legendary singer Plácido Domingo by the U.S. union representing opera performers found more than two dozen people who said they were sexually harassed or witnessed inappropriate behavior by the superstar when he held senior management positions at Washington National Opera and Los Angeles Opera, according to people familiar with the findings.
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One of Every Three Venezuelans Goes Hungry
One of every three people in Venezuela is struggling to put enough food on the table to meet minimum nutrition requirements, as the nation’s severe economic contraction and political upheaval persists, according to a study published Sunday by the U.N. World Food Program.
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Trump Bashes Oscar Award to Korean Movie
President Donald Trump is not a fan of “Parasite,” his biggest complaint being that the subtitled movie was made in South Korea. The U.S. distributor of the movie says it’s because Trump can’t read.
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New Confusion on Chinese Virus Counts
The rate of new virus cases in China has declined, up by 394 on Thursday, after authorities again changed how they count new daily infections. They are now discounting cases that came back negative after laboratory tests.
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Syria’s Aleppo Airport Reopens for First Time in Years
A Syrian commercial flight landed at Aleppo airport Wednesday from Damascus, the resumption of internal flights between Syria’s two largest cities for the first time since 2012.
Read moreGerman Minimum Wage Boosted Productivity
Productivity by German workers has increased since the country introduced a minimum wage in 2015, a study published Tuesday by Anglo-German researchers showed.
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Hemingway Biographer A.E. Hotchner Dies at 102
A.E. Hotchner, a well-traveled author, playwright and gadabout whose street smarts and famous pals led to a loving, but litigated memoir of Ernest Hemingway, business adventures with Paul Newman and a book about his Depression-era childhood that became a Steven Soderbergh film, died Saturday at age 102.
Read moreGerman Police Raid Far-Right Group Nationwide
German police raided locations across the country early Friday in a probe against an extreme-right group suspected of planning “attacks on politicians, asylum-seekers and people of Muslim faith,” prosecutors said.
Read moreChina Appoints Hardliner to Hong Kong Post
China on Thursday appointed a senior official known for a hardline crackdown on Christians to head its main policymaking body for Hong Kong, following months of pro-democracy protests in the city.
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Teacher Unions Say Active Shooter Drills Terrify Children
The nation’s two largest teacher unions want schools to revise or eliminate active shooter drills, saying Tuesday that they can harm students’ mental health and that there are better ways to prepare for the possibility of a school shooting.
Read moreSyrians Seek Refuge in Chaotic, Shrinking Enclave
Throughout Syria’s civil war, Maad al-Khalaf helped other Syrians find shelter in the opposition enclave in the northwest as they fled government military advances around the country. Now he’s the one in need of refuge as a swift offensive overwhelmed his home village.
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