The new US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA) formally took effect on Wednesday, superseding the 26-year reign of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The trade agreement, which the US Senate approved in January, contains much of the same text as NAFTA. However, the USMCA updates provisions regarding digital commerce, anti-corruption and food safety. Further, the [...]
In a statement released on Tuesday, the EU announced they would lift travel restrictions from 15 nations but not the US. The nations approved include Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay and China. China’s inclusion on the list is subject to confirmation of reciprocity. The [...]
Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro on Monday ordered the EU ambassador Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa to leave the country within 72 hours. Her expulsion came hours after the EU placed sanctions on 11 Venezuelan officials for “undermining democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela.” The sanctions are against those who were “responsible notably for acting against the [...]
Iran sentenced journalist Ruhollah Zam to death on Tuesday for inciting unrest and protests in Iran. Zam ran Amadnews, an anti-government website that had around 1.4 million followers on the messaging app Telegram. On Amadnews, Zam shared protest videos and damaging information about Iranian officials. The website was shut down by the government, but it [...]
In a statement released on Monday, Denmark’s Director of Public Prosecutions Jan Reckendorff claimed the Attorney General’s office must review approximately 3,450 criminal convictions where DNA evidence was the decisive factor. The Attorney General’s office discovered the potential flaw after a person was convicted with DNA evidence. However, a retest of the DNA provided different [...]
China expert Adrian Zenz reported Monday that Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities’ forced birth control policies targeting Uighur indigenous Muslim minority women may constitute genocide under Article II, Section D of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Article II of the Convention defines “genocide” as any act intended [...]
A French court on Monday found former Prime Minister François Fillon guilty of creating a fake position for his wife, using public funds to pay his wife and children over €1 million since 1998. In 2017, while Fillon was running for president, a weekly satirical paper reported that he had paid his wife to be [...]
The Indian government on Monday banned 59 Chinese mobile apps, including TikTok and WeChat, citing national security concerns. Both sides have also deployed more troops to the contested Ladakh region in the last week following a deadly skirmish earlier in the month. The fighting along the disputed border region between the world’s two most populous [...]
Judge Muhammad Mazieh issued an order in Tyre, Lebanon, on Saturday, banning Lebanese media from reporting on criticism of Hezbollah supporters by US ambassador Dorothy Shea. Shea has continued to appear on television since the ruling, and Lebanon’s government has criticized the judge’s decision. Shea reportedly stated in an interview on the Saudi-owned news channel Al-Hadath that [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said Monday that Israel should halt its efforts to annex parts of the occupied West Bank. Israel plans to annex settlements that it has in the occupied West Bank, as well as parts of Jordan Valley. In response, Bachelet said that, regardless of how much Israel tries [...]
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