In the Sunni-majority city of Qatif in the Eastern Province, a large car bomb was detonated this week, the latest in a string of attacks. Some Sunni (sometimes ISIS-linked), who make up only 15% of Saudi Arabia, have been attacking the country’s Shia for a few years now. Read more
In a city in Alabama called Gardendale, youths who go out to mow lawns this year have been threatened by officials and landscaping companies that they have to get a business licence before starting, which brings in $110 for the city for each licence. Adults who also cut lawns over the summer have made complaints … Read more
This year’s meeting, taking place in Chantilly, Virginia, near the White House, includes the following topics: ‘Russia in the international order,’ China, ‘The Trans-Atlantic defence alliance: bullets, bytes and bucks,’ ‘The war on information,’ ‘Direction of the EU’ and ‘Why is populism growing?’ It’s the 65th meeting of the secretive group. Kissinger, Thiel, and upper level staff of … Read more
A truck bomb in the diplomatic core of Kabul wounded 400 in addition to the dead. The area is among the most secure in Afghanistan, and people are wondering how the truck got there in the middle of the day. It may be the worst attack since 2001, although thousands are killed by terrorists every … Read more
According to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, their ground-based defense system has finally shot down an ICBM on the first try. However, what it hit wasn’t actually an ICBM, but a simulated missile shot from the Marshall Islands, and the interceptor was shot from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Because the simulated missile doesn’t … Read more
China has been harvesting organs from prisoners, including prisoners of conscience (those jailed for nothing more than practicing a religion that is not state-sponsored), for years, and despite saying they have reformed the practice in 2015, China is still doing it, according to human rights workers David Matas and Ethan Gutmann. According to the lawyer … Read more
20,000 “subjects of interest” posing “residual risk” plus 3,000 judged to be a threat and currently under investigation or active monitoring. That’s the most recent piece of information given by UK’s security services. Authorities had previously reported to the public a figure of 3,000. The new information was released following the Manchester bombing, which security … Read more
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
Trump continues to not use the term he frequently challenged others to use during his campaign, “radical Islamic terrorism,” when commenting this week on the attack on Christians in Egypt that killed 25 and wounded as many others. Attacks on Christians by Muslims are common in Egypt and other Muslim-majority countries in the area. Trump … 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
The first Federal appeals court (in Richmond, VA) to rule on the revised travel ban upheld the decision of a lower court to block it. The appellate judges said the policy “drips with religious intolerance.” The Justice Department said it would appeal further. Read more