News & Current Events

[ad_1] Iran, Saudia Arabia and Iraq accounted for 90% of the recorded cases and were responsible for the steep spike. Iran topped the list. It put at least 972 people to death, up from 853 the year before.In Saudi Arabia figures doubled to at least 345 — the most ever recorded for the country by the human rights watchdog Amnesty International. In Iraq, the death penalty was implemented 63 times, almost a quadrupling of numbers in comparison to 2023.Amnesty International, however, named China as the "world's lead executioner" in its annual report, saying that the information available indicated that thousands had been executed there. The country refuses to disclose data. The NGO also suspects North Korea and Vietnam of extensively resorting to the death penalty.The silencing of dissentSaudi Arabia has seen a steep escalation in executions despite Crown Prince Mohammad […]

[ad_1] "I'm a modern witch, I admit it," says 59-year-old Barbara. She has spent her entire life feeling that she is in contact with the spirit world. Her room smells of incense, and she's about to consult the runes for her future. In the Early Modern period, Barbara would likely have ended up burned at the stake.This fate also threatened Maria Anna Schwegelin, for the people wanted to see the former maid burned in April 1775. She had confessed to fornication with the devil. Maria Anna Schwegelin was the last witch to be sentenced to death in Germany, in the Bavarian town of Kempten, even though leading thinkers and authorities no longer truly believed in witchcraft in the Age of Enlightenment. However, they didn't want to disappoint the people, who were still deeply mired in superstition.It wasn't until 1995 that […]

[ad_1] A Soyuz spacecraft, adorned to commemorate the 80th anniversary of World War II's conclusion, departed from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome on Tuesday, transporting an American and two Russians to the International Space Station.The MS-27 vessel lifted off at 10.47 am local time (0547 GMT), with Russian Roscosmos space agency broadcasting the launch. The spacecraft achieved orbit shortly after and was scheduled to connect with the ISS's Russian segment at 0904 GMT.Soyuz rocket launches US-Russian crew of 3 to International Space StationThe crew comprised Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, alongside Nasa astronaut Jonny Kim. Their mission includes conducting 50 scientific studies in space before their scheduled December 9 return.Roscosmos reported that approximately 2,500 tourists witnessed the launch at Baikonur, where Russia maintains a lease agreement with Kazakhstan dating back to the Soviet Union's dissolution 43 years ago. The arrangement […]

[ad_1] China on Tuesday lashed out at US vice president JD Vance, calling him "ignorant and impolite" after he made a controversial remark about the United States borrowing money from "Chinese peasants.""China's position on China-US economic and trade relations has been made very clear," said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian during a press briefing. "It is surprising and sad to hear such ignorant and impolite words from this vice president," he added.Vance's comment came during an interview with Fox News, where he defended the Trump administration's tough trade stance, including sweeping tariffs that have roiled global markets. Speaking in support of those measures, Vance said: "We borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture."“That is not a recipe for economic prosperity. It's not a recipe for low prices, and it's not a recipe for […]

[ad_1] The US supreme court on Monday lifted a lower court's order that had blocked the deportation of undocumented Venezuelan migrants under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA)—a wartime law. In a narrow 5–4 ruling, the justices allowed deportations to resume, siding with the Trump administration’s decision to expel the migrants under a proclamation targeting the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. However, the court also said that those deported under the AEA must be given a fair chance to challenge their removal in court.Trump praised the court’s decision in a post on his Truth Social: “The supreme court has upheld the rule of law in our nation by allowing a president, whoever that may be, to be able to secure our borders, and protect our families and our country, itself. A great day for justice in America!”What is Alien Enemies […]

[ad_1] The US Supreme Court on Monday quashed a lower court order that had blocked the deportation of undocumented Venezuelan migrants by the Trump administration under a wartime law called the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.In the 5-4 ruling, chief justice John Roberts and four other conservative justices voted to lift the district court’s temporary block, while the three liberal justices and justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was appointed by Trump, dissented.President Trump used the Alien Enemies Act to authorise deportations through a proclamation aimed at the Tren de Aragua gang. In response, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of five Venezuelan nationals held in Texas, leading district judge Boasberg to temporarily block the deportations.BREAKING: SCOTUS clears path for Trump's deportations under wartime lawWho is Amy Coney Barrett?Amy Coney Barrett was a law professor at Notre Dame University for […]

[ad_1] US president Donald Trump and Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, will soon begin mediation in a $20 billion lawsuit Trump has filed over what he calls “news distortion,” reported New York Times.The case focuses on CBS’s editing of an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris that aired on its flagship programme 60 Minutes. Trump claims the network altered Harris’s comments about Israel to make her look more coherent and polished than she actually was during the interview. He alleges that the edits misled the public and gave Harris an unfair advantage in how she was portrayed. CBS denied the accusations saying the interview was edited to fit broadcast time limits and that it had no intent to deceive viewers. In its defence, CBS pointed to its sister programme, Face the Nation, which had aired a longer […]

[ad_1] ISLAMABAD: A tense standoff unfolded across Balochistan on Monday as a shutter-down strike and widespread road blockades sparked by nationalist leader Sardar Akhtar Mengal’s call for a “long march” from Lakpass to Quetta paralysed the Pakistani province.The protest by Akhtar’s Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), now in its second week, demands the release of detained Baloch activists, including women leaders of Balochistan Yakjehti Committee (BYC), amid escalating clashes with authorities.Shops businesses and schools remained closed in cities like Quetta, Kalat, Mastung Khuzdar, and Gwadar. Mengal’s supporters blocked key highways, including the Quetta-Karachi national highway.The provincial govt’s deployment of containers, trenches, and police checkpoints at Lakpass, roughly 30 km from Quetta, stalled the march, forcing demonstrators onto rugged mountain routes.Reports of police using teargas and shelling BNP-M workers have intensified the unrest.Mengal, addressing a sit-in at Lakpass, accused the state of […]