Headlines- After talks in Washington on Tuesday that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described as a "historic opportunity" for peace, Israel and Lebanon agreed to hold direct talks.
- Iran talks could resume "over the next two days," according to US President Donald Trump, after the failure of last weekend's first round in Pakistan.
- Six merchant ships turned around after "direction from US forces," according to the US, and no ships were able to pass through the blockade in the first 24 hours.
- According to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, there were at least 35 deaths and 159 injuries in Lebanon on Tuesday.
- The southern Lebanon district of Bint Jbeil has been hit by an Israeli airstrike.
- "The short-term authorization permitting the sale of Iranian oil already stranded at sea is set to expire in a few days and will not be renewed," according to the US Treasury Department.
Tag: Chinese Communist Party.
Residents of China’s Shandong Left Homeless...
While government land grabs in rural areas have sparked mass unrest and, rarely, organized resistance across China for decades, the Shandong program of “village mergers” was far more ambitious in scope, and had been packaged as a bid to improve the lives of farming communities in a total revamp of rural areas.
Chinese Police Accuse Dissident Xu Zhiyong...
Xu had also penned a New Year’s message to China’s citizens in 2020, calling on them to think about whether they want to carry on with an authoritarian government or movement towards democratic constitutionalism, an idea that President Xi has said has no place in his vision for China
China Removes Two Hubei Officials Amid...
Wuhan Communist Party secretary Ma Guoqiang admitted last week that officials could have halted the epidemic if they had imposed travel restrictions sooner. Some five million people are believed to have fled the city before quarantine restrictions were imposed
China Bans Christmas Gatherings Among Its...
Authorities across China are warning members of Christian churches not to try holding public gatherings to celebrate Christmas, church
‘I’m Pretty Sure They Tried to...
China’s army of petitioners, who flood the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s official complaints departments daily, frequently report being held in unofficial “black jails,” beaten, or otherwise harassed, if they persist in a complaint beyond its initial rejection at the local level
Court in China’s Sichuan Jails Huang...
Huang Xiaomin was handed the two year, six-month prison sentence by the Jinniu District People’s Court in Sichuan’s provincial capital, Chengdu, which found him guilty of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble,” a charge commonly used to target peaceful critics of the government