Disclaimer

The Chinese Communist Party has eased up its zero-COVID policy, but the regime is also using the power of surveillance technology to squash dissent. 

A new Pentagon report warns that China continues to rapidly modernize its nuclear force and is on track to have 1,500 active warheads by 2035. China has already stated its goal to have a military powerful enough to be able to take Taiwan by force, if necessary.

Authorities in Sudan arrested and jailed a Christian leader on charges of witchcraft last week after he held a prayer meeting for his mother at a local church.  

For the first time in history, new U.K. census data reveals a majority of people in England and Wales don't call themselves Christian anymore – a result that has sparked calls for the end of the church's involvement in government and schools. 

The U.S. team’s victory over Iran at the World Cup was closely watched across the Middle East. The two nations have been engaged in a cold war for over four decades and many blame one or both for the region’s woes.

A senior Russian diplomat says Russia and the United States repeatedly came close to reaching agreement on a prisoner exchange and a deal remains possible before the year’s end. The Biden administration has been trying for months to negotiate the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner and another American jailed in Russia, Paul Whelan, Asked Tuesday whether a swap was possible before the end of the year, Russia's deputy foreign minister responded that “there always is a chance.” 

With police out in force, there was no word of additional protests against strict government anti-pandemic measures Tuesday in Beijing, as temperatures fell well below freezing. Shanghai, Nanjing and other cities where online calls to gather had been issued were also reportedly quiet. Rallies against China’s unusually strict anti-virus measures spread to several cities over the weekend in the biggest show of opposition to the ruling Communist Party in decades. 

Prosecutors in the United Kingdom have dropped their case against a Christian street preacher who was arrested for alleged hate speech two years ago. 

The U.S. soccer federation is displaying Iran's national flag on social media without the emblem of the Islamic Republic, saying it supports protesters in Iran ahead of the two nations' World Cup match Tuesday.

Protesters angered by strict anti-virus measures have called for China’s powerful leader to resign. That's an unprecedented rebuke. It came as authorities in at least eight cities struggled to suppress demonstrations Sunday that represent a rare direct challenge to the ruling Communist Party.