Sinosphere Blog: Deadly School Van Crash Revives Concerns Over Safety Standards

WASHINGTON — U. S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn’t order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination. While U. S. officials believe Putin was ultimately responsible for the death of Navalny, who endured brutal conditions during his confinement, the intelligence community has found “no smoking gun” that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny’s death—which came soon before the Russian president’s reelection—or directly ordered it, according to the official. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Read More: From Beyond the Grave, Russian Dissident Alexei Navalny Challenges Vladimir Putin at the Polls The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. Soon after Navalny’s death, U.

Scotland First Minister Humza Yousaf is preparing to quit on Monday after he decided he wouldn’t survive a confidence vote, The Sunday Times reported. Senior Scottish National Party members were informed of Yousaf’s decision, made over the weekend, the newspaper said. John Swinney has been approached to become interim first minister in the event of Yousaf’s departure, though the former SNP leader is reluctant to step up because of personal reasons, the Times said. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Yousaf’s position had become increasingly tenuous after he decided to end his party’s power-sharing deal with the Greens last Thursday, saying the cooperation agreement reached after the SNP fell one seat short of a majority in the 2021 election had “served its purpose.” Read More: Exclusive: Meet the New Face of Scotland While Yousaf made clear he intends to continue to run Scotland as a minority government, the opposition Conservatives lodged a vote of no-confidence in him that was set to take place this week.

TEL AVIV, Israel — The White House on Sunday said U. S. President Joe Biden had again spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as pressure builds on Israel and Hamas to reach a deal that would free some Israeli hostages and bring a cease-fire in the nearly seven-month-long war in Gaza. The White House said that Biden reiterated his “clear position” as Israel plans to invade Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah despite global concern for more than 1 million Palestinians sheltering there.

BAGHDAD — Iraqi authorities on Saturday were investigating the killing of a well-known social media influencer, who was shot by an armed motorcyclist in front of her home in central Baghdad. Ghufran Mahdi Sawadi, known as Um Fahad or “mother of Fahad,” was popular on the social media sites TikTok and Instagram, where she posted videos of herself dancing to music and was followed by tens of thousands of users. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] An Iraqi security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media, said that the assailant opened fire as Sawadi parked her Cadillac in front of her house on Friday, killing her, then took her phone and fled the scene. The killing took place in Zayoona, the same neighborhood where a prominent Iraqi researcher and security expert Hisham al-Hashimi was gunned down in 2020.

As we mark Passover, when Jews celebrate their founding liberation from a tyrannical Pharaoh who enslaved them, the sages remind us Pharaohs come in all guises and liberation is not a one-time event. It must be re-enacted in each generation and in each heart. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Today,16 million Jews in a world of eight billion face rising external threats.

In the early 2000s, one in 12 of the British population was born abroad. Now that figure is closer to one in six—higher than even America, the proverbial land of immigrants. And the number is still rising rapidly; over the last two years, almost 2 million people have moved to the U.