Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Make us preferred on Google

What We're Watching – A Sea Goddess and Iranian Female Fighter

Taiwan's Sea Goddess Candidate – Terry Gou, a self-made billionaire and founder of electronics-maker Foxconn (a major manufacturer of iPhones), is running for president of Taiwan. (The election is scheduled for January 2020.) In contrast to current President Tsai Ing-Wen, the party Mr. Gou wants to lead, the Kuomintang, wants warmer ties with Beijing. Gou himself has strong ties to mainland China, where many of Foxconn's factories are located. Gou (pronounced "Gwor") just might win. The current president is unpopular, and Gou claims he was ordered to run by Mazu, a powerful sea goddess, who appeared to him in a dream.

An Iranian Female Boxer – Sadaf Khadem, the first Iranian woman to compete in an official international boxing match, cancelled plans to return home to Iran from Paris this week because, she says, Iranian authorities have issued a warrant for her arrest. The charge? Khadem says she's accused of violating the country's female dress code by competing in shorts and a t-shirt. (In Iran, girls as young as nine can go to prison for appearing in public without a headscarf). Having defeated her French opponent, we think that anyone who wants to arrest Sadaf Khadem should first meet her in the ring. #FloatLikeAButterfly


What We're Ignoring – Bashir behind Bars and Trump Gets a Rival

Bashir Behind Bars – Omar Bashir, Sudan's recently toppled tyrant, is now officially in jail. Last week, his military ousted him from power after months of protests against his oppressive regime. But we're ignoring Bashir's transfer to the slammer, because the protesters, still on the streets, appear unmoved. They're surely glad to see Bashir in jail, but want his military men, who continue to run the country, to pass power to a civilian government.

William Weld – Former Massachusetts Governor and 2016 Libertarian Party vice presidential candidate William Weld announced his candidacy for president this week as a Republican. President Trump has an approval rating with Republican voters that's well above 80 percent. Weld's chances of denying Trump the Republican Party nomination are about the same as your Friday author's odds of hitting the moon with a rock.

More For You

The EU steels itself for tariffs
Farida Dowidar
The trade bloc is also reducing its quota of tariff-free steel imports, as trade tensions mount with Beijing. The EU’s goal is to reduce its near-$400 billion annual trade deficit with China. However, the move could hurt other steel exporters with whom the EU has solid relations, including the UK, Ukraine, and Japan. Brussels isn’t the first to [...]
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in Belgrade, Serbia, on June 27, 2026.​

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić gestures during a rally in Belgrade, Serbia, on June 27, 2026.

REUTERS/Djordje Kojadinovic
Serbia’s Vučić resigns from presidency, but not the political stageIn a surprise announcement, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said over the weekend that he will resign within the next couple of weeks. Vučić has dominated Serbian politics since his party, the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), took power in 2012, serving first as prime minister [...]
America, 250 years under construction
Americans, it appears, are in a foul mood. In a recent Gallup poll, 76% of US respondents said they were dissatisfied with “the way things are going in the United States at this time.” An NBC news poll released on June 14 found that just 38% said they believe the nation’s best years lie ahead, and 64% in a June 15 Reuters/Ipsos poll said American [...]
Sri Lanka launches drones against… mosquitoes
Farida Dowidar
Sri Lanka is facing one of the worst outbreaks of the mosquito-borne dengue virus in years. Amid energy shortages sparked by the war in Iran, dengue cases are straining hospital resources. In a bid to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds, the Sri Lanka Air Force has launched drones to detect sites where the insects breed across the country’s [...]