2: He’s got a thirst for power. Keeping your tea hot is a symbol of political relevance in China, and President Xi Jinping is setting himself apart at this year’s National People’s Congress by having … two tea cups placed before him (and just one for everyone else).
7: A shooting late Thursday at a Jehovah’s Witness church in Hamburg, Germany, claimed the lives of at least seven people, reportedly including the perpetrator. Police in the northern German city arrived on the scene quickly — before the last gunshot was fired inside — and are looking for a motive.
36: An attack in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has left 36 people dead. Authorities believe the ISIS-affiliated group Allied Democratic Forces, which has killed an estimated 6,000 people since 2013, is responsible.
85: A new Levada poll shows that 85% of people in Russia view China positively, the highest of any foreign nation. The US and EU unsurprisingly rank low, at 14% and 18%, respectively, though both are seen slightly more favorably by Russian youth, reflecting the influence of disparate information channels.
48,500: Get ready for World Spore Z … Scientists have revived a 48,500-year-old virus in an effort to test the potential infectiousness of long-preserved diseases that are now being exposed by receding Arctic permafrost. Scientists have reason to worry: There’s a history of humans being infected by ancient illnesses previously hidden beneath the ice.Quantum computing is moving closer to real-world applications, but making the technology understandable remains a challenge.
Ukraine has spent years trying to convince the West that it could survive and, eventually, prevail against Russia. This summer, that argument may finally be gaining traction.
On Monday, President Donald Trump announced the United States would reimpose its naval blockade of Iran, effective Tuesday afternoon. Iran responded by declaring the Strait of Hormuz closed to all traffic that does not route through its preferred corridor.
People can now travel freely between Spain and British overseas territory of Gibraltar, after the European Union and the United Kingdom clinched a deal last year that facilitated the fall of the border wall between the two countries on Tuesday.