Indonesia’s government is blaming human trafficking for surging numbers of Rohingya Muslim refugee arrivals.Three residents of Aceh, a province in the Southeast Asian country’s north, were arrested Friday under suspicion they smuggled 30 refugees from a local camp for $115.”There are strong suspicions that there is involvement of a criminal…

Slovakia’s president said Friday she would seek to block the new government’s plan to return the prosecution of major crimes from a national office to regional ones, using either a veto or a constitutional challenge. But the governing coalition could likely override any veto.The government of populist Prime Minister Robert…

Thousands of tons of dead sardines have washed up on a beach in northern Japan for unknown reasons, officials said Friday.The sardines and some mackerel washed ashore in Hakodate on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido on Thursday morning, creating a sliver blanket along a stretch of beach about a…

The United States Treasury Department announced sanctions on people around the world, including officials in Afghanistan, China and Iran, who have committed or contributed to human rights abuses.In a statement, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said it had imposed sanctions on 20 people in…

The U.S. held military exercises with the South American country of Guyana after Venezuela voted to take over an oil-rich part of its neighbor. “In collaboration with the Guyana Defense Force, the US Southern Command will conduct flight operations within Guyana on December 7,” the American embassy in Guyana wrote in…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that he is running for re-election on March 17, which will likely see him secure a fifth term in office.Putin, 71, announced his decision after a Kremlin award ceremony after which war veterans and others reportedly pleaded with him to run.With a firm grip…

Nintendo has canceled its upcoming video game showcase and postponed various events due to persistent threats to the company, its workers and players.The company stated in an online statement that it couldn’t ensure the safety of its customers, leading to the decision to cancel Nintendo Live 2024 Tokyo.Postponed contests include…

A church in Bethlehem, the biblical birthplace of Jesus, is receiving attention for its decision to redesign its Christmas nativity scene to reflect the impact of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.Just weeks before Christmas, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, located in the West Bank, unveiled a new display of the…

The Russian government has approved a three-day voting window for its presidential elections in 2024.Ella Pamfilova, chairwoman of the Russia Central Election Commission, said that although the extended election window was originally conceived as a pandemic accommodation in 2020, its “other benefits” have made keeping it desirable.”Three-day voting is already becoming…

A man has died days after he fell into a large hole on a beach in an Australian beach and became buried in sand.The victim, Josh Taylor, 23, was at a remote campground on Bribie Island in Queensland on Saturday at around 2 p.m. local time when he fell headfirst…