An official menu for a state banquet that bears the signature of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong has been auctioned for $275,000. Boston-based RR Auction said the menu auctioned Wednesday was for a banquet held in Beijing on October 19, 1956, and commemorated the first state visit to China by… Read More

Twitch, a popular video service, will shut down its struggling business in South Korea, a decision its chief executive blamed on allegedly “prohibitively expensive” costs for operating in the country. In a blog post announcing the company’s plan this week, Dan Clancy said the network fees the company has been… Read More

Vladimir Putin on Friday moved to prolong his repressive and unyielding grip on Russia for at least another six years, announcing his candidacy in the presidential election next March that he is all but certain to win, according to state media reports. Putin still commands wide support after nearly a… Read More

When flames tore into Notre Dame in 2019, people who worked in the cathedral felt orphaned. But as the world-famous Paris landmark’s reopening draws closer, they are beginning to picture their return to the place they call home and are impatient to breathe life back into its repaired stonework and… Read More

South Korea’s Olympic committee is pushing to send hundreds of athletes to a military training center to enhance their mental toughness for the Paris Olympics, a move that’s been criticized as outdated and regressive. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee advised domestic associations last week to send athletes to the… Read More

Ecologists from Mexico’s National Autonomous university on Friday relaunched a fundraising campaign to bolster conservation efforts for axolotls, an iconic, endangered fish-like type of salamander. The campaign, called “Adoptaxolotl,” asks people for as little as 600 pesos (about $35) to virtually adopt one of the tiny “water monsters.” Virtual adoption… Read More

Greece’s health ministry is seeking police help against hoaxers who tried to scare foreign tourists out of some Athens short-term rental apartments by inventing a bedbug crisis. A ministry statement Tuesday said the posters stuck up outside apartment buildings in the city center, festooned with fake ministry and Athens municipality… Read More

Authorities say dengue fever is on the rise in Mali, posing a new threat to the West African nation struggling with extremist attacks and political turbulence. The director general of health and public hygiene, Dr. Cheick Amadou Tidiane Traore, told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday that his department… Read More

The white-bearded Christian saint whose acts of generosity inspired America’s secular Santa Claus figure is known worldwide — but Saint Nicholas’ origin story is not. The legends surrounding jolly old St. Nicholas — celebrated annually on Dec. 6 — go way beyond delivering candy and toys to children. Sponsored: Could… Read More

Iranian authorities have arrested a popular singer who had criticized the government after he was handed over by police in Turkey, the official IRNA news agency reported Wednesday. Amirhossein Maghsoudloo, better known as Tataloo, has been critical of Iran’s leaders since he had moved to Turkey. Dr.’s #1 Advice For… Read More