Frances Martel

The Communist Party of Cuba announced a mass pardon of over 2,000 prisoners on Thursday, allegedly to mark the Christian holiday of Holy Week, but human rights groups have denounced the regime for neither freeing a single political prisoner nor clarifying who it is freeing.

Catholic communities nationwide, from some of America’s largest cities to more rural areas, have documented a marked increase in converts this year as they approach the massive initiation ceremonies that coincide with the Easter holiday.

A community that lost over two dozen members to an invasion of unknown gunmen on Palm Sunday, the beginning of the holiest week of the year for Christians, experienced a resurgence of mob attacks on random locals on Wednesday following the lifting of a curfew, Nigerian government officials confirmed.

The American embassy in Baghdad warned U.S. citizens in Iraq on Wednesday that they should leave the country as soon as possible, in part due to the Iraqi government not doing enough to prevent attacks or protect victims.

The Vatican announced on Tuesday that Pope Leo XIV will carry a cross for the entirety of the Via Crucis, or Way of the Cross, procession celebrated on Good Friday.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is subordinate by law to the nation’s Islamic “supreme leader,” appeared on the streets of Tehran alongside Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday night to join celebrations for Islamic Republic Day.

China, in conjunction with its allies in Pakistan, published a “peace proposal” Tuesday to end the war between Iran and America.

Christian communities throughout Syria limited or canceled Holy Week festivities, including Palm Sunday observances, after mobs of Muslim attackers targeted Christian communities this weekend, destroying Christian symbols and looting shops.

Unknown gunmen opened fire “indiscriminately” in a residential area of Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria on Sunday night, killing an estimated 30 people during a time in which jihadists in the country tend to orchestrate massacres against Christians.

Israeli Police and Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa announced they had agreed to allow Holy Week observances in the Old City of Jerusalem.

President Donald Trump suggested in a message on Monday morning that a “NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME” has taken over Iran and is talking to Washington – but warned he was willing to “obliterate” Iran’s energy infrastructure if talks did not lead to a durable agreement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a defense cooperation agreement with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto leader of the country, during a visit to Jeddah on Friday, emphasizing that Iran has aided Russia’s invasion of his country for years.

Iran’s IRGC announced a campaign to recruit boys as young as 12 to join their forces manning checkpoints repressing Iranian citizens.

Multiple reports in the past week have indicated that the U.S. military has deployed surveillance drones to operate in Nigeria, in conjunction with the nation’s government, to gather intelligence on the various jihadist terrorist groups in the country.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told an Italian newspaper on Wednesday that he believes the governments of Iran and the United States could hold talks to end their current conflict as recently as this weekend, mediated by Pakistan.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Thursday that the country’s military had eliminated Admiral Alireza Tangsiri of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), identifying him as the top official blocking the Strait of Hormuz.

Colleges across Cuba announced on Tuesday that they would organize a “University Student Bastion Exercise” forcing students to engage in military training and “revolutionary, patriotic, and anti-imperialist activities.”

Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban terrorist government is struggling with an influx of returning Afghan refugees fleeing the ongoing war in Iran and detentions in critical agricultural and raw material shipments in the Strait of Hormuz, reports this week indicate.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in a war update on Monday that the government of Russia was allegedly offering Iran intelligence to help it more accurately target sites, presumably American or Israeli targets, in the ongoing war in the region.

Multiple news outlets reported on Monday afternoon that the nation of Bahrain is working on a draft United Nations resolution greenlighting countries using “all necessary means” to stop Iran from blocking commerce in the Strait of Hormuz.

A video circulating on social media and shared by prominent Latin American journalists appears to show a group of international leftists, believed to form part of the “Nuestra America” pro-regime tour group, making Cuban children dance in the street in exchange for food.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry, through the nation’s state media arms, denied President Donald Trump’s claim on Monday that the White House had begun engaging Tehran through “productive” talks that could lead to a rapid end to the ongoing war in the country.

Cuban dissidents and human rights activists reacted with shock and disgust this weekend at the arrival of the “Nuestra America” convoy, a cohort of international celebrity leftists visiting the island to show solidarity with the 67-year-old communist regime.

North Korea published images on Friday of Kim Ju-ae, the tween daughter of communist dictator Kim Jong-un, appearing to drive a tank.

The Chinese Communist Party published a national AI gameplan that specifies blurring the lines between the civil and military to achieve Beijing’s global technological supremacy, author Wynton Hall details in his upcoming book, Code Red: The Left, the Right, China, and the Race to Control AI (HarperCollins).

Iranian state media published an undated video of the alleged “supreme leader” of the country, Mojtaba Khamenei, on Thursday, showing the son of the late ayatollah allegedly engaging a “religious science” class.

President of Costa Rica Rodrigo Chaves Robles announced on Wednesday that his country would cut all diplomatic ties to Cuba, shutting down its embassy in Havana and ordering all Cuban diplomats out of the country.

Qatar announced on Wednesday that it had given all Iranian diplomats in the country 24 hours to leave, declaring them personas non grata.

The government of Saudi Arabia held a large ministerial-level meeting in Riyadh with representatives of other victims of Iranian bombings in the past month, issuing a joint statement condemning Tehran for widespread drone and missile attacks on civilian sites in over a dozen countries.

The Communist Party of Cuba announced on Monday a plan to “facilitate the participation of Cubans abroad in the national economy” — a move that the Cuban exile community responded to with disgust, highlighting the billions of dollars stolen from them when mass murderer Fidel Castro took power.

The United States has suggested that the government of former al-Qaeda jihadist Ahmed al-Sharaa in Syria is considering operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Damascus and weighing the prospects of entering the greater war on Iran, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized in recent interviews his country’s willingness to help fight the Iranian terrorist regime.

North Korean communist dictator Kim Jong-un declared that the country’s enemies – namely, America and South Korea – would soon understand “destructive power of tactical nuclear weapon” [sic] during a rocket launch this weekend, state media reported on Sunday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted that Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of eliminated longtime dictator Ali Khamenei and the country’s new “supreme leader,” was “in perfect health” on Sunday, apparently responding to a flurry of wild rumors claiming that the younger Khamenei is severely injured.