Over the past two weeks, Chinese Communist Party Chairman Xi Jinping has been holding court for visiting European dignitaries. In late March, Spanish President Pedro Sánchez was the first European statesman to meet the Chinese leader after his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. French President Emmanuel Macron followed last week together with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The only winner from these visits is Xi.

France is America's oldest ally. Unfortunately, Washington must now accept the uncomfortable fact that it is no longer as staunch an ally as it once was. Under President Emmanuel Macron, France is putting the interests of America's preeminent adversary before those of the United States.

Visiting China last week, Macron made it plain that he'll serve Xi Jinping's global interests as long as France keeps getting lucrative Chinese trade deals.

Flowers declaring freedom and honoring an American victim of Kim Jong Un's barbaric regime were placed by activists in front of the building that houses the North Korean mission to the United Nations, as a reminder of the horrors of Kim's regime and his continued violations of human rights.

Around 3,000 delegates from across China are making their way to the Chinese capital, Beijing for the start of the annual parliamentary conference this weekend. The dual political sessions are expected to endorse a list of top officials for key government positions, pass a plan to overhaul several government agencies and institutions, while also formally confirming Chinese leader Xi Jinping's precedent-busting third term in power.

The young woman rifles through a fridge of popsicles, pulling out several to show the camera.

“This is milk flavor – the picture is so cute,” she says in English, pointing to the cartoon packaging with a smile. “And this is peach flavor.”

After finally selecting an ice cream cone, she bites into it, declaring: “The biscuit is very delicious.”

The four-minute video has racked up more than 41,000 views on YouTube, but this is no ordinary vlog. The woman, who calls herself YuMi, lives in North Korea, perhaps the world’s most isolated and secretive nation.

A total of 86 House Democrats voted against a symbolic resolution put forward by Republicans "denouncing the horrors of socialism," Business Insider reports.

The resolution states that "socialist ideology necessitates a concentration of power that has time and time again collapsed into Communist regimes, totalitarian rule, and brutal dictatorships," and lists famines in the Soviet Union, Ukraine, China, and North Korea, as well as violence in Cambodia and high inflation in Venezuela.

Workers across China have dismantled some of the physical signs of the country’s zero-Covid controls, peeling health code scanning signs off metro station walls and closing some checkpoints after the government unveiled an overhaul of its pandemic policy.

But as many residents expressed relief and happiness at the obvious loosening of measures, some worried about its impact and questioned how the new rules would be rolled out.

China has lifted its strictest zero-Covid policies after protests challenging the draconian measures swept the nation.

Days after a deadly fire in Urumqi propelled fatigued communities to take to the streets, China has initiated an unannounced yet palpable movement away from its “zero-Covid” strategy by lifting lockdowns, ending mass testing and reopening public venues across key provinces.

But Beijing is concerned that the inevitable wave of infections after restrictions are loosened, could lead to a surge in deaths, overwhelm the health system and trigger political instability.

One girl, a 14-year-old, was incarcerated in an adult prison alongside drug offenders. A 16-year-old boy had his nose broken in detention after a beating by security officers. A 13-year-old girl was physically attacked by plainclothes militia who raided her school.

A brutal crackdown by the authorities in Iran trying to halt protests calling for social freedom and political change that have convulsed the country for the past two months has exacted a terrible toll on the nation’s youth, according to lawyers in Iran and rights activists familiar with the cases.