While the Klitschko brothers are known as champions of heavyweight boxing, the older brother Vitali is transforming himself into a politician that represents the new Ukraine. Formerly called “Doctor Ironfist,” Vitali is extending his heavyweight champion brand far beyond HBO sports audiences -- he has emerged as the international spokesperson for the pro-Western, pro-reform Ukraine. 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s statements before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee should not have surprised anyone. They simply expressed the frustration that many senior American officials have been voicing in private conversations over the past week about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The storm was unleashed because Kerry said out loud what he was thinking.

Mainland academics argued that China was the first to discover the disputed Diaoyu Islands and insisted this be taught in schools, days after Japan declared the contrary in its elementary school textbooks.

Pro-Russian protesters have stormed government buildings in three eastern Ukrainian cities. In Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv they clashed with police, hung Russian flags from the buildings and called for a referendum on independence. Ukraine's acting president called an emergency security meeting in response.

Let’s hand it to the U.S. government: At least this disastrous attempt to overthrow the Castro brothers did not almost lead to nuclear annihilation. But its impact on activists around the world who use digital tools to organize against repressive regimes feels devastating enough.
 

With the current sectarian climate in the Middle East, it is rare to find events that host voices from across the region's sectarian and religious divides. But just a few days ago, a small window opened up in Doha. British-Yemeni journalist Abubakr al-Shamahi reports.

McDonald's has suspended work at its three Crimean restaurants following ongoing diplomatic tensions in the region. The company said that it would try to support staff, and hopes to re-open its restaurants as soon as possible. The firm is the second in the Crimea to alter its operations after heightened tensions between Russia and the west.

In late March, both Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Park Geun-hye visited Germany. While trade and investment were the main discussion topics, the remarkably coincidental visits of the two Asian powers are suggestive. In addition to new economic agreements, Germany may be offering something of even greater value to China and to South Korea: reconciliation with Japan.