The Zara T-shirt called the “Sheriff” went on sale online at 2 a.m., London time, on Wednesday.  Within a few hours, it had sparked a social media outcry, with many Twitter posts accusing the clothing company of anti-Semitism — or at least a large measure of insensitivity. The shirt, meant for children, bore a striking resemblance to the top of a Nazi concentration camp uniform.

The Death Penalty Worldwide Database, which collects information on executions across the globe, shows that Saudi Arabia has one of the highest execution rates in the world, and applies the death penalty to a range of offenses that do not constitute “most serious crimes,” including drug offenses, adultery, sorcery, and apostasy. According to media reports, Saudi Arabia has executed at least 34 people in 2014, including the 19 between August 4 and August 20. According to Agence France-Presse, Saudi Arabia executed at least 78 people in 2013. 

The pop star was scheduled to make an appearance in Santo Domingo Sept. 13, but the commission called the concert off Thursday after deciding her behavior goes against their 'morals and customs' and is even 'punishable by Dominican law,' the Associated Press reported. The country's decision could contradict the "Diplomacy in Action" statement, published by the U.S. Department of State, that cites there to be "no government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events." 

People want to know “what China wants”. And there are many suggested answers. China wants to control the global discourse about it. It wants to change the bad image of itself seen in much of the outside world – the Tank Man; blanket of smog; tainted baby milk; routine police torture; suppression of free speech, and so on.

Exactly one month from today, four million Scots will go to the polls to answer a simple question: “Should Scotland be an independent country?”

Australians and New Zealanders tend to get annoyed when their accents get mistaken for one another, but there's one thing they do share. Both countries can lay claim to hosting the world's friendliest city, with Melbourne and Auckland jointly taking top honors in a new survey. Another southern hemisphere destination -- South Africa's Johannesburg -- didn't fare quite as well, being named as the most unfriendly.

The group of neighbors surveyed the destruction wreaked on their residential complex by Israeli bombardment, with building after building flattened or punctured by shells. The men then began to voice something almost never heard out loud in Gaza: criticism of its Hamas rulers.