New York officials recently seized a headless bronze statue valued at $20 million that's believed to represent Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius from the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Why it matters: The statue is at the center of an ongoing feud between the museum and Turkey, which claims it was stolen from an archaeological site in the country's southwest as part of a smuggling ring.
The U.S. decision to impose visa restrictions on Chinese officials last week brought renewed attention to Beijing's yearslongefforts to tighten its grip on Tibet and other regions.
The big picture: Tibet has ranked among the least free places in the world by Freedom House for more than a decade. Human rights experts have documented a number of alleged abuses, including Beijing's collection of genetic material of Tibetans without consent and the closure of Tibetan monasteries and nunneries.
Rahm Emanuel, U.S. ambassador to Japan, punched back against China with a show of support for Japanese fishers and farmers, after the release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Why it matters: Although the treated water has been deemed safe by the International Atomic Energy Agency,Japan's decision to release the treated water was met with protests in South Korea and a Japanese seafood import ban in China.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Thursday that the country had developed new long-range weapons, one day after Kremlin officials accused Kyiv of launching a wave of drone strikes that targeted six Russian regions.
Driving the news: "Successful use of our long-range weapons: the target was hit at a distance of 700 km [435 miles]!" Zelensky said in an online post that did not go as far as claiming responsibility for Wednesday's attacks in Russia's Pskov, Bryansk, Kaluga, Orlov, Ryazan and Moscow regions.
Guatemalans are facing an uncertain government transition despite the certification this week of President-elect Bernardo Arévalo's electoral win.
Driving the news: The Guatemalan Congress on Wednesday declared lawmakers from Arévalo's party, the progressive Movimiento Semilla, as political independents after the country's electoral registry on Monday suspended the party's registration — the same day Arévalo's victory was certified.
Hate crimes against Latinos rose again last year, while some of the biggest U.S. cities with large Hispanic populations saw record numbers of such crimes, a new report says.
The big picture: In recent years, anti-Latino hate crimes have steadily risen — and new data suggest the trend is continuing, although at a significantly slower rate.
The Santuario de Chimayó in New Mexico and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City were recently listed as some of the "100 Most Holy Places on Earth" by Patheos.com, a website dedicated to information about world religions.
Through the lens: Axios Latino examined those and other sacred sites in Latin America and the United States. See below for more images.
Around 900 union workersat Japanese department store operator Sogo & Seibu went on strike Thursday, protesting a pending acquisition by U.S. investment firm Fortress Investment Group.
Why it matters: Labor disruptions in Japan have become rare, with fewer than two dozen strikes last year that lasted more than half a day.
Former President Trump during a closed-door deposition touted his real estate credentials and defended his presidency as he said New York Attorney General Letitia James should "drop" her lawsuit because "you don't have a case," per a transcript unsealed Wednesday.
Driving the news: "So many things I did for this city ... and now I have to come and justify myself to you," Trump said in the seven-hour April testimony for the civil case to James, who accuses him of fraudulently inflating his net worth by billions of dollars, according to the transcript.
