China angered by US support for Lithuania over Taiwan

Lithuania opened a Taiwanese representative office in Vilnius in July. [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [View in your browser]( [Top of The World]( --------------------------------------------------------------- What The World is following China angered by US support for Lithuania over Taiwan [The closed Lithuanian Embassy is seen in Beijing, Dec. 16, 2021.] Credit: Mark Schiefelbein/AP/File photo Lithuania China has lashed out against the US for supporting Lithuania over Taiwan. Last July, Lithuania announced it was opening a Taiwanese representative office in its capital, Vilnius. Many nations avoid relations with the island state, and name any representative offices by its capital city, Taipei, as China claims Taiwan to be a part of its own territory, even though Taiwan sees itself as a [self-governed democratic state](. On Wednesday, top US and German diplomats called Chinese pressure against Lithuania unwarranted. Foreign Ministry spokesperson [Wang Wenbin responded](, saying Washington is trying to "use Taiwan to contain China." Kazakhstan As unrest continues in Kazakhstan, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has now authorized security forces to [shoot and kill protesters without warning](, calling it part of a “counterterrorist” operation. Dozens of people have died in nearly a week of protests, including protesters and police. The interior ministry said [more than 3,000 people have been detained]( since last weekend. The Kazakh government imposed a state of emergency and called in troops from a Russian-led military alliance to quell protests, which flared up over a sudden hike in fuel prices. The Bahamas Actor Sidney Poitier has died in the Bahamas at the age of 94. He was the first Black actor to win an [Academy Award for best lead performance]( for “Lilies of the Field” and wielded tremendous influence both on and off the screen. He managed to push Hollywood to take Black people’s stories seriously and helped [shift the racial narrative]( in the US in the 1950s and ‘60s. He also appeared in three of Hollywood’s top-grossing films in 1967. Poitier was born in Miami, Florida, but grew up in the Bahamas. He moved back to Miami and then to New York as a teenager. --------------------------------------------------------------- From The World [Brazil heads into latest COVID surge amid public health information blackout]( [Commuters wear protective face masks as they walk through a subway station, in São Paulo, Brazil, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Dec. 1, 2021. Brazil joined the widening circle of countries to report cases of the omicron variant.]( Credit: Andre Penner/AP/File photo COVID-19 is back with a vengeance in Brazil, along with simultaneous flu and other viral infections. One contributing factor was new year's gatherings, like packed beaches in Rio de Janeiro where no one wore masks. Now, a [“total blackout” on data]( has left public health officials feeling blindsided. [‘She’s in our hearts’: Devotees from China and Taiwan come together to celebrate the goddess Mazu]( [Devotees carry a statue of the goddess Mazu in a procession on Meizhou Island, China.]( Credit: Rebecca Kanthor/The World The Daoist goddess Mazu is revered on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Mazu followers come from all over the world on pilgrimage to visit her temple on Meizhou Island just off of China’s eastern coast. Taiwan is less than 80 miles away, and China supports Mazu worship as a way to [strengthen cross-strait, political and economic relations](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Bright spot She's the first woman in US Navy history to command a deployed nuclear-powered carrier. Capt. Amy Bauernschmidt led the USS Abraham Lincoln this week from San Diego. Bauernschmidt was also the first female executive officer aboard a carrier when she assumed its command in August. [Capt. Amy Bauernschmidt, left, incoming commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), reads her orders during a change of command ceremony held on the flight deck in San Diego, Calif., Aug. 19, 2021.] Credit: Mass Communication Spc. 3rd Class Jeremiah Bartelt/U.S. Navy via AP/File photo --------------------------------------------------------------- [In case you missed it from The World]( --------------------------------------------------------------- - [Police arrest 3 in connection with app ‘selling’ Indian Muslim women]( - [‘Flurona’ hits Brazil]( - [Hong Kong: ‘Get out’]( - [The backstory to France's galette des rois, a dessert with medieval roots]( - [Beijing preps for a zero-COVID Winter Olympics]( - [More than 2 dozen killed in Colombia in conflict over control of drug-trafficking routes]( - [Top male tennis star fighting deportation in Australia]( - [Protests and violence in Kazakhstan escalates]( - [Exporting extremism]( Don't forget to subscribe to The World's Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: [RadioPublic](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Stitcher](, [Soundcloud](, [RSS]( [The World logo]( [The World on Facebook]( [The World's Twitter account]( [Donate]( | [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [Edit your subscription]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [View in your browser]( Top of the World is written weekday mornings by the team at [The World](. 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