Month: October 2018

Georgia will one day join the alliance, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, 10 years after the Western military organization first promised the South Caucasus country it would become a member. …

Uzbekistan’s Prosecutor-General’s Office has denied a report that Gulnara Karimova, the imprisoned daughter of deceased former President Islam Karimov, had been freed from state custody and had checked into a luxury hotel in Dubai. …

A court in Russia-controlled Crimea has started to hear the appeal of a pro-Ukrainian activist against his five-year prison term. …

As U.S. senators await the result of an FBI investigation and prepare for a potential final vote on President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, Trump used part of a political rally to mock a woman who has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her. The FBI investigation was launched Friday, one day after Christine …

Read more “Senators Spar Over FBI Probe of Kavanaugh, Trump Mocks His Accuser”

Canada’s Parliament formally stripped Aung San Suu Kyi of her honorary Canadian citizenship on Tuesday for complicity in the atrocities committed against Myanmar’s Rohingya people. The Senate voted unanimously to strip Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s civilian leader, of the symbolic honor bestowed on her in 2007. The upper house’s move follows a similar unanimous vote in …

Read more “Canada Revokes Myanmar Leader’s Honorary Citizenship”

There could be up to 4 million Venezuelan migrants living in Colombia by 2021 if the situation in the socialist-run country worsens, Colombia’s foreign minister said on Tuesday, estimating the cost at some $9 billion. Venezuelans have been crossing into countries across the region to escape food and medicine shortages and a deep economic crisis. …

Read more “Foreign Minister: Four Million Venezuelans May Live in Colombia by 2021”

The White House is applauding France’s move against alleged Iranian intelligence operatives who are accused of planning a bomb attack in Paris. …

A key achievement of Russian President Vladimir Putin on a trip to India this week will be the signing of a $5 billion deal to supply India with S-400 air-defense systems, a top Kremlin aide has said. …

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian says he has received assurances from leaders of the parliamentary majority that they will not block early general elections that he wants to be held in December. …

The U.S. ambassador to NATO has said that if necessary, the United States would consider destroying a Russian missile system that Washington contends Moscow is developing in violation of a nuclear arms treaty. …

As trade tensions between Beijing and Washington worsen, a debate is intensifying in China over the role private and state-owned enterprises play in the economy. The debate has even stoked fears that the communist-led government is preparing to nationalize private industries, analysts say. Under Xi Jinping’s leadership and especially over the past year, after he …

Read more “China’s Private Enterprises Feel Squeeze on All Fronts”

Turkmenistan’s authoritarian president announced the end to free gas, electricity, water, and salt — winning applause and lavish praise from the rubber-stamp People’s Assembly. …

Amazon is boosting its minimum wage for all U.S. workers to $15 per hour starting next month. The company said Tuesday that the wage hike will benefit more than 350,000 workers, which includes full-time, part-time, temporary and seasonal positions. It includes Whole Foods employees. Amazon’s hourly operations and customer service employees, some who already make …

Read more “Amazon Raising Minimum Wage for US Workers to $15 Per Hour”

In five weeks, U.S. voters head to the polls to elect a new Congress and the outcome will have a profound impact on the next two years of Donald Trump’s presidency. Intensity is building for the Nov. 6 election, especially among opposition Democrats seeking to win back control of the House of Representatives. But the …

Read more “Battle Over Kavanaugh Intensifies Midterm Campaign”

Verdicts in the trial of the former Almaty Mayor Viktor Khrapunov and his relatives and former associates will be pronounced next week, a court said on October 2. …