Category: World

The Russian government has opened a criminal investigation against the unidentified people who have called for an unsanctioned anticorruption demonstration in Moscow on April 2. …

Friday marked the end of the week, the month and the first fiscal quarter of 2017. The first-quarter statistics were pretty impressive with the NASDAQ Composite delivering the best return of the three main indices of nearly 10 percent as the index broke through another record high on Friday, led by heavyweights like Apple (AAPL) …

Read more “First Fiscal Quarter Ends on Financial High Note”

Yevgenia Medvedeva of Russia successfully defended her world figure skating title in Helsinki, making her the favorite to win the gold at next year’s Winter Olympics. …

Poland says it expects to complete a deal to buy Patriot missiles from U.S. firm Raytheon by the end of the year, as it looks to bolster its defenses in the face of an increasingly assertive Russia. …

A lawyer for former national security adviser Michael Flynn says he’s in talks with congressional committees to testify before them in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Those committees are investigating Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election and potential ties between Russia and associates of President Donald Trump.   Trump’s attorney, Robert Kelner, said Thursday …

Read more “Questions, Answers About US Legal Immunity Process”

Austria’s top diplomat on Friday called on both sides of the conflict in Azerbaijan’s autonomous breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh to renew the political settlement process. Marking the first anniversary of deadly clashes in the Azeri region, which is populated mostly by ethnic Armenians, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, current chairman of the Organization for Security …

Read more “OSCE Chairman Calls for Revitalized Nagorno-Karabakh Peace Process”

WASHINGTON – A leading Republican U.S. senator has called for deeper Justice Department investigation into the Washington lobbying firm connected to the explosive dossier compiled on President Donald Trump during last year’s election campaign and the firm’s alleged Russian ties. …

Officials in Pakistan say a powerful bomb ripped through a busy market in a northwestern tribal town on the Afghan border, killing at least six people and wounding more than 30 others. Witnesses and local politicians say the blast in Parachinar, the administrative center of the semi-autonomous Kurram tribal district, was aimed at a Shi’ite …

Read more “Powerful Bomb Causes Many Casualties in Northwest Pakistan”

China is preparing to shut down ivory factories Friday. It is the first phase of the government’s plan to end all domestic ivory trade this year. Kenyan conservation group Save the Elephants says that commitment has already had some impact.  Save the Elephants says the wholesale price of ivory in China dropped up to 60 …

Read more “China Poised to Close Ivory Factories”

Reports from Pakistan say an explosion has rocked the northwestern city of Parachinar. …

Two Democrats facing tough re-elections in GOP states said Thursday they will vote for President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, even as the Senate Democratic leader strongly warned Republicans against changing Senate rules to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch.   Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York had tough words for his Republican counterpart, Majority Leader …

Read more “Report: Two Democrats Will Vote to Confirm Supreme Court Nominee”

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has arrived in Brussels to attend a March 31 NATO meeting that was rescheduled to allow him to attend. …

Michael Flynn, who was dismissed as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, has told officials that he is willing to answer questions from congressional committees in return for immunity from “unfair prosecution” in the investigation over the Trump campaign’s potential ties to Russia. …

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he would be willing to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump. Speaking at an Arctic forum, Putin and Finland’s president, Sauli Niinisto, said they were open to the idea of such a meeting, and Niinisto said he would be honored to host the summit in his country. Putin said …

Read more “Putin Wants to Meet with Trump in Finland”

A group of strawberry pickers from Bangladesh has won a case against Greece at Europe’s highest human rights court, after being shot at by employers for demanding unpaid wages. The Council of Europe’s Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday in favor of 42 Bangladeshi nationals, and ordered the Greek state to pay them damages of …

Read more “Migrant Fruit Pickers Win European Court Case Against Greece”

A rebel in charge of communications for warlord Joseph Kony has surrendered to Ugandan forces, the military said Thursday, shortly after the U.S. indicated it was pulling out of the international manhunt for one of Africa’s most notorious fugitives.   Michael Omona’s surrender to Ugandan forces in Central African Republic “shows the degraded capacity” of …

Read more “Aide to Warlord Kony Surrenders as US Pulls from Uganda Mission”

The number of Syrians who have fled their country after six years of civil war has risen above 5 million, the UN’s refugee agency says. …

State-run media in Uzbekistan say President Shavkat Mirziyaev has signed a law that softens punishment for some crimes and cuts the length of time that suspects can be held before charge or trial. …

A U.S. diplomat is on a trip to Pakistan, Oman, and Turkmenistan for talks focusing on religious minorities and freedom of religion. …

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, and other senior officials are in the Arctic archipelago of Franz Josef Land in a visit aimed in part at emphasizing Russia’s role in the Arctic region. …

A 25-meter-tall monument honoring Russian construction workers in the southern city of Volgodonsk has collapsed in a severe windstorm. …

Peru asked the United States for more aid Wednesday to confront the intense rains and flooding that have buried entire villages in mud, displaced thousands from their homes and left 97 dead. The Andean nation is struggling to recover from what officials describe as the worst environmental disaster to strike in nearly two decades and …

Read more “Peru Asks US for More Aid to Confront Intense Rains, Floods”

Montenegro officials on Wednesday welcomed the U.S. Senate’s decision to ratify its entry into NATO, calling it a great step for the tiny Balkan nation.   Montenegro is set to become NATO’s 29th member following the Senate’s overwhelming ratification on Tuesday.   Russia, though, strongly opposes the Western military alliance’s expansion in the Balkans. Russia …

Read more “Montenegro Welcomes US Senate NATO Approval”

Sasa Jankovic and Vuk Jeremic differ on many things, but they agree on one: the campaign for Serbia’s presidential election is the dirtiest since the votes that kept strongman Slobodan Milosevic in power in the 1990s. “We’ve seen difficult times in this country and we have gone through a number of uneven elections, uneven in …

Read more “Serbian Presidential Candidates: How Dirty Can It Get?”