The United States on Tuesday accused companies in the United Arab Emirates, the Central African Republic and Russia of engaging in illicit gold deals to help fund the mercenary fighters of Russia's Wagner Group. The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement it has sanctioned four companies linked to Wagner and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, that it alleged were used to help pay the paramilitary's forces fighting in Ukraine and undertaking operations to support Russian interests in Africa. "The Wagner Group funds its brutal operations in part by exploiting natural resources in countries...
Japan has begun vaccinating its elderly residents against COVID-19 as Tokyo imposes a set of tougher restrictions to blunt a fourth wave of the pandemic. Only about 120 sites across Japan opened Monday to distribute the first dose of the two-shot Pfizer vaccine to people 65 and older. Officials say they expect about 100 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to arrive by the end of June, enough to inoculate Japan's 36 million elderly residents as the country races to vaccinate as many people as possible in time for the Tokyo Olympics, which begin on July 23. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has...
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with Israeli counterpart Benny Gantz on Sunday during a two-day trip to the Middle Eastern country. "We addressed a broad range of defense issues, to include Israel's long-term planning for defense acquisitions, and regional security challenges, and U.S. support for efforts to normalize relations between Israel and Arab and Muslim majority nations," Austin told reporters. Austin also reiterated the United States' commitment to a strong alliance with Israel and noted that his visit came shortly after Remembrance Day, which honors the 6 million...
The U.S. secretary of state assailed China Sunday for its early, slow response to the threat of the coronavirus more than a year ago, saying it led to "more egregious results" throughout the world than "might otherwise" have been the case. "I think China knows that in the early stages of COVID, it didn't do what it needed to do, which was to, in real time, give access to international experts, in real time to share information, in real time to provide real transparency," Antony Blinken told NBC News's "Meet the Press" show. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus. There was no...
Aboriginal tools discovered in a limestone cave in northern Australia are thought to be more than 35,000 years old, deepening understanding of Australia's original residents. Eight tools made from kangaroo bone were excavated from Riwi Cave in the southern Kimberley region of Western Australia by archaeologists in the early 1990s. The work was supported by the local Mimbi Aboriginal community. Modern dating techniques have now estimated the carved tools are between 35,000 and 46,000 years old. It would make them the oldest artifacts of their type found in Australia. They were crafted from...
The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday that the unfair distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine is felt most severe in Africa, where only a fraction of the world's 600 million doses have reached the continent. Speaking in virtual leaps from the WHO headquarters in Africa in Congo-Brazzaville, WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said vaccination was a lifesaver tool in a pandemic, but distribution injustice had marginalized one billion Africans in what he called a "historic move to end the pandemic. . " Moeti said countries such as Ghana, Rwanda...
North and South Korea have restored a communication hotline that was cut off by Pyongyang last June.
According to the South's presidential office, the leaders of both countries have agreed to...
Critical infrastructure facilities were hit by drone strikes early on Thursday, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Volodymyr Zelenskiy's presidential office said on Thursday.
"Another attack...
Andrew McCabe, pejabat FBI No. 2 yang secara umum dikritik Presiden Donald Trump atas dugaan bias politik, mundur dari biro tersebut hari Senin waktu AS, beberapa minggu sebelum masa pensiunnya,...