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...
The top U.S. infectious disease expert on Sunday urged eligible Americans to get booster coronavirus vaccinations to give them the best protection against the new omicron variant. Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, told ABC's "This Week" show that omicron can evade the protection provided by the three vaccines available in the United States. Nearly 202 million Americans are considered fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, but only 53.8 million of them have received booster shots. "If you want to be optimally protected, absolutely get a booster," he...
As South Korea decides whether or not to join the Biden administration's diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, experts said its decision could signal its commitment to Washington's coalition-building strategy centered on human rights. A senior official at the South Korea's Blue House presidential office, who preferred to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the subject, told reporters Seoul has not made any decisions on whether to send diplomatic representatives to the Beijing Olympics. When the United States announced the boycott, it specified the move was to protest...
Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan said Thursday that instead of siding with so-called Cold War-like "blocs," his country would like to help de-escalate tensions between the United States and China. Khan cautioned in his keynote speech to a regional security seminar in Islamabad the rivalry between the two world powers "is moving towards (another) Cold War and new blocs are (again) being formed." He said Islamabad does not want to "get trapped" into another Cold War the way it did by joining the U.S.-led Western alliance against the erstwhile Soviet Union. "Pakistan must try its best to...
More than 40 people in the U.S. have been found to be infected with the omicron variant so far, and more than three-quarters of them had been vaccinated, the chief of the CDC said Wednesday. But she said nearly all of them were only mildly ill. In an interview with The Associated Press, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the data is very limited and the agency is working on a more detailed analysis of what the new mutant form of the coronavirus might hold for the United States. "What we generally know is the more mutations a variant has,...
China has condemned Australia's diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics as "political posturing." China's treatment of its Uyghur minority spurred Australia's decision, which followed a similar U.S. move. Australia's boycott of the Winter Games in China includes politicians and diplomats. It comes as friction between the two countries intensifies over human rights, trade, and allegations of Chinese interference in Australia's domestic affairs. Canberra's call last year for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 also infuriated Beijing, which took it as criticism of its handling...
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,...