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...
France on Saturday said more than 50,000 people had tested positive for coronavirus in the past 24 hours, as COVID-19 cases rocketed despite millions receiving a vaccine booster shot. The country recorded 51,624 new daily cases of Covid, health authorities said. France's record daily cases number was nearly 118,000 in mid-April, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. France has recorded an average of almost 41,000 new cases a day over the past week, compared with less than 28,000 a week ago. Some 694 people had been admitted to hospitals in the past 24 hours, including...
Belgian police used water cannon and tear gas Sunday to disperse some rowdy protesters in Brussels after most demonstrators marched peacefully to protest tightened COVID-19 restrictions that aim to counter a surge of coronavirus infections. Thousands came to reject the new measures announced Friday, the third week in a row that the government has tightened its rules as an avalanche of new cases strains the country's health services, depriving people with other life-threatening diseases of treatment. Shouting "Freedom! Freedom!" and carrying banners that said, "United for our freedom,...
Top U.S. defense officials admit recent Chinese military advancements, including the test of a hypersonic weapon system, are reason to worry, but the secretary of defense says if Beijing was hoping to intimidate or scare the U.S., that is not happening. "America isn't a country that fears competition," Lloyd Austin told government officials and defense companies in a speech Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California. "We're facing a formidable challenge," he said. "And we're going to meet this one with confidence and resolve -- not panic and...
China will cut to no more than 10 days the time required for approval of travel by U.S. business executives, its ambassador to the United States said on Thursday, promising to turn "an attentive ear" to concerns raised by businesses. Qin Gang, who arrived in the United States in July, told a dinner hosted by the U.S.-China Business Council that Beijing would also work to make COVID-19 testing more convenient and allow executives to work during quarantine. Qin said Beijing was adopting President Xi Jinping's direction on upgrading "fast track" travel arrangements, a response to U.S....
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned his Russian counterpart Thursday of "serious consequences" if Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine and appealed to him to seek a diplomatic solution to the conflict between the Eastern European countries. Blinken's warning to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov came after the two senior diplomats met in Stockholm and one day after Blinken declared the U.S. would "respond resolutely" to a Russian attack against Ukraine, "including with a range of high impact economic measures that we've refrained from using in the past." "I think Moscow knows...
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,...