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...
Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest's philanthropic organization will help 18 small news publishers in the country to negotiate collectively with Google and Facebook to secure licensing deals for the supply of news content. Forrest's Minderoo Foundation on Monday said it would submit an application with the country's competition regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), allowing the publishers to bargain without breaching competition laws. Forrest, Australia's richest man, is the chairman and the largest shareholder of iron ore miner Fortescue Metals...
Apple says it is suing Israeli NSO Group, maker of the controversial Pegasus spyware. Apple will be the second company to sue NSO after Facebook, now Meta, sued over similar concerns that Pegasus was targeting WhatsApp users. Meta owns WhatsApp. The case is still working its way through the courts. Apple says the spyware specifically targeted its users. It also wants to prevent NSO from using any Apple product or service, which would be a massive blow to the company that sells governments the ability to hack iPhones and Android phones in order to gain full access. Apple says it has...
Last year's contentious national security law has cast a pall over nongovernment organizations in Hong Kong, including human rights organizations. Amnesty International shuttered its office - established for 40 years - in the former British colony October 31, a decision experts call "another blow to the human rights situation" in Hong Kong. Human Rights Watch also left Hong Kong after being penalized by Beijing in retaliation for U.S. legislation in support of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters in 2019, according to The New York Times. Amnesty also announced the closure of another...
U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday reappointed Jerome Powell to a second term as chair of the country's central bank, the Federal Reserve, saying that Powell has played a pivotal role in helping the United States recover from the worst of the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Biden's reappointment of Powell, 68, to one of the most important economic policy positions in the world, ends weeks of speculation in financial markets and in Washington political circles. Some progressive Democrats in Congress had pushed Biden to name Fed Governor Lael Brainard to head the Fed,...
A Sydney restaurant is using a Chinese-made, multi-lingual hospitality robot to address chronic staff shortages as Australia's economy begins to recover from COVID-19 lockdowns and border closures. The robot waiter is programmed to know the layout of the tables and delivers food from the kitchen. It is also multi-lingual, programmed to communicate in English and Mandarin. The so-called BellaBot is built by the Chinese firm PuduTech. Each machine costs about $17,000. They can be leased for $34 per day for each device, or the equivalent of two hours' wages for restaurant staff. The devices...
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,...