Tag: Region Asias

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia. Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said. Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi…

Columbia University retracted ultimatum for pro-Palestinian demonstrators amidst US tensions. Police used force at universities. Debates on free speech intensified. Student Skyler Sieradsky expressed fear as a Jew in America due to messages of hate and violence. Authorities confirmed that police forces conducted widespread arrests, employing chemical irritants and tasers to disperse protests at several universities. Reports emerged of clashes between riot officers and demonstrators, with Emory University in Atlanta witnessing a particularly intense confrontation. “The talks have shown progress…

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean police said Friday they searched the office of the hard-line incoming leader of an association of doctors and confiscated his mobile phone as he faces accusations that he incited the protracted walkouts by thousands of medical interns and residents. The development could further dim prospects for an early end to the strikes. The office of Lim Hyun-taek, who is to be inaugurated as head of the Korean Medical Association next week, called the…

European lawmakers have approved a resolution that calls for the “immediate and unconditional release” of all political prisoners held in Russia, including journalists Alsu Kurmasheva and Evan Gershkovich. The resolution was part of a joint motion in the European Parliament on April 25, condemning Russia’s “undemocratic” presidential election last month and their “illegitimate extension” to territories inside Ukraine that Moscow has illegally annexed. The resolution — which was approved by 493 MEPs in favor while 11 were against and 18…

A top Russian military official was arrested on suspicion of accepting a bribe, authorities said Tuesday, a high-profile arrest that comes as Moscow’s war in Ukraine is in its third year. Timur Ivanov, 48, one of Russia’s 12 deputy defense ministers, was sanctioned by both the United States and the European Union in 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that both President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei…

It’s the latest sign of internal turmoil at the tech giant centered on “Project Nimbus,” a $1.2 billion contract signed in 2021 for Google and Amazon to provide the Israeli government with cloud computing and artificial intelligence services. Workers held sit-in protests last week at Google offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California. The company responded by calling the police, who made arrests. The group organizing the protests, No Tech For Apartheid, said the company fired 30 workers last week…

BERLIN (AP) — A man who works for a German lawmaker in the European Parliament has been arrested on suspicion of spying for China, German prosecutors said Tuesday. The suspect, identified only as Jian G. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested Monday in Dresden, federal prosecutors said in a statement. They said that he has worked for a German lawmaker in the European Union’s legislature since 2019. The statement didn’t specify which lawmaker employed him, but German public…

A court in Vietnam on Thursday ordered the death penalty for a real estate tycoon found guilty in a financial fraud case totalling more than $12 billion US. Vietnamese state media called it the country’s largest-ever case of financial fraud. The conviction of Truong My Lan came amid a government anti-corruption crackdown by Communist Party general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. Lan started off selling cosmetics in a market stall with her mother in Ho Chi Minh City. When Vietnam liberalized…

NEW DELHI: In a harrowing turn of events, Danielle Cherakiyah Johnson, identified as an astrologer and influencer known as “Ayoka,” allegedly perpetrated a series of violent acts that resulted in the death of her infant daughter. Authorities disclosed that Johnson, 34, fatally stabbed her partner, Jaelen Allen Chaney, before throwing her two children from a moving SUV onto a Los Angeles freeway. Police revealed that Johnson’s online posts, including references to an impending solar eclipse as “the epitome of spiritual…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has greenlighted an emergency $138 million in foreign military sales for Ukraine to provide critical repairs and spare parts for Kyiv’s Hawk missile systems. The U.S. announced the move Tuesday saying that Ukraine has an urgent need for the maintenance support to keep the missile system running. The announcement follows a similar, small-sized round of $300 million in munitions support the Pentagon announced last month after it was able to convert contract savings to…

Canada’s domestic spy agency has determined that China interfered in the last two elections, according to testimony in an official probe on Monday, providing the strongest evidence to date of suspected Chinese involvement in Canadian politics. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party emerged victorious in both the 2019 and 2021 elections. Under pressure from opposition legislators concerned about media reports regarding China’s potential involvement, Trudeau established a commission to investigate foreign interference. The commission was presented on Monday with…

Serbia is close to signing a deal on the purchase of 12 French Rafale multi-purpose fighter jets, the Serbian president announced Tuesday, in what would mark a shift from its traditional military supplier Russia. President Aleksandar Vucic spoke during his two-day visit to Paris and talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as well as French defense officials including Rafale manufacturer Dassault Aviation. Vucic said that he had a very good conversation with Macron on Monday night, which lasted more than…

ISTANBUL: Turkey said it would impose trade restrictions on Israel starting Tuesday over the war in Gaza, covering a range of products including cement and steel and iron construction materials. The new measures come a day after Turkey said Israel had blocked its attempt to airdrop aid to Gaza. “This decision will remain in place until Israel declares a ceasefire immediately and allows adequate and uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” the trade ministry announced on social media. It…

Chinese anti-corruption authorities are investigating a senior executive at one of the country’s top military equipment suppliers, China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, in a new sign of turmoil in the country’s defence establishment. The probe into He Wenzhong, deputy general manager of CETC, a company subject to US sanctions, follows a shake-up of the armed forces last year, when the two generals in command of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force were replaced. The force controls China’s land-based nuclear missiles….

  LONDON – Blackstone is nearing a deal to take L’Occitane International private, according to people familiar with the matter, potentially ending the global cosmetics and skincare giant’s 14-year run on Hong Kong’s stock exchange. The private equity firm may team up with L’Occitane’s billionaire owner Reinold Geiger for the buyout, said one of the people. An announcement could come as soon as in the coming days, the people said. Trading of L’Occitane was suspended before the Hong Kong stock…

Nicaragua, a longstanding supporter of the Palestinian cause, is broadening the legal battle over the Gaza conflict at the International Court of Justice by bringing a case against Germany, a major supplier of arms to Israel. In hearings that opened on Monday in The Hague, Nicaragua argued that Germany is facilitating the commission of genocide in Gaza and violating the Genocide Convention by providing Israel with military and financial aid. Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez, Nicaragua’s ambassador to The Netherlands, told…