Sunday, Apr 22nd
Last update05:20:13 AM GMT
International Glance
The former Russian double agent got a terrifying message on his birthday: He was on a Kremlin hit list along with Sergei Skripal, another ex-spy who weeks later was poisoned with a nerve agent in a case Britain blames on Vladimir Putin's government.
"Be careful, look around, something is probably going to happen,'" the former agent, Boris Karpichkov, says an old friend told him on the telephone in mid-February. "It's very serious, and you are not alone."
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy will stand trial for corruption in France over accusations that he improperly tried to obtain confidential information from a French magistrate, The New York Times reports.
Wiretaps on phones belonging to Sarkozy reportedly overheard the former president and his attorney discussing how to obtain confidential information from a top French magistrate in 2014.
Sarkozy is accused of then approaching the magistrate and promising to use his influence to secure a job for the judge, Gilbert Azibert, who now also faces charg
Tormented relatives of 68 people killed in a fire at a Venezuelan police station jail waited Thursday for officials to turn over the remains of their loved ones and demanded accountability from officials.
"I want justice for my son," said Rocky Varlea, 53, whose 27-year-old son was killed in the blaze, his voice shaking. "Those who did this should pay."
The fast-moving fire on Wednesday swept through a station where prisoners were being kept in crowded cells, becoming one of the worst jail catastrophes in Venezuela's history. Human rights advocates quickly blamed authorities for failing to address deteriorating conditions in jails and prisons as the country slides further into economic ruin.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has pledged to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula during his first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, according to China's state news agency.
Xinhua on Wednesday quoted Kim saying that the issue could be resolved if South Korea and the United States respond to Pyongyang's efforts "with goodwill".
"It is our consistent stand to be committed to denuclearisation on the peninsula, in accordance with the will of late President Kim Il-sung and late General Secretary Kim Jong-il," Kim said, referring to his grandfather and father, according to the statement issued by China's foreign ministry.
Russia and China are outpacing the United States in the development of super-fast missile technology, Pentagon officials and key lawmakers are warning.
Russia says it successfully tested a so-called hypersonic missile this month, while China tested a similar system last year expected to enter service soon.
“Right now, we’re helpless,” Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in advocating for more investment in hypersonics, along with missile defense.
Hypersonics are generally defined as missiles that can fly more than five times the speed of sound.
The FBI possesses a secret report asserting that Vladimir Putin’s former media czar was beaten to death by hired thugs in Washington, DC — directly contradicting the US government’s official finding that Mikhail Lesin died by accident.
The report, according to four sources who have read all or parts of it, was written by the former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele, who also wrote the famous dossier alleging that Russia had been “cultivating, supporting and assisting” Donald Trump. The bureau received his report while it was helping the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department investigate the Russian media baron’s death, the sources said.
US President Donald Trump has ordered the expulsion of 60 Russians, including 12 intelligence officials, as the diplomatic dispute between Russia and the UK intensifies over a spy poisoning case.
The US - backing up its closest ally - also said on Monday it was closing the Russian consulate in Seattle in response to the attempted assassination of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter.
Both are critically ill in a UK hospital after being poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent in the southern English city of Salsibury last month.
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