North Korea has executed people for distributing foreign television shows, including popular South Korean dramas, as part of an intensifying crackdown on personal freedoms, according to a UN human rights report. Surveillance has grown more pervasive since 2014 with the help of new technologies, while punishments have become harsher – including the introduction of the … Read more
Microsoft says cyber-espionage campaign ‘poses high risk’ to foreign embassies, diplomats and other groups in Moscow. Microsoft has accused one of the Russian government’s premier cyber-espionage units of deploying malware against embassies and diplomatic organisations in Moscow by leveraging local internet service providers. In a blog post on Thursday, Microsoft Threat Intelligence said the campaign … Read more
The United States is sanctioning four judges from the international criminal court (ICC) for what it has called its “illegitimate actions” targeting the United States and Israel. The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, announced the sanctions in a statement on Thursday. They target Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza of Peru, … Read more
US president claims that Hollywood is undergoing a ‘very fast death’ despite raking in $30bn in revenues in 2024. United States President Donald Trump has announced plans to impose a 100 percent tariff on foreign films, claiming that Hollywood is undergoing a “very fast death” due to overseas competition. In a social media post on … Read more
Despite high tensions between the Trump administration and some of America’s closest allies over tariffs and Ukraine, foreign ministers from the Group of 7 industrialized democracies who were meeting this week in Canada forged common ground in a communiqué that glossed over many of their sharp differences. Top diplomats from Canada, the host of the … Read more
US State Department says overseas development and aid programmes to be cut by $54bn. The United States has dramatically cut the budgets of overseas development and aid programmes, with multiyear contracts pared down by 92 percent, or $54bn, the State Department has said. After his inauguration on January 20, US President Donald Trump signed an … Read more
Palmerston, the rescue cat of the U.K.’s Foreign Office, stalks past 10 Downing St. in front of the waiting media in central London on June 9, 2017. Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images Retirement isn’t for everyone — just ask Palmerston the cat, who formerly served as … Read more
Political scientist John Mearsheimer argues that Trump can’t ethnically cleanse Gaza or resolve the Ukraine War. Despite the rhetoric, US President Donald Trump will not be able to ethnically cleanse Gaza nor resolve the Ukraine war, argues University of Chicago political scientist John Mearsheimer. Mearsheimer tells host Steve Clemons that Arab governments fear “the risk … Read more
Asaad al-Shaibani also says that Syria’s new constitution will represent all of the country’s communities. Syria’s new foreign minister has said that his country hopes to follow in the footsteps of economic powerhouses like Singapore and Saudi Arabia, as it begins to slowly rebuild after nearly 14 years of civil war. “We need the help … Read more
Police believe ‘foreign actors’ paying local criminals to commit crimes amid a surge in anti-Semitic incidents. Australia is investigating suspicions that funding from outside the country is behind a surge in anti-Semitic crime. Detectives investigating the anti-Semitic attacks across the country have concluded that foreign actors have been paying local criminals to commit them, Prime … Read more