UNSC, UNGA heads mull over next step in ICJ election

UNSC, UNGA heads mull over next step in ICJ election

Security Council President Sebastiano Cardi says that his office and that of General Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak are in touch about the next step in the world court judge’s election in which sitting judges Dalveer Bhandari of India and Christopher Greenwood of Britain are deadlocked. “We are consulting with the PGA’s (President of the General […]

Russian Twitter accounts meddled in 2016 Brexit vote

Russian Twitter accounts meddled in 2016 Brexit vote

 In a startling revelation, a group of data scientists has found 156,252 Russian accounts on Twitter which mentioned #Brexit and posted nearly 45,000 messages related to the EU referendum in the 48 hours around the vote. According to a report in The Times on Thursday, “Russian Twitter accounts posted more than 45,000 messages about Brexit […]

Russia news network registers as foreign agent in US

Russia news network registers as foreign agent in US

The Russian international news network RT America has registered as a “foreign agent” in the US at the request of the Department of Justice, the outlet’s editor-in-chief has announced. “Between a criminal case and the registration we chose the latter. Congratulations to the US freedom of speech and all those who still believe in it,” […]

UNGA rallies around ICJ judge Bhandari, defying UNSC

UNGA rallies around ICJ judge Bhandari, defying UNSC

 The General Assembly rallied around world court Judge Dalveer Bhandari on Monday in his bid for re-election, defying the Security Council where permanent members and their allies put up a fight to protect one of their own, Britain’s Christopher Greenwood. Bhandari steadily increased his votes from 110 to 121 in the Assembly during five rounds […]

Facebook to support new political ad rules in US

Facebook to support new political ad rules in US

Facing scrutiny over the presence of Russian ads on its platform during the 2016 US presidential poll, Facebook has agreed to support new limited federal rules on online political ads. The US Federal Election Commission (FEC) has asked tech companies and campaigns to disclose the origin of political ads from now on. In its comments […]

Catalan crisis: Spanish PM vows to end ‘separatist havoc’

Catalan crisis: Spanish PM vows to end ‘separatist havoc’

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has said regional elections next month in Catalonia will help end “separatist havoc” in the northeastern region. He addressed a campaign event on Sunday on his first visit there since imposing direct rule on the region a fortnight ago, BBC reported. Defending his decision in Barcelona, he said he had […]

Mexico City releases $6 mn for quake reconstruction

Mexico City releases $6 mn for quake reconstruction

The Mexico City government has released 117.6 million pesos (over $6 million) for immediate use toward reconstruction after the September 19 earthquake, Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera has said. He added the city government had also received $750,000 for reconstruction from the US-based Rockefeller Foundation, Xinhua reported Providing a roundup on actions to help the city, […]

31st Asean Summit begins in Philippines

31st Asean Summit begins in Philippines

The 31st Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and related meetings began here on Monday, with leaders of 10 member-nations and dialogue partners convening to discuss security, cooperation and regional integration. The Philippines, Asean’s rotating chair for 2017, set the theme of “Partnering for Change, Engaging the World”, putting security and regional […]

134 killed in powerful earthquake near Iran-Iraq border

134 killed in powerful earthquake near Iran-Iraq border

At least 134 people were killed and over thousands others injured after a powerful earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale struck an area near the Iran-Iraq border, media reports said on Monday. According to Iran’s state-run Press TV, 130 victims were killed in Kermanshah province. Four other people were killed in Iraq’s Darbandikhan town, […]

Israeli PM denies wrongdoing in graft affairs

Israeli PM denies wrongdoing in graft affairs

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied on Thursday any wrongdoing in two corruption affairs in which he is a suspect. Earlier, Police Spokeswoman Luba Samri confirmed that Netanyahu was questioned for the fifth time for four hours by the police 433 Lahav anti-corruption unit in the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem, Xinhua reported. Samri declined […]