The European Union agreed Monday to impose targeted sanctions against Russian officials and entities allegedly involved in the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny but officials insisted the move should not undercut Europe’s continued high-level contacts with President Vladimir Putin. Foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg backed a Franco-German proposal to impose a travel ban … Read more
As Covid-19 cases surge across large parts of Europe and the U.S., officials are reluctant to force another round of nationwide lockdowns of the sort imposed in March. But this time—unlike in the spring—public-health experts broadly and increasingly agree, with some worried that the general public won’t cooperate with another monthslong, generalized lockdown against a … Read more
The coastal Chinese city of Qingdao will test its more than nine million residents for Covid-19, authorities said, after the discovery of a dozen new cases linked to a local hospital—the country’s most significant virus scare in several months. Local health officials said Monday that they discovered nine new coronavirus cases linked to the Qingdao … Read more
U.S. academics Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson shared the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for new insights into how auctions work, and how different auction designs can help buyers and sellers meet their goals. The announcement Monday gave the U.S. a clean sweep of this year’s Nobel Prizes, with at least one American … Read more
MOSCOW—Political turmoil following a disputed election in the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan continued over the weekend as parliament chose a prime minister who was recently freed from jail while security services detained the country’s ex-leader. The developments appear to strengthen the hand of President Sooronbai Jeenbekov in the short term, though he has said … Read more
MOSCOW—Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of intense shelling on Sunday, denting hopes that a Russia-brokered cease-fire announced the previous day will hold following two weeks of fierce clashes over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan said that overnight shelling by Armenian forces on the city of Ganja had left several people dead and dozens … Read more
Output at Libya’s Sharara oil field, seen here in 2014, has been shut almost continuously since early January. Photo: ismail zetouni/Reuters Oct. 11, 2020 10:50 am ET Production at Libya’s largest oil field restarted Sunday afternoon, Libyan officials said, a move that could quickly increase the country’s overall output after an extended shutdown and add … Read more
SEOUL—North Korea, even as it pursued denuclearization talks with the Trump administration, kept advancing its arsenal. Now the behind-the-scenes progress is in the public eye. At a military parade marking the 75th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party on Saturday, Pyongyang revealed a new intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who had … Read more
Fighting in Yemen has intensified in recent days, threatening to unspool a stalled peace process and deepen what aid groups call the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe. Clashes have escalated around the port city of Hodeidah, where the Saudi-backed government and Iran-supported Houthi rebels struck a cease-fire deal in late 2018 that was meant to pave … Read more
BOGOTÁ, Colombia—A judge rescinded a house-arrest order on Saturday against powerful former President Álvaro Uribe, who is being investigated for witness tampering in a case that has divided Colombia. Bogotá Judge Clara Ximena Salcedo accepted a petition by Mr. Uribe’s lawyers that the home arrest ordered by the Supreme Court in August should be lifted … Read more