The United Arab Emirates (UAE) approved a diplomatic agreement with Israel that was signed in Washington last month, just ahead of the UAE government’s official visit to Israel on Tuesday. The UAE and Bahrain are the first Persian Gulf States to formalize ties with Israel over Iran fears concerning the regime and extremist groups in the country. [...]

Burundi’s top court sentenced former president Pierre Buyoya to life in prison on Tuesday for the 1993 murder of Melchior Ndadaye, the man who had defeated Buyoya in the presidential elections to become the central African country’s first freely elected president. The killing of Ndadaye, which occurred four months after he had won election, triggered [...]

Thousands of students took to the streets in Indonesia on Tuesday, continuing protests of the passage of a sweeping omnibus labor law earlier this month. The bill, passed October 5, makes changes to a large number of laws regarding business and employment, especially regarding foreign business investment in Indonesia. The law’s stated goals include empowering [...]

Slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancee Hatice Cengiz and Democracy for the Arab World Now, Inc. (DAWN) filed a lawsuit Tuesday in a US district court against Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and a couple dozen others. The complaint alleges that key elements of the conspiracy to murder Khashoggi took place at the Saudi embassy in [...]

The European Commission Tuesday announced an investigation into the “golden passport” schemes of EU member states Cyprus and Malta for “selling” EU citizenship. The schemes enable investors to obtain EU citizenship by making pre-determined payments to the member states. The European Commission characterized the schemes as inconsistent with the purpose of Article 4(3) of the [...]

Authorities in Lagos Tuesday imposed  a round-the-clock curfew following protests against alleged police brutality. According to eyewitnesses, 12 protestors and others were wounded after police forces opened fire on the protesting crowds. Protests began following the death of a young man at the hands of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) unit in early October. The [...]

A Russian court Monday sentenced a former mayor to six months of community service after finding him guilty of criminal negligence due to a major diesel fuel leak from a storage tank in the Arctic city of Norilsk in May.  In a statement, the Krasnoyarsk Regional Court announced that Riant Akhmetshin was sentenced to “correctional [...]

Polish officials on Saturday arrested Roman Giertych, a high-profile lawyer, former deputy prime minister of Poland, and staunch critic of the Polish government, on charges of money laundering. Giertych is accused of laundering the equivalent of USD $23 million, although the specifics behind the allegations have not been revealed. Giertych’s legal practice includes involvement in [...]

China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee on Sunday passed the Export Control Law of the People’s Republic of China, which restricts sensitive exports, such as military, nuclear and technology goods, that may threaten national security. A list of controlled items will be published “in a timely manner.” This law allows China to retaliate against countries, [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted six military officers from the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) Monday. The charges against the officers include using malware to cause blackouts in Ukraine in 2015 and 2016; $1 billion in losses to three corporations in 2017; disrupting computers supporting the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics; hack-and-leak efforts against French [...]