A Chinese national living in California has been arrested and charged by federal law enforcement after he allegedly bought and exported guns and ammunition to North Korea at the direction of North Korean agents who funneled him $2 million to purchase the equipment, according to a newly unsealed criminal complaint. Shenghua Wen also admitted to trying to obtain military uniforms in an apparent attempt to help North Korean soldiers disguise…

Omer Neutra, an Israeli-American soldier from New York, has been confirmed dead in Gaza, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has said. A grandson of Holocaust survivors, the 21-year-old from Long Island was thought to be a hostage captured by Hamas, but he was killed fighting militants during the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, the IDF announced Monday. Neutra’s body was taken into Gaza, where it is still being held by Hamas.…

….Unless she pays $9bn before execution A Vietnamese court upheld the death penalty Tuesday for a property tycoon in a multibillion-dollar fraud case — but said her life could still be spared if she paid back three quarters of the assets she embezzled. Property developer Truong My Lan, 68, was convicted this year of swindling money from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) — which prosecutors said she controlled — and sentenced…

President-elect Donald Trump is pledging to block Japan’s Nippon Steel from buying U.S. Steel, a $14.9 billion deal announced a year ago that is now under review for its potential impact on U.S. national security. “I am totally against the once great and powerful U.S. Steel being bought by a foreign company, in this case Nippon Steel of Japan,” Trump wrote on Truth Social late Monday. “Through a series of…

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday declared martial law in an unannounced broadcast live on YTN television, claiming he would eradicate “shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces.” He did not cite any specific threat from the nuclear-armed North, however, instead focusing on his domestic political opponents. The surprise move sent shockwaves through the country, which had a series of authoritarian leaders early in its history but has been considered…

A US judge has upheld her decision to reject Elon Musk’s $55.8 billion compensation package at Tesla, denying an attempt to restore the deal through a shareholder vote. Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware’s Court of Chancery ruled on Monday that Tesla’s attempt to ratify Musk’s compensation plan through a vote in June could not overturn her earlier January decision, which deemed the package excessive and unfair to shareholders. In her…

Workers at Volkswagen factories across Germany have begun strikes after the manufacturer threatened to close plants amid falling demand and a slower-than-expected transition to electric vehicles.Workers on their morning shifts went on strike for two hours, while those on the evening shift plan to leave work early in protest at the carmaker’s demands, which include a 10% wage cut.At Volkswagen’s main plant in Wolfsburg, which employs 70,000 people, a two-hour…

Figures show 170 under-18s have been killed in the West Bank and more than 1,400 have been injured in a crackdown since the 7 October attacks, according to DCI Palestine and Save the Children. The Israel Defence Forces say Palestinian children often participate in violence.In a West Bank clinic, the father of a nine-year-old Palestinian boy showed us where the bullet shot by an Israeli soldier entered his son’s neck…

President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he has pardoned his son Hunter Biden, who faced sentencing this month for federal tax and gun convictions, marking a reversal as he prepares to leave office.“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” the president said in a statement. It is a “full and unconditional pardon,” according to a copy of the executive grant of clemency. CLEMENCY CANNOT BE RESCINDED BY PRESIDENT-ELECT…

US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on imports from BRICS countries if they replace the dollar in global trade.The BRICS is an inter-governmental organisation comprising nine countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).While the US dollar is the most-used currency in global business, tariffs are essentially a tax or fee on all imported goods by importers…

….After speaking against tariffs Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau flew to Florida to meet with President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, where they held a “very productive meeting.” It came in the wake of Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on goods coming from Canada. Trudeau dined with Trump at Mar-a-largo Friday night, according to senior sources who spoke to CBC News on condition they not be named due to…

Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau flew to Florida to meet with President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, where they held a “very productive meeting.” It came in the wake of Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on goods coming from Canada. Trudeau dined with Trump at Mar-a-largo Friday night, according to senior sources who spoke to CBC News on condition they not be named due to the sensitivity of the…