Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych yesterday called on his opponent and longtime rival, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, to concede defeat in Sunday’s presidential runoff after he secured a slim victory at the polls. With more than 98 percent of the ballots counted as of Monday evening, Yanukovych had captured 48.5 percent of the vote, with Tymoshenko [...]

A prominent radio journalist and author of a book on Bulgaria’s gangsters was shot and killed yesterday in Sofia. The journalist, Bobi Tsankov, was killed in broad daylight and two other men were wounded, Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov told the Focus News Agency. The formal process of consulting the Zimbabwean people on a new constitution is to begin [...]

Energy rationing imposed by President Hugo Chavez as a means of coping with a severe drought could worsen Venezuela’s economic recession, business leaders warned Monday. Noel Alvarez, president of Fedecamaras, the country’s biggest business organization, predicted economic troubles “are going to increase” as the government pushes to cut electricity use by 20 percent. The economy shrank 2.9 percent [...]

Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez has threatened to nationalize Toyota Motor’s assembly plant and turn it over to a Chinese company. The incendiary statement came as Chávez accused Toyota of failing to produce enough vehicles appropriate for rural areas of the South American country. He made the same threat to Fiat and General Motors, which also operate [...]

Sure to continue to plague investment in Latin America, more high-profile violence has taken place in Colombia. Officials stated yesterday that FARC guerrillas slit a state governor’s throat hours after they kidnapped him during a brazen raid in one of worst rebel strikes during President Alvaro Uribe’s government. Armed rebels, dressed in military uniforms, blasted through the [...]

Diggers tore into a Soviet World War Two memorial in Georgia on Thursday to make way for a new parliament in the former Soviet republic, drawing condemnation from Russia. Pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili, whose country was defeated by Russia in a brief war last year, wants parliament sessions to be relocated to Georgia’s second city of Kutaisi [...]

A group of civic activists and North Korean defectors have urged an international tribunal to investigate alleged human rights abuses in the Stalinist country and put dictator Kim Jong-Il on trial. About 150 defectors signed a petition calling for the International Criminal Court to investigate reports of human rights violations in the North, such as extreme [...]

The Sudanese government blasted the justification provided yesterday by the office of the United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon for calling president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir over the weekend. This is believed to be the first contact between the two men since Bashir was indicted last march by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his alleged role [...]

In an electric four-hour solo performance on live television, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he will think about whether to reclaim the presidency — one of the strongest signals yet that he may run again for Russia’s top office in 2012. Putin, who also vowed that Russia would step up its efforts against terrorism, spoke during [...]

Improving trade relations will be high on the agenda for Stephen Harper as he makes his first visit to China on Wednesday, but activists said Tuesday they want the Prime Minister to continue to address human rights issues. Harper, who will arrive Wednesday and depart on December  6, is hoping to use the trip to promote stronger [...]