The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has opened a broad antitrust investigation into Microsoft, including of its software licensing and cloud computing businesses, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters Wednesday. A source confirmed the investigation to NBC News. The investigation was approved by FTC Chair Lina Khan ahead of her likely departure in January. The election of Donald Trump ...

Russia’s widespread overnight attack targeting critical energy infrastructure facilities in Ukraine was a response to strikes on Russian territory using US-made ATACMS missiles, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. Putin claimed Russia hit 17 targets that were “military facilities, defense industry facilities and their support systems,” without acknowledging the hits to power infrastructure. “As I have said many times, there will ...

Georgia is suspending talks on its bid to join the European Union for four years, its prime minister said Thursday, in view of what he described as “blackmail and manipulation” from some of the bloc’s politicians. His announcement outraged the opposition and triggered a new wave of protests. The move by Irakli Kobakhidze came hours after he was reappointed to ...

Over 1,000 days of war, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned Kyiv’s Western allies of dire – potentially nuclear – consequences if they “escalate” the war by giving Ukraine the weapons it needs to defend itself. Putin’s threats became even fiercer this month after the Biden administration finally gave Kyiv permission to launch longer-range American weapons at targets deep ...

In a single post, the president–elect told the world what the end of the Ukraine war might look like. And it is going to be a big diplomatic ask, to say the least. “I am very pleased to nominate General Keith Kellogg to serve as Assistant to the President and Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia,” Trump wrote on his ...

A Beijing court sentenced veteran Chinese state media journalist Dong Yuyu on Friday to seven years in prison for espionage, a family member told Reuters. Former Guangming Daily editor and journalist Dong Yuyu, 62, was detained by police in Beijing in February 2022 while having lunch with a Japanese diplomat, according to a statement from the US National Press Club, ...

Australia has warned travelers against drinking spirits made by a Laos distiller, following the deaths of six foreign tourists from suspected methanol poisoning in the Southeast Asian country. The updated travel advice published Friday cited “serious safety concerns” over Laos’ Tiger-branded vodka and whisky in the wake of a mass poisoning earlier this month in the northern town of Vang ...

British lawmakers are set to decide Friday whether to legalize assisted dying, a contentious proposal that would make the United Kingdom one of a small handful of nations to allow terminally ill people to end their lives. An emotive debate Friday in Westminster is expected to last several hours, before a vote later in the day. If passed, the bill ...

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have been displaced multiple times from Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip are now facing another threat – the arrival of harsh winter weather. On Sunday, the first strong storm to hit Gaza this winter was felt in all parts of the enclave. In a makeshift displacement camp near the sea in Deir al-Balah, ...

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te will visit Hawaii and the US territory of Guam during an upcoming trip to the Pacific, prompting condemnations from China, which could respond by staging a fresh round of military drills near the island democracy. While on US soil, Lai is expected to “meet with old friends” and participate in closed-door discussions with think tanks, according ...