A court in Vietnam on Tuesday upheld a death sentence for real estate tycoon Truong My Lan after rejecting her appeal against a conviction for embezzlement and bribery in a high-profile $12 billion fraud case, state media reported. Lan, the chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, was sentenced to death in April for her role in ...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a record-breaking defense budget, setting aside a staggering third of the government’s total spending as the war in Ukraine drains resources from both sides nearly three years on. The budget for 2025, which was published Sunday, allocates about $126 billion (13.5 trillion rubles) to national defense – amounting to 32.5% of government spending. The ...

Intel’s CEO is stepping down as the stalwart American chipmaker has struggled to keep pace with the artificial intelligence revolution. The company announced that Pat Gelsinger, who’d led Intel since 2021 and logged more than 30 years in various positions with the chipmaker, had retired from the company effective Sunday. “While we have made significant progress in regaining manufacturing competitiveness ...

President-elect Donald Trump is wasting little time affirming that tariffs will be a Day One priority. With his inauguration less than two months away, small businesses are already making moves to avoid expected cost increases — or weighing whether to take a financial hit or pass it on to customers. On Monday, Trump announced on Truth Social that he plans ...

Sporting a sparkly dress and a Santa hat atop her distinctly pink hair, Sarah Potempa stood in front of her smartphone at her hair-care company’s warehouse in Waukegan, Illinois. It was time to go to work.  Potempa is a celebrity hairstylist who goes live on TikTok multiple times a week. During “the packing show,” as she calls it, Potempa livestreams ...

Countries negotiating a global treaty to curb plastic pollution have failed to reach agreement, with more than 100 nations wanting to cap production while a handful of oil-producers were prepared only to target plastic waste. The fifth UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) meeting intended to yield a legally binding global treaty in Busan, South Korea, was meant to be the ...

Romanians cast ballots Sunday in a parliamentary election sandwiched between a two-round presidential race, the first of which has plunged the European Union and NATO member into unprecedented turmoil following allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference. Sunday’s vote will elect a new government and prime minister and determine the formation of the 466-seat legislature. Romanians living abroad have been ...

Protesters rallied in Georgia’s capital for a fourth straight night on Sunday and there were signs that opposition was spreading across the country to the government’s decision to suspend talks on joining the European Union. The country of 3.7 million people has seen months of rising tension between the ruling Georgian Dream party and opponents who accuse it of pursuing ...

Sectarian violence has killed at least 130 people and wounded 200 others in Pakistan’s northwest in the last 10 days, officials said Sunday. Violence flared in Kurram district on November 21 when gunmen ambushed a vehicle convoy and killed 52 people, mostly Shiite Muslims. Nobody claimed responsibility for the assault, which triggered retaliatory firing and arson by rival groups in ...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a record-breaking defense budget, setting aside a staggering third of the government’s total spending as the war in Ukraine drains resources from both sides nearly three years on. The budget for 2025, which was published Sunday, allocates about $126 billion (13.5 trillion rubles) to national defense – amounting to 32.5% of government spending. The ...