Central Asia needs life support as Russia suffers

Russia’s central Asian satellite states lack the immunity to fend off the economic ills which have beset their larger neighbor. Tajikistan has appealed to the International Monetary Fund for support. Other countries in Russia’s economic orbit may need similar treatment.

The land-locked nation of 8.5 million people, which has been in talks with the international lender about a bailout package since early February, is most directly exposed to trouble further north. Falling oil prices and economic sanctions have hit remittances from workers in Russia that are the lifeblood of its economy.

A long river of trash runs through a Beirut suburb

 Packed garbage bags in Jdeideh, Beirut, Lebanon on Feb. 23. Lebanon canceled a plan to export its trash to Russia on Friday, a government agency said, sending Beirut's six-month garbage crisis back to square one as mountains of trash choke the city's air and streets.
  (Hasan ShaabanReuters)

Those are no white water rapids, folks. Those are heaps of garbage bags sitting, and stinking, in a suburb of Lebanon's beloved capital Beirut.

Ranking North Korean army officer said to be executed by regime

A senior North Korean military leader has been executed for "factionalism, misuse of authority and corruption," a South Korean government official with knowledge of North Korean affairs told CNN Thursday.

The official, who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity, declined to give further details on how or when General Ri Yong-gil, chief of the North Korean Army's general staff, was executed.

Donald Trump and Univision Settle $500 Million Miss Universe Lawsuit

 

 Donald Trump and Univision have settled their lawsuit over the Spanish-language broadcaster’s elected to not air Miss Universe or Miss USA.

Univision dumped the pageants after the GOP frontrunner — who used to own the Miss Universe Organization — made disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants. In late June, Trump sued Univision for damages over the decision, which he believed to be “in excess of $500 million.”

The terms of the actual settlement were not released.

culled from yahoo

Church members arrested during service for noise pollution

                                             Ogba Magistrate’s Court

The police in Lagos have arrested six persons for allegedly disturbing the peace of residents of Olaomibiyi Street, Ogba, during a church service.

The members – Ngozichukwu Onyebuchi (44), Clement Eromosele (26), Chukwudi Akwegbu (26), Chibuzor Chukwu (18), Godspower Enudi (21) and Okorie Livonus (36) – were arraigned in a Lagos Magistrate’s Court sitting in Ogba.

They were accused of converting a residential apartment to a church.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the landlord and residents of the building where the defendants gathered to worship had complained that the congregation caused noise pollution whenever they prayed.