WASHINGTON, (MLLAT ONLINE):President Trump on Wednesday asked Congress to terminate the long-running US diversity visa lottery program that applies to people with low level of immigration to the US, after a terror attack this week that killed at least 8 people in the city of New York. “ I am today starting the process of […]
International News
President Trump wants US Visa Lottery Program to go after New York Terror attack
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Moscow, Oct 21 (AFP/APP):A century ago, on October 25, 1917, Lenin’s Marxist Bolsheviks took control of Russia’s imperial capital, launching the October Revolution that led to the creation of the Soviet Union. Although the Bolsheviks were in a political minority, they painstakingly prepared their coup, benefiting from a power vacuum in the country at the height of World War I. – When and where? – The date of October 25 follows the Orthodox Julian calendar which was in use at the time in Russia. It corresponds to November 7 in the Gregorian calendar which is used in most of the world. Russia switched to this calendar after the Revolution. Petrograd was the name given to Russia’s imperial capital Saint Petersburg at the beginning of World War I, with the aim of making it sound less Germanic and more Russian. The city is the site of the Winter Palace, a symbol of tsarist absolutism that is now the Hermitage art museum. It was called Leningrad during Soviet times but reverted to its original name, Saint Petersburg, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. – The February revolution – Unrest started when demonstrators, angry over the scarcity of food, took to the streets of Petrograd on February 23, 1917, according to the Julian calendar. Supported by thousands of people, in just two days the protest transformed into a mass strike and Tsar Nicholas II deployed the army. The troops were meant to contain the uprising but instead began to take the side of the protesters. After a week of unrest, the last tsar abdicated on March 2, 1917, at the military’s urging, as he watched his conflict-torn country spiral into chaos. A fragile, provisional government headed by Alexander Kerensky took over. – Lenin returns – After more than a decade of self-imposed exile in western Europe, revolutionary leader Vladimir Ulyanov — alias Lenin — returned to Russia on April 3, 2017. Although Russia was at war with Germany at the time, the German authorities allowed Lenin and other dissidents to cross Germany on their way to Petrograd, in the hope it would undermine the Russian war effort. Upon his arrival, Lenin addressed Bolshevik supporters, denouncing the provisional government and those calling for reconciliation with the monarchists. In July, Bolshevik organisations were outlawed by the provisional government and Lenin fled to Finland, returning to Russia later that year to lead the October Revolution. Leon Trotsky, head of the Bolsheviks’ Military Revolutionary Committee, prepared the coup, styling himself as the army chief. His first decision was to negotiate immediate peace terms with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian empire. – Attack on the Winter Palace – Overnight October 25-26, the Aurora cruiser ship, staffed with mutineers, fired a blank shot from the Neva River at the Winter Palace, signalling the start of an assault on what had become the seat of the provisional government. Led by Trotsky, Bolshevik forces took control of Petrograd’s key infrastructure and government buildings before seizing the Winter Palace, which was guarded by a disorientated motley crew of some a thousand, almost without resistance. Kerensky’s attempts to organise resistance failed and he escaped. Power had changed hands. – Lenin’s government – On October 27 Lenin formed a body known as the Council of People’s Commissars — or “Sovnarkom” — that laid the foundation of the Soviet Union. Future Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and Trotsky were council members. Lenin refused to share power with moderate leftists who had resisted the Bolshevik coup, leading him to create security forces that executed and imprisoned those he viewed as enemies. The ex-tsar and his family, who had been moved to Yekaterinburg in the Urals after the abdication, were killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918 and their remains hidden — the locations of the bodies remained a secret for much of the 20th century.
Moscow, Oct 21 (AFP/APP):A century ago, on October 25, 1917, Lenin’s Marxist Bolsheviks took control of Russia’s imperial capital, launching the October Revolution that led to the creation of the Soviet Union. Although the Bolsheviks were in a political minority, they painstakingly prepared their coup, benefiting from a power vacuum in the country at the […]
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Spain to grab Catalonia powers as crisis intensifies
Madrid, Oct 21 (AFP/APP):Spain will on Saturday take unprecedented steps to seize powers from Catalonia’s separatist government after Madrid won powerful backing from the king and the EU in its battle to keep the country together. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will meet with his cabinet at 10.00 am (0800 GMT) to set out specific powers […]
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Philippine Everest conqueror sets sail for China
Manila, (MILLAT ONLINE):After conquering Mount Everest, Philippine adventurer Carina Dayondon is set to sail to China aboard a wooden replica of an ancient boat in the hopes of boosting national pride in a forgotten maritime prowess. Dayondon is planning to sail from Manila to southern China early next year, recreating trade and migration voyages made […]
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PNG says won’t force out refugees in Australia camp stand-off
Sydney, (MILLAT ONLINE):Papua New Guinea will not force out the hundreds of refugees refusing to leave an Australian detention camp, a senior military official said Thursday, as the tense standoff entered a third day. The Manus Island detention centre, established to hold and process asylum-seekers under Canberra’s strict immigration policy, was officially handed over to […]
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Japan’s ANA soars to record profit, upgrades forecast
Tokyo, (MILLAT ONLINE):Japan’s top airline by passenger numbers, All Nippon Airlines (ANA), upgraded its full-year forecasts on Wednesday as profits soared to new records due to solid demand. Parent company ANA Holdings said net profits for the first-half period from April to September had more than doubled from a year earlier to a record 118.4 […]