• Police say they have killed dozens of rioters in Almaty.
• Soldiers shot at protesters in Kazakhstan's biggest city on Thursday.
• U.S. questions deployment of Russia-led troops. 

Russian paratroopers dropping in Kazakhstan
Almaty, Jan.6 (Reuters).– Fresh violence erupted in Kazakhstan's main city of Almaty on Thursday as Russia sent in paratroopers to put down a countrywide uprising in one of Moscow's closest former Soviet allies.

Police in Almaty said they had killed dozens of rioters overnight into the early hours of Thursday morning. Authorities said at least 18 members of the security forces had died, including two found decapitated. More than 2,000 people were arrested.

Mona Ataya, a Palestinian-Lebanese entrepreneur based in the United Arab Emirates, runs the largest online marketplace for mothers in the Middle East. In recognition of her achievements, she has been chosen as one of the six eTrade for Women Advocates for 2021-2022, by the UN trade agency, UNCTAD. Mona Ataya

United Nations. Jan. 3.– Ms. Ataya is the founding partner and CEO of Mumzworld, and has been on the Board of Directors of the Dubai Chamber for Digital Economy since 2011. In a conversation with May Yaccoub from UN News, she shared the challenges faced by businesswomen in the Middle East, and why she is committed to supporting them.

• The Supreme Court ruled that Memorial International, which chronicled political repression in Russia, must be liquidated. Russian Memorial International locked

Moscow, Dec.28 (Reuters).– Russia's Supreme Court ordered the country's oldest human rights group to disband on Tuesday for breaking a law requiring it to act as "a foreign agent", capping a year of crackdowns on Kremlin critics unseen since the Soviet era.

The closure of Memorial International bookmarks a year in which Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin's top critic, was jailed, his movement banned and many of his allies forced to flee. Moscow says it is simply enforcing laws to thwart extremism and shield the country from what it says is malign foreign influence.

Both countries share experience dealing with an authoritarian neighbor

KAOHSIUNG (Taiwan News) — If you had the pleasure of wandering around the Food Taipei 2021 expo which opened Wednesday (Dec. 22), you may well have happened upon the Lithuania Pavilion.

Perhaps you sampled Ruta, a Lithuanian chocolate brand more than 100 years old, or perhaps you sipped a craft beer made by Volfas Engelman, a Lithuanian brewery that started more than 170 years ago. Other delights on offer from this Baltic state included honey, jam, cereals, biscuits, and cakes.

But perhaps more important than the Lithuanian foods that are now arriving in Taiwan is the fact that this nation has a presence at the show at all. The pavilion is symbolic of the deepening friendship between Taiwan and Lithuania, two countries that share the common bond of dealing with the threat of authoritarian neighbors.

Lithuania knows all about the damage that this can cause. From the end of the Second World War until 1991, Lithuania was part of the Soviet Union, controlled by dictators from Russia whose socialist policies drove this vibrant trading nation into decades of poverty and hunger.