Global News

Moscow could strip the Russian passports of naturalized citizens from Central Asia if they defy President Vladimir Putin’s orders to take up arms in Ukraine, a senior human rights official said Thursday. Kirill Kabanov, member of the presidential human rights council, issued the warning after four ex-Soviet Central Asian republics threatened their citizens with criminal prosecution for fighting in foreign conflicts. Kabanov said his body is drafting new rules as part of Putin’s mobilization orders for migrants who have obtained Russian citizenship within the past 10 years.

Richard Belzer, the longtime stand-up comedian who became one of TV's most indelible detectives as John Munch in "Homicide: Life on the Street" and "Law & Order: SVU," has died. He was 78. Belzer died Sunday at his home in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, in southern France, his longtime friend Bill Scheft said. Scheft, a writer who had been working on a documentary about Belzer, said there was no known cause of death, but that Belzer had been dealing with circulatory and respiratory issues.