Category: Western Media

China’s President Xi Jinping has pledged to support Cuba’s defence of its national sovereignty, opposing foreign interference and a U.S. economic blockade, and will expand strategic coordination with Havana. Xi made the remarks in a meeting with Cuba President Miguel Diaz-Canel on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry on Thursday. “China highly appreciates Cuba’s consistent firm support for China on issues involving China’s core interests, and will…

Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was believed dead after a private jet on which he was listed as a passenger crashed north of Moscow with no survivors. Prigozhin, 62, spearheaded a mutiny against Russia’s top army brass on June 23-24, which President Vladimir Putin said could have tipped Russia into civil war. Others who have opposed Putin or his interests have also died under unclear circumstances or come close to death. Here are some details about these mysterious incidents: ANNA…

The two founders behind Tornado Cash, a Russian cryptocurrency mixing service, have been charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, according to a statement on Wednesday. Roman Storm and Roman Semenov were officially charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit sanctions violations and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, according to a newly unsealed indictment. Storm was arrested in Washington on Wednesday but Semenov still remains at large, the…

(AP) — A private jet crashed in Russia on Wednesday, killing all 10 people aboard, emergency officials said. Mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the passenger list, but it wasn’t immediately clear if he was on board. Prigozhin’s fate has been the subject of intense speculation ever since he mounted a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military leadership in late June. The Kremlin said the founder of the Wagner private military company, which fought alongside Russia’s regular army in Ukraine, would…

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has awarded BAE Systems an 89-million pound ($113 million) five-year contract to design and manufacture a secure battlefield communication network for the British armed forces. The tactical Wide Area Network, known as Trinity, will provide secure connectivity to front-line soldiers in contested environments, sustaining battlefield awareness and intelligence sharing. Trinity will replace the existing Falcon network, due to be retired in 2026. Secure Communication Network The deployable battlefield internet capability will eliminate the soldiers’…

The scraped data of 2.6 million DuoLingo users was leaked on a hacking forum, allowing threat actors to conduct targeted phishing attacks using the exposed information. Duolingo is one of the largest language learning sites in the world, with over 74 million monthly users worldwide. In January 2023, someone was selling the scraped data of 2.6 million DuoLingo users on the now-shutdown Breached hacking forum for $1,500. This data includes a mixture of public login and real names, and non-public…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The generic drug maker Teva Pharmaceuticals agreed Monday to pay $225 million to settle price-fixing charges related to sales of a major cholesterol-lowering drug. The U.S. Department of Justice said the agreement also requires Teva to divest its business making and selling the drug, pravastatin, a generic version of the brand-name medicine Pravachol. Another generic drug maker, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, agreed to pay a $30 million criminal penalty and to divest its pravastatin business as well. In a…

President Joe Biden‘s administration on Thursday asked Congress for more than $13 billion in new military spending for Ukraine, citing the need for continued support following Russia’s “unprovoked” invasion of the country last year. The funding would help Ukraine and other vulnerable countries “impacted by Russia’s unprovoked and brutal invasion,” Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Shalanda Young wrote in a letter to Congressional leader Kevin McCarthy and others. Close to $10 billion of the new military funding would…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Thursday asked Congress to provide more than $13 billion in emergency defense aid to Ukraine and an additional $8 billion for humanitarian support through the end of the year, another massive infusion of cash as the Russian invasion wears on and Ukraine pushes a counteroffensive against the Kremlin’s deeply entrenched forces. The package includes $12 billion to replenish U.S. federal disaster funds at home after a deadly climate season of heat and storms,…

This follows our announcement of a data exercise to investigate account closures.  Firms have until 25 August 2023 to provide information on: the number of customers that have been terminated the number of customers suspended the number of customers denied services the reasons for all of the above  the number of complaints banks have received on this issue This will include asking if accounts have been closed because of expressions of political or other opinions. We’re asking about both personal…

The grandmother of the teenager shot dead by police during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb said on Sunday she wanted the nationwide rioting triggered by his killing to end, after a fifth night of unrest. She said the rioters were using 17-year-old Nahel’s death last Tuesday as an excuse to cause havoc and that the family wanted calm. “I’m telling them [the rioters] to stop,” the grandmother, identified as Nadia by French media, told BFM TV. “Nahel is…

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — More than a year and a half after Alec Baldwin shot and killed a cinematographer while rehearsing a scene on set in New Mexico, prosecutors have yet to solve the biggest mystery in the tragic case: How did live rounds get on the set? Prosecutors said in their latest court filing that they have some evidence to support the theory that weapons expert Hannah Gutierrez-Reed may be responsible for the introduction of the rounds. But they…

Enlarge this image The Mississippi police officer who shot and wounded the unarmed boy has been suspended without pay during an investigation, a city official said. Here, this December 2022 photo provided by Nakala Murry shows her 11-year-old son Aderrien Murry, who was shot and wounded by an Indianola, Miss., Police Department officer on May 20, 2023, during a domestic disturbance call at the family’s home. AP AP The Mississippi police officer who shot and wounded an 11-year-old boy in…

Shares of Sage Therapeutics fell more than 50% Monday after the Food and Drug Administration approved the biotech company’s oral drug zuranolone for postpartum depression, but not for major depressive disorder, a bigger potential market. Shares of Biogen, which jointly developed the treatment with Sage, were up modestly. Who is Sage Therapeutics? Biogen Inc owns more than 10% of Sage Therapeutics, while FMR LLC owns almost 10%. Fidelity Management & Research Co. LLC  owns almost 12% and Wellington Management Co….

ORLANDO, Fla. — Students in a Florida school district will be reading only excerpts from William Shakespeare’s plays for class rather than the full texts under redesigned curriculum guides developed, in part, to take into consideration the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” laws. The changes to the Hillsborough County Public Schools’ curriculum guides were made with Florida’s new laws prohibiting classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in mind. Other reasons included revised state standards and an effort to get…

China Tuesday renewed calls for the Philippines to remove an aging ship from a reef which Manila uses to press its stake in the Spratly Islands in defiance of Beijing’s claim to nearly the entire South China Sea. The move comes after the Philippines at the weekend accused the China Coast Guard of firing water cannon against boats on a resupply mission to its garrison stationed on the grounded vessel. The BRP Sierra Madre – deliberately grounded in the late…