Category: Western Media

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Turkey’s leader has agreed to have Turkish parliament vote on Sweden’s bid to join the defense alliance. The announcement came via a tweet after Stoltenberg met with both Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Vilnius, Lithuania, on the eve of the NATO summit there. “Glad to announce that after the meeting I hosted with @RTErdogan & @SwedishPM, President Erdogan has agreed to forward #Sweden’s accession protocol to the Grand…

As you’ll recall, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman whined about what he called the “landed gentry” among moderators of subreddits that were protesting his ridiculous extractive API changes. He insisted that perhaps things should be more democratic. In response, many subreddits took a vote on how subscribers to those subreddits wanted the mods to handle things, and many urged the moderators to continue protesting. But, Huffman apparently couldn’t handle that kind of democracy. So he’s spent the last few weeks threatening…

BENGALURU – Nearly 900 Amazon workers at a warehouse in Britain will stage a strike for three days in the coming week over a pay dispute, labour union GMB said on Saturday. The strike will take place from July 11-13 at Amazon’s warehouse in Coventry, for two hours during the morning and two hours in the evening on the three days, GMB said in an emailed statement to Reuters. It coincides with a “Prime Day” sales event the company has…

Conflict-torn Sudan is on the brink of a “full-scale civil war” that could destabilise the entire region, the United Nations warned Sunday, after an air strike on a residential area killed around two dozen civilians. The Ministry of Health reported “22 dead and a large number of wounded among the civilians” from the strike on Khartoum’s sister city Omdurman, in the district of Dar al-Salam, which means “House of Peace” in Arabic. After nearly three months of war between Sudan’s…

Mali has freed at least two jihadists from the Sahel affiliate of the Islamic State group in a prisoner exchange, a security official and two politicians told AFP on Saturday. The Sahel country’s military had in recent days released Oumeya Ould Albakaye and Dadi Ould Cheghoub, both members of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), flying them from Bamako to the Gao region in the north, the security official said. One of the politicians, an elected official in Gao, said that at least three jihadists were…

The Kremlin on Saturday slammed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky‘s decision to repatriate several Ukrainian commanders who should have remained in Turkey until the end of the conflict under a deal. The Ukrainian presidency confirmed that it had secured the return of members of the crack Azov regiment, which is despised in Russia, after “negotiations with the Turkish side.” They were greeted at Istanbul airport by Zelensky, who was on a visit to Turkey. “The return of Azov commanders from Turkey to Ukraine is nothing but a direct violation of the terms…

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday said she agreed Washington will listen to Chinese complaints about security-related curbs on U.S. technology exports and might “respond to unintended consequences” as she ended a visit to Beijing aimed at reviving strained relations. Yellen defended “targeted measures” on trade that China’s leaders complain are aimed at hurting its fledgling tech industries. She said the Biden administration wants to “avoid unnecessary repercussions” but gave no indication of possible changes. Relations between the two…

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean opposition lawmakers sharply criticized the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog for its approval of Japanese plans to release treated wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant during a tense meeting in Seoul on Sunday, with protesters screaming outside the door. Rafael Mariano Grossi, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s director general, arrived in South Korea over the weekend to engage with government officials and critics and help reduce public concerns about…

  PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Prandy Tavarez and his wife were expecting a baby when they bought a four-bedroom house in a well-kept neighborhood of century-old homes here. They got to work making it theirs, ripping off wallpaper, upgrading the electrical and replacing windows coated in paint that contained lead, a potent neurotoxin that can damage brain development in children. That wasn’t the only lead. The pipe carrying water to their home was made of it, too. Providence’s tap water…

HOUSTON – On the afternoon of July 4, as Americans were celebrating the country’s independence with elaborate fireworks displays, a prisoner named Joseph Martire passed out in his cell in Texas, amid the excessive heat that has been swamping much of the southern United States in recent days. In concrete, brick and metal penitentiaries, industrial fans churn warm vapour without really cooling the air. And with no air-conditioning in most prisons, when outside temperatures exceed 40 deg C, it can…

WASHINGTON – A white powder found inside the White House late on Sunday, which led to the temporary closure of part of the presidential complex, was identified by Washington fire department as cocaine, the Washington Post reported. The Secret Service confirmed to Reuters that an “unknown item” had been found that led to part of the White House being closed, but referred other questions to the fire department, which declined to comment. “On Sunday evening, the White House complex went…

The Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten – IMY) has fined two companies with 12.3 million SEK (€1 million/$1.1 million) for using Google Analytics and warned two others about the same practice. In a decision published yesterday, the agency explains that by using Google Analytics to generate web statistics the firms were breaching European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Specifically, the companies were in violation of the GDPR Article 46(1), which forbids the transfer of personal data to countries or…

BEIRUT (AP) — A French court Tuesday upheld the freezing of the assets of Lebanon’s embattled central bank governor, rejecting his appeal to have them released, an official close to the investigation said. Several European countries are investigating central bank Gov. Riad Salameh and his associates over myriad alleged financial crimes, including illicit enrichment and laundering of $330 million. A French investigative judge on May 16 issued an international arrest warrant, or Interpol red notice, for the 72-year-old Salameh after…

Russian jamming in Ukraine has become so effective that even US-made guided weapons sent to Kyiv may no longer hit targets accurately, according to several British military analysts. A recent analysis by the UK’s Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) notes that while Moscow’s electronic warriors could not stop the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), their improved jamming skills are taking a toll on the weapon’s accuracy. This reportedly happens despite multiple anti-jamming upgrades on the JDAMs. According to the report,…

SHANGHAI – China’s major state banks have lowered their US dollar deposit rates for the second time in a month, seven banking sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, as the authorities step up efforts to arrest a slide in the Renminbi currency. Interest rates offered by the “Big Five” state-owned lenders on most dollar deposits are now capped at 2.8 per cent, down from 4.3 per cent previously, said the people. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), which…

The United States said Monday that ally Israel had a right to “defend its people” against Islamist militants but called for protection of civilians after a major, deadly raid in the occupied West Bank. “We support Israel’s security and right to defend its people against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups,” a State Department spokesperson said. “It is imperative to take all possible precautions to prevent the loss of civilian lives,” the spokesperson added. The United States, Israel’s…