Tag: Africas

Washington says ‘reckless’ Russian manoeuvers forced US to bring down MQ-9 drone, but Moscow denies collision occurred.

A US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper surveillance drone was brought down on Tuesday morning over the Black Sea, after what the European Command claimed as “an unsafe and unprofessional intercept” by two Russian jets. The “Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance” platform was “operating within international airspace” when the airplanes approached, EUCOM said in a statement. One of the Su-27s “struck the…

For President Xi Jinping, the Iran-Saudi deal is part of a grander political vision, and a nuts-and-bolts example of how he hopes to achieve it.

The vision is that China will ultimately displace the United States as the world’s leading power. The means to achieve it? Leveraging China’s economic clout to expand its financial, diplomatic, and military footprints worldwide.

The Mideast deal also underscores a key pillar of that approach. In explicit contrast to the United States, China is assuring its partners that “internal” issues – such as human rights – are irrelevant to its outreach and alliances.

Biden administration officials are pressing their Canadian counterparts to make a decision on whether Ottawa will lead a multinational force into Haiti to assist the crisis-racked Caribbean nation in its battle against gang control, U.S. and diplomatic sources said. They are hoping that a visit to Canada by President Joe Biden next week will settle months of debate over the…

Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Ericsson), a multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, has agreed to plead guilty and pay a criminal penalty of more than $206 million after breaching a 2019 Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA). 

Below-normal rainfall is expected over the next three months in parts of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia.

SAO PAULO, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Germany’s Bayer has been ordered by Brazil’s Supreme Court to return to Brazilian soybean farmers the royalties they were charged for a GMO soybean seed, the Mato Grosso farmer lobby Aprosoja-MT said in a statement on Friday. The Feb. 13 ruling by Supreme Court Justice Nunes Marques relates to a GMO technology commercially known…

Binance is considering ending business relationships with banks and services firms amid heightened scrutiny.

London, United Kingdom – The Metropolitan Police Force’s Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, is certainly banking on the expectation that it can. Many would say it’s an almost insurmountable task. But the alternative is unthinkable. The force is the first port of call for law enforcement and prevention of crime in the United Kingdom’s capital – with unique responsibilities and challenges. But…

Co-hosts New Zealand and Australia said Thursday they “urgently” want answers from FIFA over reports Saudi Arabia’s tourist board will sponsor the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Visit Saudi is reportedly poised to be named among the sponsors of the 32-team soccer tournament to be held in New Zealand and Australia from July 20. The sponsorship deal looks set to go…

Turkey’s foreign minister on Thursday accused Sweden of being complicit in a “hate and racist crime” for failing to prevent weekend protests in Stockholm by an anti-Islam and pro-Kurdish groups. Mevlut Cavusoglu also confirmed that a key meeting in Brussels to discuss Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership has been postponed, saying such a meeting would have been “meaningless” in the…

A former high-ranking member of the Russian private military contractor Wagner Group seeking asylum in Norway is in custody on suspicion of entering the Scandinavian country illegally, authorities said Monday. Russian Andrey Medvedev “has been arrested under the Immigration Act and it is being assessed whether he should be produced for detention,” Jon Andreas Johansen of Norwegian immigration police told…

A Manhattan federal judge known for swift decisions and a no-nonsense demeanor during three decades of overseeing numerous high-profile cases was assigned Tuesday to Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency case. The case was relegated to Judge Lewis A. Kaplan after the judge originally assigned recused herself because her husband worked for a law firm that had done work related to Bankman-Fried’s collapsed…

WASHINGTON – A California man was sentenced yesterday to 42 months in federal prison for his role in accessing, monitoring and conveying confidential and sensitive information that could be used to identify and locate Twitter users of interest to the Saudi Royal Family. Ahmad Abouammo, 45, formerly of Walnut Creek and currently residing in Seattle, was convicted of acting as…

States must apply effective arms-control measures to prevent the diversion of weapons supplied to Ukraine, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, as some Council members defended their decision to continue providing military support to Kyiv while others detailed the danger of doing so. Izumi Nakamitsu, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, said that the transfer of materiel…

ABB Ltd. (ABB), a Swiss-based global technology company listed on the New York Stock Exchange with core businesses focused on electrification, automation, motion, and robotics has agreed to pay more than $315 million to resolve an investigation into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) stemming from the bribery of a high-ranking official at South Africa’s state-owned energy company….