Tag: Region Asias

Without approval from Washington, the best that Ukrainian airmen can hope for are lessons on technical language and tactical training on the ground, the outlet said on Wednesday. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has been pressing his Western backers for fourth generation F-16 warplanes for months, arguing they are crucial for defending the country’s airspace amid a massive Russian missile campaign targeting military facilities and energy infrastructure. The Ukrainian leader appeared to achieve limited progress during a recent European tour, with…

The US is attacking Chinese companies and scientists as part of its efforts to foil the technological development of other countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin claimed on Wednesday.  During his regular press conference, Wang argued that the Disruptive Technology Strike Force set up by the US Justice Department (DOJ) in February was designed to “abuse export control regimes.”  “The US has politicized, instrumentalized and weaponized tech issues, and sought to thwart other countries’ technological advancement,” Wang said. The…

SYDNEY – Air China has swamped an Australian flight school with a request for commercial pilots, a sudden demand that points to a looming rebound as the vast Chinese market resumes international travel. Air China had stopped sending its trainees to the Australian Airline Pilot Academy campus in regional Victoria state after the pandemic halted overseas travel in early 2020. But talks resumed two months ago and the giant state-run carrier, almost out of nowhere, pushed the school to interview…

WASHINGTON —Indian authorities have arrested Vivek Raghuvanshi, a defense journalist and longtime correspondent for Defense News, and accused him of espionage, according to reports in the Indian press. Raghuvanshi’s arrest drew a condemnation from Sightline Media Group, the publisher of Defense News and Military Times. “We call for the immediate release of freelance reporter Vivek Raghuvanshi following his arrest in India,” said Mike Gruss, Sightline’s editor-in-chief. “Vivek has written about the Indian defense industry for Sightline publications for more than…

Russia has frozen the bank accounts of Finland’s diplomatic representations in Moscow and St. Petersburg, disrupting money flow and forcing the Nordic country’s missions to resort to cash payments, the Finnish foreign minister said Wednesday. Pekka Haavisto said Moscow’s move at the end of April breached the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and Helsinki had delivered a diplomatic note on the matter to Russia. “We’re not alone with the money traffic problem,” Haavisto told reporters during a news conference. “Also,…

  EU member countries are preparing to help their companies to exit Russia, amid a growing risk they will be taxed to fund Russian president Vladimir Putin’s war. Source: This is stated in the proposals for the 11th package of sanctions against the Russian Federation, referenced by EUobserver, as reported by European Pravda Details: The proposals include new special permits for financial transactions and legal services designed to help European companies exit Russia. But under the new proposal, EU countries…

Iran Press TV Lebanon’s Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh has slammed French prosecutors for issuing an arrest warrant against him, saying he would appeal against the decision. Salameh made the remarks in a statement on Tuesday, after an international arrest warrant was issued earlier in the day following his failure to appear before French prosecutors to be questioned on corruption charges. Salameh denounced as “a violation of law” the arrest warrant, vowing to challenge it by filing an appeal. He…

U.S. law enforcement officials on Tuesday announced a series of criminal cases exposing efforts by Russia, China and Iran to steal sensitive U.S. technologies. The five cases, which spanned a wide range of protected U.S. technologies, were brought by a new “strike force” created earlier this year to deter foreign adversaries from obtaining advanced U.S. innovation. “These charges demonstrate the Justice Department’s commitment to preventing sensitive technology from falling into the hands of foreign adversaries, including Russia, China, and Iran,”…

Iran Press TV Tuesday, 16 May 2023 11:13 AM Russia’s oil exports have hit its highest level since the start of the Ukraine war, increasing its revenues by $1.7 billion despite Western sanctions, the International Energy Agency says. In a monthly oil report on Tuesday, the Paris-based organization said Russian crude exports increased by 50,000 barrels per day to 8.3 million bpd in April. That reflects Russia’s success in finding new buyers for its crude since the West imposed sanctions…

Natalia Arno, the U.S.-based chief of the Free Russia Foundation, says there are suspicions she may have been poisoned, “possibly by some nerve agent,” after falling ill during a recent trip to Europe, amid a report that at least two other Kremlin critics have experienced similar episodes since 2020. Arno, who previously kept silent about what she experienced during a trip to Prague in early May, wrote about the ordeal on Facebook on May 16 after the website Agentsvo published…

Canada must become the “best of friends” with South Korea, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told lawmakers in Seoul on Wednesday, as the two countries seek to counter China’s growing regional influence. Trudeau is on his first official visit to South Korea, where he will meet President Yoon Suk Yeol. “I’m here to tell you that it’s no longer enough to be friends. We need to be the best of friends,” Trudeau said during a speech to Seoul’s National Assembly. He…

The charges describe schemes to steal computer programming or sensitive materials that could benefit militaries of hostile foreign countries. The alleged recipients of the technology were Russia, China and Iran, according to charging documents. WASHINGTON – A Greek national allegedly buying technology for the Russian military and intelligence services. A Chinese citizen allegedly stealing thousands of documents from Apple related to autonomous vehicles. Another Chinese national allegedly scheming to provide Iran with materials used in weapons of mass destruction. These…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department announced a series of criminal cases Tuesday tracing the illegal flow of sensitive technology, including Apple’s software code for self-driving cars and materials used for missiles, to foreign adversaries like Russia, China and Iran. Some of the alleged theft highlighted by the department dates back several years, but U.S. officials are drawing attention to the collection of cases now to highlight the work of a task force created this year to disrupt the transfer…

  WASHINGTON – The US Justice Department said on Tuesday it has charged a former Apple Inc engineer with attempting to steal the firm’s technology related to autonomous systems, including self-driving cars, and then fleeing to China. The case was among five announced on Tuesday aimed at countering efforts to illicitly acquire American technology by nations including Russia and China. The actions were the first announced by a “strike force” formed in February in part to keep sensitive technologies away…

A humanitarian aid worker who used an anonymous Twitter account to mock Saudi Arabia about its economy has filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against the social media platform, the kingdom and a number of individuals alleging an attempt to silence critics overseas. Abdulrahman al-Sadhan, was working for the Red Crescent in Riyadh in 2018 when plain-clothed security forces entered the office of the Red Crescent offices in Riyadh. He was taken away without any explanation. How the Saudi government linked…

In October, reports indicated that the FBI believed it had enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden with tax crimes. The Justice Department reportedly ordered the team’s removal, according to the New York Post. An IRS criminal supervisory special agent came forward to Congress in April seeking whistleblower protection to share with lawmakers information that allegedly showed the investigation into potential tax crimes by the younger Biden was being mishandled. Now, the whistleblower’s attorneys claim the team’s removal from the investigation…