Tag: z.globalsecurity

Russia has intercepted two US Air Force strategic bombers flying over the Baltic Sea. The Russian defense ministry said on Tuesday Russia had scrambled a Su-27 fighter jet to “prevent violations of the state border” by the American bombers, AFP reported. “After removing the foreign military aircraft from the Russian state border, the Russian fighter went back to its air base,” the ministry added. The statement said that “the flight of the Russian fighter was carried out in strict accordance with international…

BUDAPEST (Sputnik) – Hungary has signed an agreement with Qatar on the purchase of natural gas, the countries plan to develop economic cooperation, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said after talks with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. “Over the past year, we have learned that Qatar is a country of key importance for Europe. The European economy has made up for a significant part of the missing Russian gas with LNG coming from here… We agreed…

Following widespread diversion of lifesaving food aid in Ethiopia last month, the World Food Programme (WFP) has strengthened safeguards and controls in a bid to prevent further misuse, the UN agency said on Tuesday. WFP had paused distributions in the restive Tigray region in the north after finding evidence of significant supplies on sale in local markets, and immediately launched an investigation. Over 20 million people are in dire need of food assistance in Ethiopia, where communities continue to be…

By Harun Maruf  The United States military has confirmed conducting a new airstrike against al-Shabab militants in the Middle Juba region of southern Somalia. The airstrike took place in Jilib town on Saturday in collaboration with the Somali federal government, according to a press statement released Monday by the U.S. Africa Command known as AFRICOM. “The command’s initial assessment is that no civilians were injured or killed,” the statement said. The AFRICOM statement did not say whether any of the…

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu has accused Sweden of meddling in his country’s elections as the vote for a new president heads into a runoff next Sunday. Soylu, a member of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP party, accused election monitors from Sweden’s Oy ve Otesi (Vote and Beyond) of putting pressure on voters at polling places. “The Swedish state is funding this Oy ve Otesi association. Sending it money, but why? To interfere in the election in Turkiye. It is so obvious and clear,” the minister told a campaign rally in Istanbul, as quoted by the Aydinlik newspaper. Soylu is known for his harsh criticism of the West. He accused the United States on Wednesday of trying to influence the election, which will see Erdogan and his opposition challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, face off in the second round on May 28. END OF CONTENT

Source: Saudi Press Agency Jeddah, May 21, 2023, SPA — The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States of America announce that on May 20, 2023, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, representatives of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces signed an Agreement on a Short-Term Ceasefire and Humanitarian Arrangements. The short-term ceasefire, which enters into force 48 hours after the signing of the Agreement, shall remain in effect for seven days and may be extended with the…

Although it has claimed to be fighting Daesh* and other terrorist groups in Syria since 2014, the US military has never received permission from the Syrian government to operate there. In addition, US forces continue to help occupy the eastern third of the country under the guise of supporting allied Kurdish forces. Having previously claimed that a May 3 airstrike in northwestern Syria killed a top Al-Qaeda** leader, the Pentagon is now expressing doubts. “We are no longer confident we…

Media Note Office of the Spokesperson May 18, 2023 On May 18 in Chisinau, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard R. Verma and Moldova Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Lilia Dabija, with Prime Minister Dorin Recean, signed an Open Skies Air Transport Agreement (“Agreement”) between the Government of the United States and the Government of the Republic of Moldova — the first bilateral air transport agreement negotiated by the two countries. The Agreement establishes a…

A cold shoulder for a Bulgarian member of the European Parliament (MEP) traveling to North Macedonia is just the tip of the iceberg. On May 6, which is St. George’s Day and Armed Forces Day in Bulgaria, North Macedonia’s border guards turned back five Bulgarians, including a conservative MEP who has repeatedly waded into the nationalist debate between the two countries. MEP Andrey Kovachev called the snub “quite sad,” and it elicited condemnations from Sofia and from the EU’s commissioner for neighborhood and enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi.

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…

President Joe Biden canceled his trips to Papua New Guinea and Australia next week to continue debt ceiling talks with congressional leaders that he held Tuesday at the White House. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that the president would to return to Washington on Sunday, following the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, “in order to be back for meetings with congressional leaders to ensure that Congress takes action by the deadline to avert…

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,”…

Human rights defenders have sharply criticized Pakistan for announcing plans to use military laws to prosecute those responsible for arson during recent protests sparked by the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. In a statement on Tuesday, Amnesty International described the controversial move as alarming and contrary to international law, and demanded it be struck down immediately. “This is purely an intimidation tactic designed to crack down on dissent by exercising fear of an institution that has never been…

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…

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The German government has made a decision to provide Ukraine with additional weapons worth 2.7 billion euros (almost $3 billion), which will become Berlin’s largest military assistance package to Kiev, media reported on Saturday, citing sources. The German Chancellor’s office and other ministries have agreed during secret negotiations to send to Ukraine “additional weapons worth about 2.7 billion euros” in the coming weeks and months, according to the report. Berlin plans to transfer Ukraine 20 Marder infantry…