Defense ministers of the United Kingdom and France have gathered in Kiev to discuss further military aid to Ukraine, which is striving for more weapons to boost its slowed counteroffensive against Russian forces. UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps arrived in Kiev on Wednesday and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, …
Read More »Russia says Ukraine’s Western allies helped Kiev with last week’s Crimea missile attack
Moscow says Ukraine’s Western allies coordinated along with Kiev last week’s attack on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in the Crimean Peninsula. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said at a briefing on Wednesday that the attack was “planned in advance using Western intelligence means, NATO satellite assets, …
Read More »Washington saw 28% rise in homicide this year: Report
A new report says the US capital has seen a 28 percent uptick in homicide this year, as violent crimes continue to rise across the country. The report published on Wednesday noted that victims of crime upsurge in Washington, DC cover a wide range from little schoolgirls to immigrants. It …
Read More »Cuban ambassador condemns ‘terrorist attack’ on embassy
Cuba’s ambassador to the United States has slammed a violent “terrorist attack” on the country’s embassy in Washington, DC, over the weekend. In an interview with US media on Tuesday, Lianys Torres Rivera said that the Sunday night incident was part of a pattern of attacks directed at Cuban overseas …
Read More »North Korea amends constitution to boost nuclear power status, calls US, allies ‘worst threat’
North Korea has amended its constitution in a bid to update its nuclear doctrine and boost its nuclear power status, citing “provocations” from the United States. After two days of meetings ending on Wednesday, North Korea’s parliament, known as the Supreme People’s Assembly, added a law to the constitution, stipulating …
Read More »Nearly half of ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh flee in fear: Armenia
Nearly half of ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh have fled the enclave in fear of reprisal from Azerbaijan, Armenia says, as part of an exodus caused by a military operation that brought the mountainous region back under Azerbaijan’s control. Last week, Azerbaijan launched an operation designed to seize control of Nagorno-Karabakh, …
Read More »Rights group sues US government to block Israel’s entry to visa waiver program
A leading Arab American rights group is suing the US government and calling on a federal court to halt any further actions admitting Israel into the visa waiver program (VWP). The lawsuit, filed by the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), states that based on credible reports and investigations, Israel is …
Read More »55 percent of US citizens oppose Biden’s ‘megadeal’ with Saudi Arabia: Poll
Fifty-five percent of US citizens say they oppose a defense pact with Saudi Arabia that would commit the US to send forces to defend the kingdom in the event of an attack. In a poll conducted between 29-31 August by Harris Poll and the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, 55 …
Read More »US government shutdown more likely as Congressional deadlock continues
Republican US House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, has rejected a stopgap funding bill advancing in the Senate, nudging the US government to the brink of its fourth partial shutdown in a decade. The Senate plan which advanced on a wide bipartisan margin on Tuesday unveiled a stopgap funding measure that would …
Read More »Lebanese army says it exchanged smoke-bomb fire with Israel
Lebanon’s army said on Wednesday it had exchanged smoke bombs with Israeli troops at the border, the second such incident in a week. The Lebanese army, in an online statement, said Israeli troops had fired smoke bombs at a Lebanese patrol that was accompanying workers removing “infringements” that the army …
Read More »France says ambassador to Niger has returned to Paris
France’s ambassador to Niger landed in Paris on Wednesday after leaving Niamey following weeks of tensions between Paris and the post-coup regime in the West African country, the foreign ministry told AFP. The return of the ambassador, Sylvain Itte, comes two months after a coup in Niger ousted its pro-Paris …
Read More »Czech Republic will buy 24 US-made F-35 fighter jets: PM
The Czech Republic will buy 24 US-made F-35 fighter jets, Prime Minister Petr Fiala told reporters on Wednesday. “The first F-35s will be ready in 2029 and our pilots will start training with them in the United States then,” Fiala said. He added that the first supersonic jets would arrive …
Read More »Russia: Armenian PM Pashinyan ‘succumbed to Western influence’
The Russian foreign ministry says Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s latest remarks on distancing his country from its alliance with Moscow are aimed at shifting blame for his failures onto Moscow while submitting to Western pressure was behind the “severe” defeat in Karabakh. In a statement on Monday, the ministry …
Read More »Niger demands ‘negotiated framework’ for France withdrawal
Niger’s military government has demanded a “negotiated framework” for the French troop planned pull-out from the West African country. In a statement released overnight, the government said the timeframe for the pull-out “must be set out in a negotiated framework and by mutual agreement.” The statement came after French President …
Read More »Venezuela: Exxon-Mobil turning Guyana into US military base
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused Guyana on Monday of allowing Exxon Mobile to take over a long-disputed border region rich in oil. During his weekly TV show, Maduro said that Exxon-Mobile, a company bidding for the offshore oil blocks, and the United States Southern Command were transforming Guyana into a US military …
Read More »Russian commander shown at meeting after Ukraine claimed to kill him
Russian Black Sea Fleet commander Viktor Sokolov has appeared at a meeting in footage released by the country’s defense ministry, a day after Ukraine claimed to have killed him in a missile strike. The Russian defense ministry released the video and photos on Tuesday, showing Sokolov — one of Moscow’s most senior …
Read More »The “hacker” who hacked the Kuwaiti Ministry of Finance is offering its data for sale for $400,000
Last week, the “hacker” who targeted the Kuwaiti Ministry of Finance announced that the data he succeeded in obtaining after penetrating one of the ministry’s systems was being offered for sale. The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai reported that the hackers set the required ransom amount at 15 bitcoins (about 400,000 US …
Read More »Colombian club president shot dead after match
Colombian second division club Tigres FC has announced its president, Edgar Paez, was fatally shot after his team’s loss on Saturday night. According to local media reports, the 63-year-old Paez was driving home with his daughter after a home loss to Atletico FC when he was shot by two men …
Read More »Ansarullah: Saudi-led coalition continues to violate Yemen truce
Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement says Saudi Arabia and its allies continue to violate the terms of a UN-brokered truce, stressing that 12 Yemeni soldiers got killed in one month along border areas. Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the spokesman of Ansarullah and head of Yemen’s national negotiating delegation, told Reuters news agency on Tuesday …
Read More »Gazans protest Israeli settler incursions into al-Aqsa Mosque compound
Palestinians have continued to protest near the border fence between the besieged Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied territories for the 10th consecutive day against the Israeli settler incursions into the al-Aqsa Mosque complex. On Monday, protesters waved Palestinian flags and set tires ablaze, amid chants condemning settler raids into the flashpoint …
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