Nicolas Maduro criticizes White House chief diplomat Antony Blinken for backing opposition allegations of fraud, after the U.S. official said in a statement that there was “overwhelming evidence” of a victory by opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia in the presidential elections, AFP reports. Venezuelan authorities on Friday ratified Nicolas Maduro’s election victory as a…
Vice President Kamala Harris has won enough votes from Democratic delegates to win the party’s nomination for president, Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison announced Friday, CNN reports. Harris will become the first Black woman and first Asian American to lead a major-party ticket. The announcement came during a virtual event with supporters…
Baku expects an apology from Paris for the “unacceptable expressions” made on the France-2 TV channel, said Aykhan Hajizada press secretary of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry. He said that the International Olympic Committee has already responded to Azerbaijan’s official letter of protest and apologized. Hajizada noted that a campaign of slander is being…
The European Union (EU) is considering the possibility of suspending its assistance to Georgia amid the entry of the law “on transparency of foreign influence” into force in the country. This was stated by Peter Stano, Lead Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Commission of the EU, in an interview with…
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday appointed former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as vice president for strategic affairs and head of the Center for Strategic Studies, the official news agency IRNA reported. Pezeshkian made the appointment in a decree after taking oath of office before the Iranian parliament on Tuesday, the report said….
Turkey on Friday blocked access to the Instagram social media network, the national communications authority said without explanation, following censorship accusations against the US company by a high-ranking Turkish official, AFP reports. The BTK communications authority said in a post on its website that “instagram.com has been blocked by a decision on the date…
The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today opened an election observation mission for the 1 September early parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, following an official invitation from the national authorities, OSCE reports. The mission is headed by Ditmir Bushati and consists of a core team of 11 international experts based in…
The Israeli military said Thursday that it has confirmed that the head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, was killed in an airstrike in Gaza in July. The announcement comes a day after an apparent Israeli strike in the Iranian capital killed Hamas’ top political leader, AP reports. The rapid events this week have…
The White House said on Wednesday (July 31) it does not see an escalation of conflict as inevitable following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, and the U.S. is still working to reach a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Speaking at a daily briefing, White House national security spokesperson John…
Reuters. Aerial video footage on Tuesday (July 30) showed the scene of a knife attack in north west England that left two children dead, and six others critically injured. A 17-year-old male is in police custody on suspicion of murder and attempted murder after the incident at the “Taylor Swift yoga and dance workshop”…
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has voiced Tehran’s readiness to promote relations with France based on honesty and trust, IRNA reports. Pezeshkian who was answering a phone call from his French counterpart Emanuel Macron on Monday, expressed serious concern over tightened tensions in southern Lebanese borders with the Zionist regime, warning about the repercussions of…
A fire that broke out at German chemicals giant BASF’s (BASFn.DE), opens new tab plant in Ludwigshafen has been extinguished, a company spokesperson and police said on Monday, Reuters reports. Fourteen workers sustained minor injuries in the incident, which occurred when an explosion set off a blaze in a southern section of the company’s…
There are no grounds for a deterioration of relations between the West and Georgia. Such a statement made the Mayor of Tbilisi. He commented on the scheduled hearing at the US on relations with Georgia following the adoption of the Law on Transparency, Rustavi 2 reports. “I would like to emphasise once again that…
Israeli drone attacks have reportedly killed two people in southern Lebanon as conflict spirals between the bordering states, Al Jazeera reports. The Israeli attack was the first lethal action following a rocket attack on Saturday that Israel says killed 12 children and youths in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The strike has increased concern that…
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Teofil Bartoszewski expressed doubt about Hungary’s membership in the EU and NATO after controversial remarks by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s about Poland, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported on July 28. Giving a speech at the Tuscanos Summer University on July 27, Orban had criticized Poland’s “hypocrisy,” as…
Ukrainian diplomats in the United States are working to increase the extent of F-16 fighter pilot training and training of aircraft maintenance personnel, Ukrinform reports. Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, announced this on Ukrainian television, commenting on what might be transferred to Ukraine shortly from the military aid package announced by…
Hungary borrowed €1 billion — the largest loan ever taken out by Budapest — from three Chinese banks this spring, data from the government’s debt agency website revealed, Politico reports. The loan, provided by the China Development Bank, the Export-Import Bank of China and the Hungarian branch of the Bank of China, was fully…
California’s largest active fire exploded in size on Friday evening, growing rapidly amid bone-dry fuel and threatening thousands of homes as firefighters scrambled to meet the danger, AP reports. The Park Fire’s intensity and dramatic spread led fire officials to make unwelcome comparisons to the monstrous Camp Fire, which burned out of control in…
“Belgium welcomes the Council’s decision to support Armenia through the European Peace Facility.” It was mentioned in the X microblog of the Belgian MFA.
The Council appointed Magdalena Grono as EUSR for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia. Ms Grono succeeds Toivo Klaar whose tenure of over 6 years comes to an end on 31 August. She will take up her duties on 1 September 2024 for an initial period of 12 months. As new EUSR,…
Former Russian Deputy Defense Minister Army General Dmitry Bulgakov who was in charge of troop logistics support has been apprehended on corruption charges and taken into Moscow’s Lefortovo pretrial detention facility, the press office of the Federal Security Service (FSB) told TASS on Friday. “The Federal Security Service jointly with the Interior Ministry and…
Vice President Kamala Harris met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday (July 25) in her ceremonial office at the White House, Reuters reports. The meeting will be closely watched for signs of how Harris, who was the first top U.S. official to call for a ceasefire, could shift American policy toward Israel if…
The question of who will govern Gaza has plagued efforts to end Israel’s nine-month war to destroy Hamas. Some U.S., Israeli and Arab officials are pushing to empower a former Palestinian security chief who himself once tried to crush the militant group, was later exiled from the West Bank and now lives in Abu Dhabi. …
Reuters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sketched a vague outline of a plan for a “deradicalized” post-war Gaza in a speech to Congress on Wednesday (July 24) and touted a potential future alliance between Israel and America’s Arab allies. While dozens of Democrats boycotted his remarks and thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated nearby, Netanyahu…
President Joe Biden framed the decision to end his re-election campaign as a “defense of democracy” in an Oval Office address Wednesday night, NBC News reports. “I revere this office, but I love my country more. The defense of democracy is more important than any title,” Biden said. “I draw strength and find joy…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has met with his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad in the Kremlin. “Dear mister president, I am very happy to see you,” Putin said. “We have the opportunity to talk about the entire set of our relations. We have not seen each other for a while,” the Russian leader added….
Ukraine will do everything possible to achieve the internationally recognised borders of 1991, there is a plan for the de-occupation of Crimea, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky said, Interfax-Ukraine reports. In an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian, the colonel general said that Kyiv has a plan to return…
The European Commission has warned Slovakia that it will launch immediate legal action if the government pushes ahead with a proposed law requiring NGOs that receive funding from abroad to label themselves “organisations with foreign support”, Reuters reports. “I was in Bratislava and I was very clear,” European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova said ahead…
The United States and Iraq are on the verge of reaching a landmark agreement that would see the gradual withdrawal of American-led coalition forces from the Middle Eastern nation, The National reports. According to Jawad al-Bulani, a member of the Iraqi delegation in Washington, both sides are at the “final stage” of concluding the…
The information of the State Security Service is disturbing, concerning a terrorist act. Some individuals dislike the standpoint of the Georgian government about the war. In these conditions, there are threats, said Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze at the briefing echoing the statement of the State Security Service of Georgia (SSG), Georgian Public Broadcaster reports….
