The Committee of Permanent Representatives of EU countries has scheduled for January 24 the coordination for the EU Council’s approval of a regulation to suspend the visa-free regime for diplomats and officials from Georgia. If the permanent representatives approve this initiative, Georgian diplomats, officials, and their families holding diplomatic and service passports will need…
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed the ceasefire and hostage release in the Gaza Strip and reiterated the organization’s commitment to providing support and assistance to the affected parties, Reuters reports. “We stand ready to support this implementation and scale up the delivery of sustained humanitarian relief to the countless Palestinians who continue…
The diplomatic mission of US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mark Libby ended. Libby had previously announced that he was stepping down due to health issues and was returning to the US to fully focus on his health.
The comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement signed between Iran and Russia provides for the strengthening of cooperation in the field of security and defense. The third article of the document states that if one side is subjected to aggression, the other side should not provide any assistance to the aggressor. Russia and Iran also…
Donald Trump said he held a “very good” phone call with China’s President Xi Jinping, just days before the US president-elect’s inauguration, CNN reports. “I just spoke to Chairman Xi Jinping of China,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. “It is my expectation that we will solve many problems together, and…
US House of Representatives Republican Joe Wilson welcomed the strategic partnership document signed between Armenia and the United States. “We have an opportunity to Make Caucasus Great Again, a Caucasus built on shared Peace and Prosperity. For that, we need a peace deal between the Great Nations of Azerbaijan and Armenia. As Donald Trump…
Reuters. Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio promised a robust foreign policy focused on American interests at his nomination hearing on Wednesday (January 15) for secretary of state under President-elect Donald Trump who takes office on January 20. A China hawk and staunch backer of Israel, the 53-year-old Rubio is expected to comfortably win confirmation…
Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested and questioned for hours by investigators on Wednesday in relation to a criminal insurrection probe, ending a weeks-long standoff with authorities, Reuters reports. His arrest, the first ever for a sitting president in South Korea, is the latest head-spinning development in one of Asia’s most…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office denied on Wednesday that Hamas had agreed to the Gaza ceasefire proposal from Qatari mediators, after an Israeli official said the Palestinian militant group had given its approval, Reuters reports. Israeli media channels had reported that, following the green light from Hamas, the deal would be formally announced…
Washington is cooperating with Yerevan in the fields of defense and security, stated U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the signing of the Armenia-U.S. Strategic Partnership document. “In particular, we are committed to strengthening the defense of the sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia within its internationally recognized borders,” Blinken announced. He…
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he hopes his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan will soon pay a visit to Russia. “Our dialogue continues. Ararat Mirzoyan has been invited to Russia. He has accepted the invitation. We are expecting him, I hope the visit takes place soon”, Lavrov said at a press conference.
António Costa, President of the European Council, referred to his latest conversation with Armenia’s Nikol Pashinyan. “In my phone call with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan we discussed the positive momentum in EU-Armenia relations. I expressed the EU’s commitment to further strengthen our partnership based on common values and deepen our cooperation across all…
The European Union announced on Monday a new humanitarian aid package of 140 million euros ($142.8 million) for Ukraine and a further 8 million euros worth of aid for Moldova, Reuters reports. The aid package was announced as European Commissioner Hadja Lahbib, responsible for crisis management, visited Ukraine to discuss humanitarian challenges as the…
Gas flows from Azerbaijan to Serbia have been halted and it is unclear when they will resume, news agency Tanjug quoted Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic as saying, Reuters reports. “I got information from our Azerbaijan brothers and friends that because of force majeure, and problems they have, we as of today cannot count on…
The death toll from the fires raging in Los Angeles since January 7 has reached 11. However, according to local authorities, it will be difficult to say the exact number of victims until they can examine all the areas affected by the fire. According to American media, the fire has not yet been…
Ukraine received its first 3 billion euro ($3.09 billion) tranche of the European Union’s portion of a loan agreed by the Group of Seven members and backed by the earnings from frozen Russian sovereign assets, Kyiv and Brussels said on Friday, Reuters reports. G7 leaders in October agreed to provide some $50 billion in…
China congratulates Joseph Aoun on his election as Lebanon’s president, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun at a press briefing in Beijing on Friday, Reuters reports. Lebanon’s army chief Joseph Aoun was elected president in the second round of the presidential vote held on Thursday. “China welcomes the election of a new president…
Wildfires continue to wreak havoc in the US state of California. According to CNN, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office reported that it had received a report of 10 deaths from the fires on Thursday evening. Tens of thousands of Los Angeles residents have been ordered to evacuate. The situation is being exacerbated…
Reuters. Freed Italian journalist Cecilia Sala thanked the government as she arrived home on Wednesday (January 8) from Ciampino airport. Sala was freed by Iran earlier on Wednesday and returned home, three weeks after she was detained in Tehran during a reporting trip. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani…
Serbia has terminated a number of arms supply agreements with Russia, said the chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, Milan Mojsilovic, in an interview with the Serbia’s Novosti newspaper. This is how Mojsilovic answered the question whether the sanctions on Russia made it difficult for the Serbian army to use…
Germany is at the helm of efforts within the European Union (EU) to ease sanctions on Syria following President Bashar Assad’s ouster, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Berlin is pushing for the move within the bloc, provided it is met with progress on social issues, the FT said. The French AFP news…
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has stated that “Armenia’s armament is a threat to the entire region and could lead to new tensions.” Aliyev made such a statement in an interview with local media. “Arming Armenia will simply lead to new tensions. We do not want this, we want peace. We want the war…
Reuters/CCTV. The World Food Program (WFP) on Monday condemned Israeli shooting at its aid convoy in the Gaza Strip, urging parties to allow safe passage of humanitarian aid throughout the region. In a statement, the WFP strongly condemned “the horrifying incident” on Sunday, when a clearly marked WFP convoy was shot at by Israeli…
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry responded to the statements made by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, who claimed that Russia supported Azerbaijan’s actions in Nagorno-Karabakh because, for the first time, Armenia has a decisive prime minister who does not submit to Moscow. Macron also added that Paris has faced unacceptable interference from Azerbaijan in…
Two large defence deals in the pipeline between India and France are being finalised, amid expectations that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Paris in February for the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit to be hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, The Hindu reports. The deals, together worth over $10 billion, will include the purchase…
Germany will provide financial aid to Syria only if the country’s new authorities respect the rights of women and minorities. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced this on Tagesthemen. She noted that Berlin is not going to support “Islamist structures” and millions of educated citizens who left Syria will never return to their homeland if…
Syria’s Damascus airport will start operating international flights from Jan. 7, Syrian Civil Aviation Authority chief Ashad Al Saliby told Syrian state news agency Sana on Saturday (January 4), Reuters reports. Employees were seen by Reuters preparing Damascus International Airport on December 14 to resume operations after the airport had been closed on December…
Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman who was the world’s oldest person according to Guinness World Records, has died, an Ashiya city official said Saturday. She was 116, AP reports. Yoshitsugu Nagata, an official in charge of elderly policies, said Itooka died on Dec. 29 at a care home in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, central Japan….
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said the Islamic Republic is ready to resume constructive and immediate talks on its nuclear program with the Western sides, Tehran Times reports. “We are still ready to enter constructive dialogue without any delay about our nuclear program, a dialogue with the aim of reaching an agreement,” Araghchi…
The French and German foreign ministers called for a peaceful, inclusive transition in Syria as they visited Damascus Friday for talks with new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, France 24 reports. France’s Jean-Noel Barrot and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock are the most senior Western diplomats to visit the Syrian capital since Islamist-led forces toppled longtime ruler…
