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…
Poland will strive to normalize relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. This is stated in the program of the Polish presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) in 2025. “The Polish Presidency will strive for the normalisation of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the stabilisation of the situation in the South Caucasus…
Moldova has received gas from Bulgaria via the Trans-Balkan corridor in a test mode, Vadim Cheban, acting head of Moldovagaz, said in his Telegram channel. On December 31, 2024, the purchase of natural gas in Bulgaria was successfully carried out on the Balkan Gas Hub platform for Moldovagaz JSC. The amount of gas purchased…
Annalena Baerbock and Jean-Noël Barrot hope to show a “new beginning” is possible between Europe and Syria, Euronews reports. The German and French foreign ministers travelled to Damascus to send what the German minister described as a clear signal that a “new political beginning between Europe and Syria is possible.” It is the…
After a dramatic six-hour long standoff with security, South Korean police have called off an attempt to arrest suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol, BBC reports. The 150 officers involved found themselves helplessly outnumbered — first by the large number of pro-Yoon supporters who had gathered outside his residence before sunrise, and then by a…
A man intentionally drove a pickup truck into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans’ French Quarter early on New Year’s Day, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens of others, officials said. A black ISIS flag was flying from the truck’s rear bumper, and the attack is being investigated as…
At least 10 people were killed and 30 injured when a truck drove into a large crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans’ French Quarter early on Wednesday (January 1), a city government agency said, Reuters reports. It said no further information was immediately available. Earlier CBS News, citing witnesses, reported that a…
Residents from Romania and Bulgaria can now travel freely in the Schengen area, Euronews reports. The combined 25 million residents of Bulgaria and Romania now join nearly 450 million EU citizens who already have the freedom to move around the Schengen zone, after land border checks were officially lifted. It had been a…
Reuters. France carried out missile strikes last weekend in Syria, targeting Islamic State sites in the country, French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Tuesday. “On Sunday, French air forces carried out targeted strikes against Islamic State sites based on Syrian territory,” Lecornu wrote on social media platform X. The French airstrike…
German chancellor Olaf Scholz referred to the plane crash in Kazakhstan’s Aktau, which killed 38 people. Azerbaijani aircraft was heading from Baku to Grozny but was forced to change direction. “Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine is affecting more and more innocent people — even outside Ukraine. This is demonstrated by the plane crash in…
Russian Defense Ministry reported that 68 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed overnight in the territory of the Federation. The ministry said the targeted areas included Bryansk, Smolensk, Tver, Rostov, Kursk, and Kaluga regions, the Krasnodar Territory, as well as Crimea. It is known that a fire broke out at an oil depot in Smolensk….
The Russian Defence Ministry has reported the exchange of prisoners of war with Ukraine according to the 150-by-150 formula. According to the report, the exchange took place on December 30. “Currently, all Russian servicemen are in the territory of the Republic of Belarus, where they are provided with the necessary psychological and medical…
U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Monday that nearly USD 2.5 billion in security assistance will be allocated to Ukraine. That is according to a statement on the White House website, Ukrinform reports. The aid includes an additional $1.25 billion drawdown package for the Ukrainian military, as well as a $1.22 billion Ukraine…
Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili signed 28 bills on his first day as head of state, some of which came into force on December 30. Among the bills are banning the use of firearms, lasers and face-covering clothing, including masks, at rallies, increasing administrative fines for graffiti and damage to the city’s appearance during protests,…
Jimmy Carter, the earnest Georgia peanut farmer who as U.S. president struggled with a bad economy and the Iran hostage crisis but brokered peace between Israel and Egypt and later received the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work, died at his home in Plains, Georgia, on Sunday(December 29) , the Carter Center said. He…
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is threatening retaliatory measures against Ukraine if Kyiv stops Russian gas transit to Slovakia as of Jan. 1, Politico reports. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week said his government “would not prolong the transit of Russian gas” once the current contract expires at the end of this year. Zelenskyy…
Any country with a neutral stance could serve as a platform for negotiations on the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, and Slovakia is not the only option, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday, TASS reports. “No, this option [of Slovakia hosting the talks] is not the only possibility. We are talking about…
Russian airline Azimut canceled flights to Azerbaijan from the airports of Mineralnye Vody and Sochi, the company’s press service reports. “Azimut announces the cancellation of flights from Mineralnye Vody to Baku and Ganja, as well as from Sochi to Baku due to the withdrawal of slots by Baku and Ganja airports following the revocation…
President-elect Donald Trump has urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday (December 27) to pause implementation of a law that would ban popular social media app TikTok or force its sale, arguing he should have time after taking office to pursue a “political resolution” to the issue, Reuters reports. The court is set to…
“The presidential inauguration has no legal force, so I remain the president and will continue my work. This is what everyone needs to know. Details will be revealed on Sunday,” said Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili in an interview with the British podcast Rest Is Politics. When asked what she plans to do on Sunday,…
Two days after the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane, Dmitry Yadrov, head of Rosaviatsia (Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency), spoke about the incident. He recalled a Ukrainian drone attack on Grozny Airport and the activation of the Kovyor (Carpet) plan at that time, Interfax Russia reports. “The situation around Grozny Airport at that time…
The Russian presidential press secretary has refused to comment on the Aktau plane crash until the investigation is complete. Dmitry Peskov noted that the Kremlin has seen statements from Baku that Russia should apologize for shooting down the Azerbaijani plane with air defense. “The incident is under investigation, and until the results of the…
The second black box has been found at the plane crash site near Aktau and handed over to the investigation department, according to a Kazakh official from transport department on Thursday, Reuters reports. The Embraer 190 aircraft operated by Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 from Baku to Grozny crashed near Aktau Airport in Kazakhstan on…
The Georgian Parliament has confirmed that diplomats accredited to Georgia will not be invited to the December 29 inauguration of Mikheil Kavelashvili, the elected president representing the ruling Georgian Dream party, Front News Georgia reports. The press center of the parliament cited a “shortage of seats in the meeting hall” as the reason for…
Reuters. Yemen’s Houthi group said it carried out two drone operations targeting Israeli positions on Wednesday (December 25). In a televised statement, the group’s military spokesman, Yahya Sarea, said the first operation targeted a “sensitive and vital target” in Tel Aviv. The second drone attack targeted a military industrial area of Ashkelon in…
US president-elect Donald Trump said he would cut the taxes for Canadians, if the country joins USA as a state. In his Christmas message on Truth Social Trump first “greeted” saying: Merry Christmas to all, including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal (where we lost 38,000…
