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…
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…
