Russia has deployed military helicopters to patrol an area near Syria’s border with Turkey in order to help protect Russia military police working on the ground, the Interfax news agency said on Friday. Turkish and Russian forces are holding joint patrols in northeastern Syria to monitor an agreement struck by ... Read More »
Taiwan warns of possible attack if China’s slowdown ‘becomes serious’
Beijing could resort to military conflict with self-ruled Taiwan to divert domestic pressure if a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy amid trade war threatens the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party, the island’s foreign minister has said. As Taiwan’s presidential elections approach in January, China has stepped up ... Read More »
Ukraine crisis put on ice by Trump staff busy working out how to buy Greenland
State and defence departments wanted military aid restored, but the Greenland issue ‘took up a lot of energy’, new testimony reveals After the White House cut off military aid to Ukraine, Donald Trump’s top officials scrambled to get it restored but were unable to organise a meeting with the ... Read More »
Iran’s production of enriched uranium rises tenfold in two months
Experts warn of dangerous consequences as nuclear deal continues to unravel Iran has announced a tenfold increase in enriched uranium production as Tehran backs away from its nuclear deal with the west. Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s atomic energy organisation, said enriched uranium production was now at ... Read More »
Aoun: Next govt’s 1st task to fight corruption
President Michel Aoun said any new government’s first task will be to follow up on combating corruption, during a meeting Monday with United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis. “The investigation will include all officials in all levels of public administrations,” Aoun said, according to a statement from the ... Read More »
Lines but no panic as Lebanese banks re-open after two-week hiatus
Lebanese banks opened on Friday for the first time in two weeks following a wave of protests that prompted the prime minister’s resignation, with lines building at some branches where customers encountered new curbs on transfers abroad. An hour after doors opened, lines of several dozen people had formed ... Read More »
Fears of street violence dim Barcelona’s beautiful sight to behold
Hard confrontations between protesters and the police have returned to central Barcelona over the weekend. At least three were detained and 44 injured during the pro-independence protests in the city in the Catalonia region of northeast Spain, according to local securities. Although the situation was calmer than last weekend’s riots, ... Read More »
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri Resigns
Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced on Tuesday that he would submit his resignation to President Michel Aoun at Baabda Palace. “I am going to Baabda Palace to submit the resignation of this government, in response to the Lebanese who took to the streets,” Hariri said, addressing the Lebanese. “To all ... Read More »
Army Command: Roads must open in accordance with law, amid right of peaceful demonstration only in squares
The Army Command – Orientation Directorate – issued the following statement: “Further to the previous statements issued by the Army Command, and thirteen days after the start of the protests and popular demonstrations and expression of demands, and the worsening clashes between citizens as a result of cutting vital roads ... Read More »
Chinese ship heads away from Vietnam after disputed surveys in South China Sea
A Chinese oil survey vessel that has been embroiled in a tense standoff with Vietnamese vessels in the South China Sea left Vietnamese-controlled waters on Thursday after more than three months, marine data showed. The Chinese vessel, the Haiyang Dizhi 8, was speeding away from Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone towards ... Read More »