Moldova PM warns of security crisis, denounces Russian gas cut-off

Moldova PM warns of security crisis, denounces Russian gas cut-off

Moldova faces a security crisis after tens of thousands of residents in the breakaway enclave of Transdniestria were cut off from Russian gas supply, Prime Minister Dorin Recean said on Friday. Flows of Russian gas via Ukraine which supplied central and eastern Europe were halted at the end of 2024 as Kyiv rejected doing further…

Europe will not fund creation of new Islamist structures, German minister says in Damascus

Europe will not fund creation of new Islamist structures, German minister says in Damascus

Europe will not fund the creation of new Islamist structures in Syria, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in Damascus on Friday after meeting with the country’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. “Europe will support, but Europe would not be a sponsor of new Islamist structures,” Baerbock said.

US general praises Lebanon’s army after touring border with Israel

US general praises Lebanon’s army after touring border with Israel

The LAF has cleared over 9,800 pieces of explosive ordnance from more than 80 locations The American general tasked with monitoring the Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire deal on Friday praised the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) after touring a region in southern Lebanon. Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers visited LAF soldiers in the South Litani Area, including a stop in Khiam,…

Biden administration to work to ensure Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire upheld: White House

Biden administration to work to ensure Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire upheld: White House

The Biden administration will continue to exert “energy” to ensure the Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire is maintained, the White House says. Ahead of a parliamentary session next week to elect a new Lebanese president, National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby said: “It is important for the Lebanese people to have a voice and a vote in their…

Putin issues orders to draft Basics of State Language Policy by June 1

Putin issues orders to draft Basics of State Language Policy by June 1

Also, the Russian president instructed to develop and submit to the State Duma a federal law “On the languages of the Peoples of the Russian Federation” until May 1 The Council for the Support of the Russian Language and Languages of the Peoples of Russia together with the government should ensure the development of the…

Europe to lose up to 30% of gas import from Russia after Ukrainian transit stops

Europe to lose up to 30% of gas import from Russia after Ukrainian transit stops

Without the Ukrainian route, Russia’s gas traffic to the EU will slump to 39 billion cubic meters per year, Alexey Bobrovsky, the director of the Institute for the Study of World Markets, predicts On the morning of January 1, the transit of Russian gas to Europe through Ukraine was completely stopped due to Kiev’s refusal…

Russian Armed Forces made more than 1,500 strikes by precision weapons in 2024

Russian Armed Forces made more than 1,500 strikes by precision weapons in 2024

At least five mass strikes were also delivered from the beginning of the last year. Russian troops made more than 1,500 group strikes by high-precision weapons and attack drones against military targets in Ukraine in 2024, according to TASS estimates. According to data released in weekly reports of the Russian Defense Ministry, more than 1,500…

Taiwan reports first Chinese ‘combat patrol’ of the New Year

Taiwan reports first Chinese ‘combat patrol’ of the New Year

Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Thursday that Chinese warplanes and warships had carried out the first “combat patrol” around the island of the New Year, after Taiwan President Lai Ching-te again expressed willingness to talk to Beijing. China, which views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, sends its military into the skies and waters near…

South Korea police raid Jeju Air, Muan airport over fatal plane crash

South Korea police raid Jeju Air, Muan airport over fatal plane crash

South Korean police said they raided Muan Airport and the Jeju Air office Thursday morning over the crash involving one of the carrier’s Boeing 737-800s that killed 179 people. Jeju Air Flight 2216 was carrying 181 people from Thailand to South Korea on Sunday when it issued a mayday call and belly-landed before hitting a…

Palestinian Authority suspends broadcast of Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV temporarily

Palestinian Authority suspends broadcast of Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV temporarily

The Palestinian Authority suspended the broadcast of Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV temporarily over “inciting material,” Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported on Wednesday. A ministerial committee that includes the culture, interior and communications ministries decided to suspend the broadcaster’s operations over what they described as broadcasting “inciting material and reports that were deceiving and stirring…

Israel’s former defense chief Gallant quits parliament

Israel’s former defense chief Gallant quits parliament

Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who had often taken an independent line against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right government allies, said on Wednesday he was resigning from parliament. Gallant was fired from the government in November by Netanyahu, after months of disagreements over the conduct of the war against Hamas in Gaza,…

Biden says investigators looking for links between New Orleans attack, Las Vegas incident

Biden says investigators looking for links between New Orleans attack, Las Vegas incident

US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday law enforcement is investigating whether there are any links between a New Orleans truck attack that killed 15 people and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump Hotel Las Vegas. “We’re tracking the explosion of a Cybertruck outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas,” Biden said. “Law enforcement and the…

US Treasury’s sanctions office hacked by Chinese government, Washington Post reports

US Treasury’s sanctions office hacked by Chinese government, Washington Post reports

The US Treasury Department’s sanctions office was hacked by the Chinese government, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed officials. The department earlier this week disclosed in a letter to lawmakers that Chinese state-sponsored hackers stole documents in what Treasury called a “major incident.”

Fiji police investigating alleged rape, theft of Virgin Australia crew members

Fiji police investigating alleged rape, theft of Virgin Australia crew members

Fiji police said on Thursday they were investigating an incident involving two crew members of Australian airline Virgin Australia who were allegedly victims of rape and theft in Nadi in the early hours of New Year’s Day. The crew members were in the popular tourist destination on a layover before they were supposed to fly…

South Korea’s Yoon, facing unprecedented arrest over martial law, vows to ‘fight til end’

South Korea’s Yoon, facing unprecedented arrest over martial law, vows to ‘fight til end’

South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol has sent a letter rallying his supporters saying he would “fight til the end” as he faces an attempt by authorities to arrest him over his short-lived Dec. 3 martial law, a lawyer said on Thursday. “I am watching on YouTube live all the hard work you are doing,” Yoon…