France’s Le Monde reported this week that, during a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron on September 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested opposition leader Alexei Navalny might have poisoned himself.
Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani presented his country to the 2020 United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday as a nation that has borne more than its share of turmoil and suffering, in everything from economic disruptions and climate change to the coronavirus pandemic and terrorism.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun used his address to the 2020 U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday to thank the international community for assisting Lebanon after an explosion rocked Beirut, but also insisted on his country’s sovereignty.
Iraqi President Barham Salih told the 2020 U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday that his country is struggling to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, which struck Iraq after years of difficult and expensive struggles with extremism, terrorism, and corruption, at a moment when falling oil prices were cutting into the nation’s income.
Chinese state media gave unsurprisingly poor marks to President Donald Trump’s address to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin took the opportunity of addressing the 2020 United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday to urge the world to embrace a Chinese coronavirus vaccine candidate he approved, despite it not yet passing scientific testing.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani delivered a bizarre address to the 2020 U.N. General Assembly in which he claimed Iran single-handedly defeated the Islamic State, portrayed his brutal regime as a paragon of tolerance and human rights, and compared the Iranian people suffering under U.S. sanctions to George Floyd suffering beneath the knee of a policeman.
Chinese state media scrambled on Tuesday to conduct geopolitical damage control over a belligerent People’s Liberation Army (PLA) propaganda video that showed Chinese warplanes destroying the U.S. airbase on Guam.
Chinese state media trumpeted this weekend’s tentative deal between China’s ByteDance and U.S. companies Oracle and Walmart for control over the social media platform TikTok as a major victory for the Chinese firm against “U.S. hegemonic suppression.”
Saudi state media reported on Sunday that Bahrain foiled a terrorist attack this year allegedly plotted by a group calling itself the “Qasem Soleimani Brigade,” acting with the support of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), itself a designated terrorist organization.
Villagers in the Himalayas are working hard to support Indian troops against a potential Chinese invasion, carrying supplies to the soldiers and sharing a lifetime of experience with the incredibly harsh high-altitude environment.
The Taiwanese Defense Ministry on Monday complained about a “high frequency of harassment and threats” from the Chinese military throughout 2020 and asserted its right to “self-defense and to counter attack,” although it pledged to avoid escalation.
China’s state-run Global Times on Thursday praised “defiant” ByteDance, parent company of the video microblogging platform TikTok, for refusing to sell full control of the platform to an American company to avoid getting banned by the Trump administration.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the designated terrorist force controlled by the theocratic side of the Iranian regime, reportedly announced this week that it has formed paramilitary “strike teams” to suppress protests in the national capital of Tehran and the oil-rich province of Khuzestan.
The Taiwanese air force scrambled fighters on Friday as 18 Chinese warplanes swarmed across the midpoint of the Taiwan Strait, part of an aggressive Chinese military exercise meant to intimidate visiting U.S. Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Keith Krach.
Streaming giant Netflix announced on Wednesday that it has signed a five-year partnership deal with Saudi Arabian animation studio Myrkott, which produces a cartoon series called Masameer that is popular with Middle Eastern audiences.
A report on New Zealand’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) revealed on Thursday that the nation has slipped into its first recession in ten years, thanks to economic damage from the Wuhan coronavirus.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Wednesday that charges have been filed against Hooman Heidarian and Mehdi Farhadi, two Iranian nationals in their 30s who allegedly carried out cyberattacks against private and public systems in the U.S., Europe, and Middle East — “sometimes at the behest of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach announced on Tuesday that he will visit Taiwan to attend a September 19 memorial service for former President Lee Teng-hui.
Murderous Islamist extremists were not enthusiastic about the Abraham Accords peace deal between Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain. The world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, issued an implicitly violent rejection of the accord, while Iran-backed terrorist organizations were even less subtle.
Chinese state media praised the proposed deal between TikTok creators ByteDance and Oracle Corporation on Tuesday, with the Communist Party’s Global Times saluting it as recognition for “the hard-won efforts of the Chinese company amid a lack of trust between the world’s two largest economies.”
Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency, claimed on Tuesday that Venus is a “Russian planet” because “our country was the first and only one to successfully land” there. Venus suddenly became a more desirable tourist destination this week with the announcement that possible signs of microbial life have been detected in the atmosphere.
Sources “familiar with the discussions” told Reuters on Wednesday that Taiwan will purchase up to seven major weapon systems from the United States, a “Fortress Taiwan” strategy (as the Pentagon calls it) guaranteed to enrage Communist China.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said during a government video conference on Monday that oil revenues have declined from $120 billion in 2011 to “just over $20 billion” last year, in large part due to pressure from renewed U.S. sanctions.
China’s state-run Global Times editorialized on Tuesday that a “major cyber governance revolution” is needed to counter evolving online threats.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Tuesday posted a photo of himself from his hospital room in Germany and said he was able to breathe for an entire day without the aid of a ventilator. Navalny reportedly told German officials he plans to return to Russia as soon as he has recovered from what several international diagnostic teams have now confirmed as Novichok poisoning.
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday that the budget for building roads and bridges along the Chinese border will be doubled in response to China’s rapid infrastructure improvements on the other side.
U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad will step down from his position after three years — The embassy said Branstad will “retire from his position as U.S. envoy and depart Beijing in early October.”
Chinese state media is working hard to convince global customers that factories in Wuhan and its surrounding Hubei province are completely safe and returning to normal production levels.
Chinese property tycoon Ren Zhiqiang reportedly pleaded not guilty at his trial for bribery and abuse of power on Friday — If convicted on all charges, he would most likely face 5-10 years in prison, although he could receive a death sentence.
The majority Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan elected departing Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s chief cabinet secretary, Suga Yoshihide, its president on Monday.
Russian police announced on Friday they have been investigating opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s poising, officials established a detailed “timeline of events” up to his collapse, and Moscow wants to send investigators to Berlin to work on the case.
Author Bob Woodward’s new book Rage, an examination of President Donald Trump’s first term due to be released on September 15, reportedly includes excerpts from the letters Trump exchanged with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. One of the letters from Kim is said to include an explicit account of the execution of his uncle Jang Song-thaek in 2013.
Residents of Beirut, Lebanon, were dismayed on Thursday to see a plume of smoke rising from their seaport only a month after a titanic explosion killed over 200 people and damaged much of the city.
Israeli media reported on Friday that the Kingdom of Bahrain will normalize relations with Israel, following the same path as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which announced a peace deal with Israel on August 13.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s condition has improved and he is now able to discuss the poisoning attack that nearly killed him with doctors and investigators German media reported on Thursday.
Chinese dictator Xi Jinping staged a splashy awards ceremony in Beijing on Wednesday, attended by hundreds of high Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials, in which he bestowed medals upon citizens who helped face the “extraordinary and historic test” of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Wednesday for refusing to publish an op-ed written by U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad, blasting the CCP’s “fear of free speech and serious intellectual debate.”
The U.S. State Department announced on Wednesday it has revoked over 1,000 visas for Chinese nationals due to national security concerns.
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Wednesday that accused the German government of “stonewalling” on the health of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader poisoned with Novichok nerve agent according to German doctors – a chemical weapon Russia has employed in previous assassination attempts.