Ukraine-related Western sanctions are pushing BRICS countries into closer economic cooperation at an accelerated pace, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Saturday during the first meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of the BRICS countries, chaired by China. According to the finance minister, the “current crisis is …
Read More »Pakistan Army chief seeks closer ties with US
The influential chief of the Pakistani Army, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, has said his country has an “excellent” relationship with the United States, and wants to expand it without damaging similarly important strategic ties with China. “We have a history of long and excellent strategic relationship with the US, which …
Read More »Moscow, Kiev get closer on Ukraine’s neutral status – top Russian negotiator
Moscow and Kiev have achieved certain progress in the ongoing talks, getting their positions on Ukraine’s potential status “as close as possible,” the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said Friday. “The topic of neutral status and non-accession of Ukraine to NATO is one of the key issues of …
Read More »Lukaku saga moves footballers closer to becoming PR puppets
Romelu Lukaku may be wishing he had kept his thoughts to himself after the reaction to his remarks from his own manager and Chelsea fans. The lasting repercussions may prove broader and less immediately obvious. Discontent felt as if it might turn into mutiny in the first half when Chelsea …
Read More »Russia one step closer to reaching pre-pandemic oil output
Russia increased its annual oil output by more than 2% in 2021 amid a gradual easing of production cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies group (OPEC+), official data shows. According to Interfax news agency, citing data from the country’s energy ministry, Russian oil and gas …
Read More »US deploys F-15 fighters closer to Russian borders
F-15E Strike Eagles from the 336th Fighter Squadron landed at the Campia Turzii airfield in central Romania on Wednesday. They will patrol the skies, taking off from an air base near the country’s Black Sea coast along with Romanian warplanes and Italian Eurofighter Typhoons, NATO said. The arrival of American …
Read More »Chess champ Carlsen inches closer to retaining title after Russian rival’s ‘blunder’
A middlegame mistake from Nepomniachtchi saw him lose a pawn to the Norwegian Grandmaster on Sunday, allowing the 31-year-old reigning champion an advantage which he made the most of in the game which extended past four hours and which only ended with the Russian’s resignation. The error affords Carlsen a telling 5-3 …
Read More »US and Iran are getting ever closer to war. Washington has only itself to blame
Amid growing tensions in the region, the United States and Iran carried out tit-for-tat naval exercises in the Persian Gulf designed to send a signal to the other – mess around at your own risk. The US exercises comprising six coastal patrol boats, supported by an expeditionary mobile base platform ship …
Read More »‘No closer ally,’ Biden says of far-off Australia amid row with oldest ally France over anti-China AUKUS pact
The “United States has no closer, more reliable ally than Australia,” Biden told Morrison on Tuesday in a brief photo-op for the media before they went into a bilateral meeting. Just last week, announcing the AUKUS alliance between Washington, London and Canberra, Biden appeared to forget Morrison’s name and called …
Read More »Biden’s submarine deal will force China and North Korea closer together & legitimise Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions
The intense controversy that has surrounded America’s new submarine deal with Australia and the United Kingdom, which is seemingly designed to target China, has overshadowed the fact that it also has implications elsewhere in East Asia. Over the weekend, North Korea’s foreign ministry condemned the AUKUS agreement, stating that, “These …
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