Europe
Romania
(Friday), 22 November 2024 Romania heads into two weeks of elections. The first round of the presidential election will take place on Sunday. Romania's populists and nationalists look set to get a record result. (Source: DW - Germany)
by Verseck
Russia
15:29 ET, Nov 22 2024 Putin has called a secret meeting for tonight after threatening with his new deadly missile. In his televised speech, Putin said Russia had launched a new kind of hypersonic ballistic missile dubbed "Oreshnik" in response to Ukraine's strikes in Russia's Kursk region. According to him, his new deadly weapon travelled at 10 times the speed of sound and therefore couldn't be intercepted. The intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) hit a defence enterprise in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro yesterday morning. Russian sources claim its 5,000km range would allow Russia to devastatingly strike most of Europe and the west coast of the US. Speaking last night, Putin said: "Russia considers itself entitled to use weapons against military facilities of countries that permit the use of their weapons against Russia. "Since this moment, as we have underscored repeatedly, the conflict in Ukraine, provoked by the West, has acquired elements of global nature. "One of the newest Russian medium-range missile systems was tested, among other things. "In this case, with a ballistic missile in a nuclear-free hypersonic equipment. Our engineers named it Oreshnik. "In response to the use of American and British long-range weapons, on November 21 of this year, the Russian armed forces launched a combined strike on one of the facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine." he added: "If necessary, we will choose targets for destruction. "There are currently no means to counter such weapons. It is impossible. "I recommend that the ruling elites of those countries which are considering allegiance against Russia seriously consider this." There are fears Russia has up to 10 of these new terrifying ballistic missiles in its arsenal. One of Ukraine's ex-top generals eerily claimed his country prepares for a Russian revenge strike on its Parliament building. The 'Kremlin has said that a strike on Ukraine using the newly developed missile was a message to the West that Moscow will respond harshly to any 'reckless' Western actions. Kremlin spokesman Peskov warned that the West 'cannot remain without a reaction from the Russian side' when producing and supplying missiles for Ukraine. Peskov said: "The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns are not taken into account have been quite clearly outlined.' He added that Putin remained open to dialogue, but that the outgoing administration of President Biden 'prefers to continue down the path of escalation'. (Source: The U.S. Sun - United Kingdom)
by Bate, foreign news reporter
7:27 am, November 22, 2024 A high-ranking North Korean general 'was injured in a Ukrainian strike on Russia’s Kursk region', The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, citing unnamed Western officials. The sources did not disclose the circumstances of the injury or the identity of the general. (Source: Meduza - Headquarters Riga, Latvia)
Asia
China
2024-11-22 14:27:00 The country has achieved full visa exemption with 25 countries. In November 2023, the ministry announced a unilateral visa-free entry trial for ordinary passport holders from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia starting Dec. 1, 2023. In the third quarter of 2024, China recorded 8.19 million inbound trips by foreigners, an increase of 48.8 percent compared to the same period last year. Among them, 4.89 million were made through visa-free arrangements. (Source: Xinhua - China)
Iran
22/11/2024 - 08:05 One day after commending Iran's agreement to cap its uranium stockpiles, the UN's nuclear watchdog passed a censure motion yesterday denouncing Iran's lack of transparency on its nuclear activities. Although symbolic in nature at this stage, the censure motion is designed to raise diplomatic pressure on Iran. The confidential resolution's text calls on Tehran to provide technically credible explanations for the presence of uranium particles found at two undeclared locations in Iran. Early today, Tehran responded to the measure by announcing it was launching “new and advanced” centrifuges. (Source: France 24 "with AFP" - France)
North Korea
November 22, 2024 Daily NK has acquired the full text of the Public Reporting System Law, which was revised by North Korea’s government in 2022. The state hopes to increase control. The revised law establishes a reporting system for neighborhood watch units; enables patrols and regional authorities to collect reports; and authorizes computerized reporting methods, building a multifaceted system of surveillance and reporting. North Korean mobile phones are equipped with an app called 'Report,' indicating that the online reporting system is expanding from intranet environments to mobile devices. (Source: Daily NK - based in Seoul, South Korea)
South Korea
Nov 22, 2024 Seoul has long harbored ambitions to join the ranks of the world's top arms exporters - aiming to be the fourth-largest, behind the U.S., Russia and France - something that is now possible, industry research indicates. Longstanding domestic policy bars Seoul from sending weapons into active conflict zones, 'but ever since its spy agency accused the nuclear-armed North last month of sending thousands of soldiers to help Moscow fight Kyiv, South Korea has warned it might change course'. Whether - or how - South Korea decides to help Ukraine directly depends on 'the level of North Korean involvement,' President Yoon said earlier this month, adding Seoul was 'not ruling out the possibility of providing weapons.' If South Korea were to supply arms, the initial batch would be defensive in nature, Yoon said. Ukraine is reliant on Western air defense systems, particularly Patriots, to protect itself from Russian missile barrages - and has been calling for more deliveries. Washington said in June it would prioritize deliveries to Kyiv, ahead of other countries that have placed orders. 'But were South Korea, which remains technically at war with the nuclear-armed North and has maintained production of weaponry long ignored by Western arms industries, to get involved, it could potentially make a huge difference.' The South has remained combat-ready since its 1950-53 war with the North ended in a truce, and while Hanwha Aerospace, South Korea's largest defense contractor, was once seen by analysts as retrograde for its focus on land weapons, it is now in high demand. The heightened geopolitical tensions in Europe have heavily benefited the South Korean company, which saw its on-year operating profit soar over 450% in the latest quarter to $343.3 million. It has signed major arms deals with countries such as Poland and Romania, including the export of K9 Howitzers and Chunmoo missile systems. It has already sold 155mm artillery shells to Washington - but with a "final user" agreement in place meaning the United States would be the military that uses the munitions. Experts have said this allows the United States to then provide their own shells to Kyiv. Hanwha's other weapons offer that could shift the balance of war in Ukraine is its Chunmoo guided missile system, experts said. Top of the list for Ukraine would be the "Cheongung" - or Sky Arrow - air defense system, a domestically produced Iron Dome-style interception shield of the Hanwha Aerospace factory in the southern city of Changwon. The Cheongung system is similar to the U.S. Patriot missile system, said senior manager Jung at Hanwha Aerospace, South Korea's largest defense contractor. If North Korea's direct involvement in the war escalates, (Seoul) may consider sending lethal weapons, in addition to defensive ones. 'What Ukraine urgently needs to turn the war in its favor are offensive weapons like Chunmoo missiles and K9 howitzers, capable of inflicting significant damage on the enemy,' said Choi, professor of military studies at Sangji University. 'With a maximum range of 290 kilometers, Chunmoo can strike targets in Pyongyang if launched from the border area in the South,' Choi added. (Source: The Japan Times / AFP – France; Jiji Press - Japan)
North America
United States
November 22, 2024 "From now on, Europe’s security will have to be European - or it won’t exist at all'. Even Trump’s predecessor, President Obama, had concluded that the United States should reduce its footprint in Europe and the Middle East in order to shift its focus to the Indo-Pacific. Although the Russian war against Ukraine led the Biden administration 'to reprioritize European security', this was only a temporary deviation, not a general change in U.S. strategy. (Source: Freign Affairs)
by Röttgen, a member of the German Bundestag and its Foreign Affairs Committee; Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee from 2014 to 2021 and Federal Minister of the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety from 2009 to 2012.
22 Nov, 2024 04:17 AM US President-elect Trump tapped former Florida Attorney-General Bondi, a staunch ally to be the next US Attorney-General after the withdrawal of Gaetz. Bondi served as a surrogate during the 2024 campaign and pushed to delegitimise vote counting in swing state Pennsylvania in 2020. She could be seen as a useful tool for Trump in his attempt to settle personal grievances. “For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponised against me and other Republicans – Not anymore,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network in announcing Bondi’s nomination. Bondi, 59, was a member of Trump’s legal team during his first Senate impeachment trial, in which he was alleged to have pressured Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, using aid as leverage, to hand over political dirt on Biden. (Source: The New Zealand Herald / AFP - France)
International Criminal Court
(21 November 2024) The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a war crimes arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his now sacked defence minister Gallant, and a Hamas commander, Deif, who Israel says was killed in July. Judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe the three men bore criminal responsibility for crimes during the war between Israel and Hamas. Both Israel and Hamas reject the allegations made by the ICC. For Netanyahu and Gallant, who was replaced as defence minister earlier this month, an ICC pre-trial chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that they each bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts. It also found reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population. Netanyahu said Israel would not recognise the validity of the ICC's decision. In a statement today, Netanyahu said: The antisemitic decision of the international court in The Hague is a modern Dreyfus trial, and it will end the same way. "The court in The Hague accuses us of a deliberate policy of starvation,’ the Israeli PM said. "This when we have supplied Gaza with 700,000 tons of food to feed the people of Gaza. We issue millions of text messages, phone calls, leaflets to the citizens of Gaza to get them out of harm's way - while the Hamas terrorists do everything in their power to keep them in harm’s way, including shooting them, using them as human shields.’ Just this week, the UN warned that Palestinians were facing diminishing conditions for survival in parts of northern Gaza under siege by Israeli forces because virtually no aid had been delivered in 40 days. Gallant said the ICC placed the state of Israel and the murderous leaders of Hamas in the same row and thus legitimises the murder of babies, the rape of women and the abduction of the elderly from their beds. For Deif, an ICC pre-trial chamber found reasonable grounds to believe he was responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder; extermination; torture; and rape and other form of sexual violence; as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture; taking hostages; outrages upon personal dignity; and rape and other form of sexual violence. It also said there were reasonable grounds to believe the crimes against humanity were part of a widespread and systematic attack directed by Hamas and other armed groups against the civilian population of Israel. Olmert, a former Israeli prime minister, told that while he was critical of Netanyahu's handling of the conflict with Hamas, he did not agree with the ICC's decision. "Israel has not committed genocide or war crimes that deserve these charges against the prime minister and the minister of defence," Olmert told. Hamas made no mention of the Deif warrant. Palestinians in Gaza expressed hope Israeli leaders would now be brought to justice. The impact of the warrants announced by the ICC will depend on whether the court's 124 member states - which do not include Israel or its ally, the US - decide to enforce them or not. US President Biden has called the ICC war crimes arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister outrageous. "Whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence - none - between Israel and Hamas," Biden said in a statement. "We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security." Europe and the US were split in their response to the warrant, with several European countries saying they respect ICC decisions. Officials from Britain, the EU, France, Italy and the Netherlands have all made statements standing by the Court. The British government said it respected the independence of the court. EU foreign policy chief Borrell said the decision of the court has to be respected and implemented. "We will act on the arrest warrants," the Dutch foreign minister said. Israel’s closest allies in the EU rejected the ICC's move. The Czech prime minister said the court had made an unfortunate decision in equating the elected representatives of a democratic state with the leaders of an Islamist terrorist organisation. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said he was going to invite Netanyahu to visit, "and in that invite I will guarantee him that if he comes, the ICC's ruling will have no effect in Hungary, and we will not follow its contents”. South Africa welcomed the ICC decision, and urged all state parties to act in accordance with their obligations in the Rome Statute. Israel says 97 hostages kidnapped in Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack are still being held in Gaza. Israel denies the allegation that its forces are committing genocide in Gaza, which is the subject of a separate case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). South Africa - which failed to honour an ICC arrest warrant against the Sudanese leader al-Bashir when he visited the country in June 2015 - has brought a case against Israel at the ICJ accusing it of genocide. (Source: BBC – United Kingdom)
by Lukiv
See also: Israeli PM Netanyahu reacts to ICC arrest warrant for alleged Gaza war crimes /Video/ (Source: Youtube / Hindustan Times – India)
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