The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has threatened to impose sanctions on entities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that support illegal wildlife poaching and trafficking. The UNSC unanimously adopted the Congo resolution on Thursday, extending the arms embargo and other sanctions intended to curtail decades-long and persisting conflict in the nation’s enormous […]
Archive for January, 2014
Libya to elect body for constitution draft
Libya is set to vote for a 60-member assembly that will be tasked with drafting a new constitution in a bid to break the political stalemate in the nation two years after the fall of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The election date, February 20, was announced on Thursday by the president of Libya’s highest […]
Kerry’s Ukraine meeting ‘circus’: Russia
Russia has slammed US Secretary of State John Kerry’s planned meeting with Ukrainian opposition leaders. Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin called Kerry’s upcoming meeting with the major figures of the opposition a “circus.” “It’s also necessary to involve Verka Serdyuchka in the talks,” he tweeted on Friday, referring to a popular Ukrainian […]
Greek medical workers protest cuts
Medical workers from social clinics and the biggest specialist state hospital in Athens, Greece, have protested against the cuts to the country’s health sector, Press TV reports. Gathering outside the biggest cancer specialist hospital in Athens, the protesters voiced their anger over the government’s health care reforms. The protesters said the overhaul, including […]
Germany hails ‘special’ Israel ties
Germany’s first female Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen has hailed the country’s special relationship with Israel. The minister met with Israeli Minister of Military Affairs Moshe Ya’alon in Berlin on Thursday. Ya’alon is on a two-day visit to Germany. “This is the first foreign guest I have the pleasure of welcoming here […]
Ukrainian president slams opposition
Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych has strongly condemned the opposition for refusing to end two months of anti-government street protests in the country. Yanukovych blamed the opposition of behaving irresponsibly by not calling off the protests. “The opposition is continuing to inflame the situation and is calling on people to stand in the […]
‘Over half of Russians’ support Putin
A recent opinion poll has revealed that more than half of Russian nationals support President Vladimir Putin. According to the survey conducted between December 24 and 26 last year by the Russian non-governmental polling and sociological research organization Levada-Center with a sampling of 1,603 Russian adults, the findings of which were released on January […]
‘US supporting terrorism in Syria’
The United States is “supporting terrorism” in Syria despite its claims that it is fighting terrorism in the world, a political commentator tells Press TV. “America who’s supposed to be fighting terrorism, in Syria is supporting terrorism. At the same time what Israel does is not being addressed at all by America. Israel has […]
The NSA’s shadow database
Last week saw the release of yet another independent report condemning the NSA’s bulk collection of Americans’ phone records. In its report, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) called for an end to the program, concluding that it is unlawful, threatens the privacy of Americans, and does little to keep the country secure. […]
US judge upholds toughest gun law
A federal judge in the United States has upheld Connecticut’s far-reaching gun control law which is known as the toughest in the country. Last April, the state’s governor Dannel P. Malloy signed into law a bill passed by Connecticut’s General Assembly and Senate which expanded the list of illegal weapons under the state’s assault […]
Yahoo Mail passwords stolen in ‘attack’
Internet giant Yahoo says its email customers’ usernames and passwords have been stolen in an “attack” but refuses to say how many users have been affected. In a blog post published on Thursday, the California-based Internet corporation said it identified “a coordinated effort to gain unauthorized access to Yahoo Mail accounts.” “The information […]
Homemade bomb explodes at US school
A small, homemade “bottle bomb” blew up on a Hawaii high school campus Thursday morning, prompting a campus lockdown for more than an hour. The device exploded around 11:15 a.m. outside the Hilo High School auditorium on the east coast of Hawaii’s Big Island, a department of education spokesman told the Associated Press. […]
Iraq to legally pursue Kurdish oil buyers
The Iraqi government has tasked a law firm with targeting the buyers of the crude oil ‘illegally’ exported from the country’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region to neighboring Turkey. A senior Iraqi official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the country’s Oil Ministry had instructed the law firm, Vinson and Elkins, some two months ago to […]
‘Takfiris massacre Syrians in Adra’
Witnesses say al-Qaeda-affiliated militants operating in Syria have massacred people of different religions as well as medical workers in a southern city last month. Residents in Syria’s southern industrial city of Adra said Takfiri militants belonging to the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nursa Front and the so-called Jaysh al-Islam committed the massacre last December, the British daily […]
Obama, Jordan king to meet next month
US President Barack Obama and Jordan’s King Abdullah II are set to meet next month to exchange views on the crisis in Syria as well as the Israeli-Palestinian talks. The White House said in a statement on Thursday that the two leaders will meet in California on February 14 and they will “continue consultations” […]
Thailand protests continue unabated
Thai anti-government demonstrators have once again taken to the streets of the capital city of Bangkok ahead of Sunday’s controversial general elections. The opposition protesters, who have vowed to keep up protests against the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, staged mass rallies in Bangkok on Friday in an effort to disrupt the planned […]
3 troops killed in Pakistan bomb blast
At least three paramilitary soldiers have been killed and four others injured in a roadside bomb explosion in Pakistan’s restive southwestern province of Balochistan. According to officials, the deadly incident took place on Friday when the bomb hit a patrol vehicle in the Jahoo area of remote Awaran district. “At least three […]
‘Beijing mulling South China Sea ADIZ’
The Chinese government is considering declaring an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the South China Sea, a Japanese report says. On Friday, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper published the report, which said that working level officials in China’s air force have drafted proposals for the new zone that could put the Paracel islands at […]
Afghanistan election campaign kicks off
Election campaign in Afghanistan is set to begin on Sunday, with 11 candidates competing to succeed outgoing President Hamid Karzai. Karzai, who has ruled the country since the Taliban’s overthrow in 2001, is barred from seeking a third term, leaving an open field to compete in the April 5 presidential election, which is possible […]
Migrant boats are turned back: Australia
Australian authorities have confirmed for the first time that they are turning boats carrying asylum-seekers back to Indonesia as part of Canberra’s military-led Operation Sovereign Borders crackdown on people-smuggling. “What I have confirmed today is… that any vessel that seeks to illegally enter Australian waters will be intercepted and will be removed from our […]