Author: Steven Sahiounie

Moscow’s response to Finland and Sweden joining NATO won’t be based on emotion but on analyses of security factors – Deputy FM The move by Finland and Sweden to join NATO won’t be left without a Russian response, but it’s premature to talk about it including relocation of nuclear weapons closer to the two Nordic countries, Russia’s deputy foreign minister Alexander Glushko has said. “It’s too early to speak about this,” Glushko told journalists on Friday when asked if NATO membership of Helsinki and Stockholm could prompt Moscow to place its nukes in the Baltic region. Both Finland and Sweden stayed…

Earlier in May, Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) argued that the risk of catching monkeypox in the UK is very low, given that the infection is mainly spread by wild animals in parts of west or central Africa. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) confirmed on Saturday that two people had been diagnosed with monkeypox in London, a week after the first such case was registered in an area located outside of the British capital. The UKHSA said that one of the latest people to test positive for the disease is being treated at St Mary’s Hospital, based in London,…

​​The Ukrainian authorities are looking for any means to save the Azovstal fighters. The Ukrainian government’s main goal over the last month of the conflict has been to prevent the liquidation of the National Security Forces fighters blockaded at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol. The group there is no longer militarily important, but it is a key point on the media “front”. The blocked nationalists have created an image of heroes and martyrs, and if the authorities in Kyiv abandon them, it will hurt Ukrainian propaganda. Ukrainian President Zelensky also fears that the foreign mercenaries who reportedly remain in the…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator An American journalist, born in Jerusalem, was killed in Jenin in the Occupied West Bank of Palestine by Israeli Defense Forces on Wednesday.  Shireen Abu Akleh had worked as a reporter for the Arabic-language channel of Al Jazeera for 25 years, and was covering an Israeli raid into Jenin when she was deliberately targeted and killed by an Israeli soldier.  Ali al-Samoudi, of Al-Quds newspaper, was shot in the back, and two other Palestinians were injured and transported to a hospital. Al Samoudi, and all other journalists present reported there were no Palestinian fighters…

At least five Egyptian military personnel were killed in a militant attack on Wednesday in northern Sinai, two security sources said,the second deadly strike against security forces on the peninsula in less than a week. Four others were injured when armed men opened fire at a security post in the coastal area of northeastern Sinai, which borders the Gaza Strip, the sources said. There was no immediate comment from Egyptian authorities. The deaths follow a May 7 ambush at a checkpoint in Sinai that killed 11 Egyptian soldiers and was claimed by Islamic State, one of the deadliest attacks in…

A suicide bomber hit a checkpoint near the airport in Mogadishu, killing at least four people, according to Somalian authorities. A number of wounded people were taken away in an ambulance, according to witnesses. There were no details on the other casualties. The blast happened as presidential candidates were heading into the heavily fortified airport area to address lawmakers ahead of Sunday’s vote for president. Somalia’s militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, which destroyed a number of small businesses along the street. Al-Shabab opposes Somalia’s federal government and frequently stages lethal attacks in Mogadishu and elsewhere in the…

Iraqi soldiers killed nine Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) terrorists in Kirkuk, Iraq’s northern region, on Wednesday, according to the military. The Iraqi forces surrounded nine militants holed up in a tunnel near Kraw Mountain, some 250 kilometers north of Baghdad, and blasted the tunnel, killing all nine terrorists inside, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command’s media office said. Iraqi security forces have undertaken extensive operations against terrorists in recent months to combat their increased activity. Since 2017, the security situation in Iraq has improved. Daesh remnants, on the other hand, have disappeared into cities, deserts, and rocky terrain, launching periodic guerilla operations against…

Countries should concentrate their diplomatic efforts on providing humanitarian aid and having civilians evacuated from the combat zones, Antonio Guterres stressed United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres does not see the possibility of concluding peace or achieving a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine at the moment. “At the present moment, there are no immediate chances of a peace agreement or immediate chances for a global ceasefire,” he told a news conference after a meeting with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen. Asked if he understood Russia’s endgame following talks with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on April 26, Guterres said he…

Iran’s security forces arrested two European nationals who entered the country to exploit people’s protests and turn them into riots. Issuing a statement on Wednesday, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said the European saboteurs were two intelligence officers who aimed to implement sabotage scenarios, making networks of rioters and guiding them to deviate the country’s widespread protests toward devastating riots and insecurity. The statement “The two main elements who are citizens of a European country, organized by the intelligence services, are experts in creating insurgency and instability.” “For years, they had trained their local agents in several of their target countries to…

Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom (AUKUS), which condemned China and the Solomon Islands for a security cooperation deal, are the ones militarising the South Pacific and provoking a new arms race in the region, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Wednesday. “Australia, together with the US and the UK, is forming a military bloc and provoking an arms race in the South Pacific without any consultations with island countries of the region,” Zhao said at a press briefing. The spokesman urged Australia to reconsider its actions concerning the issue. Last September, Australia, the US and…