Author: Steven Sahiounie

The family of the former US secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff wrote on his Facebook page announcing Colin Powell’s passing on Monday.General Colin L. Powell passed away due to complications from COVID-19 at the Walter Reed National Medical Center, according to the statement. “We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American”, the family wrote.According to the post, Powell was fully vaccinated. The first Black US secretary of state, Powell had a remarkable career path, having served as the first Black national security adviser during the end of Ronald…

Two questions need to be answered to understand America’s paradoxical behavior towards Syria and Lebanon in recent weeks. Years of US-sponsored asymmetrical warfare have kept these nations in states of chaos and war, but now, quite inexplicably, Washington appears eager to secure vital energy resources for the two states – both still under crippling US sieges – by importing Egyptian gas via Jordan. Is the US offer aimed at preventing an economic and humanitarian implosion within these nations? Or is this America’s way of advancing stealthy “energy normalization” with Israel so it can become an energy hub supplying the strategic…

The Director of the Media Office of the Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees Muhammad Al-Buraim (Abu Mujahid) stated on Monday, that the “Wafa Al-Ahrar” deal is considered a complete shift in the history of the Palestinian resistance, and proved that the will and determination of the Palestinian resistance are stronger than Zionist tyranny. Abu Mujahid emphasized that the Wafaa Al-Ahrar deal remains engraved in the memory of our Palestinian people symbolizing a crucial victory over the Zionist enemy. In October 2011, after an Israeli soldier was kidnapped and held captive for over five years, more than 1,400 Palestinian prisoners were released…

Moscow has announced that it will completely suspend the operations of its mission to NATO, two weeks after the US-led bloc expelled eight Russian diplomats for alleged ‘undisclosed espionage’ at its Brussels headquarters. Speaking on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also revealed that the NATO information bureau in Moscow will also be forced to shut down as part of retaliatory measures. Earlier this month, NATO officials decided to slash the size of the permanent Russian delegation to the bloc, revoking the credenitals of eight envoys, in response to what it called “suspected malign Russian activities.” Following NATO’s decision, Foreign Ministry…

The blaze at the key Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery along Kuwait’s Persian Gulf coastline north of its border with Saudi Arabia did not affect the electrical supply or oil exports, according to Kuwait’s National Petroleum Company. Several oil contractors were receiving treatment for their burns at a nearby hospital, the company added. The refinery was built to handle 25,000 barrels of oil a day to supply Kuwait’s domestic market primarily with gasoline and diesel and recently underwent an expansion to reduce its emissions and boost capacity to 346,000 barrels a day, Star Tribune reported. Firefighters were working to extinguish the…

“We have made extensive efforts for the infrastructure and superstructure of Afghanistan and we have maintained these efforts until the very last moment,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters after Friday prayers in Istanbul, Anadolu news agency reported. About the Taliban’s recent visit to Turkey, Erdogan said the delegation made some requests in terms of support, humanitarian aid and the functionality of the new process in Afghanistan. “World leaders have not recognized the Taliban’s current position yet. They are in pursuit of recognition by other countries. We will provide the Afghan people with every kind of support in relation to these…

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has reiterated its opposition to Japan’s decision to release nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima power plant into the ocean, after Tokyo’s new leader said the discharge could wait no longer. Speaking on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian took aim at Japan’s new prime minister, Fumio Kishida, who visited the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant on Sunday. “The Japanese side must listen to the voice of the international community, revoke the wrong decision, and stop advancing preparations for the discharge of nuclear wastewater into the ocean,” the spokesman told the gathered press, arguing that Tokyo needed…

By Kit Klarenberg Building a shadowy network of NGOs, charities and other umbrella organizations abroad has been identified as a key part of the UK’s strategy to reshape the world in its own image, a new tranche of leaked documents has revealed. In the wake of the landmark Brexit referendum in 2016, the UK government launched the opaque ‘Global Britain Fund’. Questions around the size of its budget, objectives, which projects it bankrolls and where, and other key questions have remained unanswered since. It was only two years later that then-Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan brought up the Fund in parliament for the first…

Seyyed Rouhollah Latifi Spokesman for the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) said on Monday Iran exported a shipment worth $39,000 to Saudi Arabia, marking the resumption of bilateral economic relations under the new administration in Iran after a year and a half that their bilateral trade were severed. “After one year and a half of severed relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, exports to Saudi Arabia coincided with the two countries’ talks, which is good news,” Latifi added. Of total $39,000 worth of Iran’s export of products to Saudi Arabia, $6,000 of which is related to the export of tile while $33,000…

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and his visiting Venezuelan counterpart Felix Plasencia held a meeting at the Iranian Foreign Ministry compound in Tehran on Monday morning. Their meeting is followed by a joint press conference, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Prior to the meeting with the Iranian counterpart, Plasencia met with President Ebrahim Raeisi. After meeting with Amir-Abdollahian, the Venezuelan foreign minister will also meet with the Speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, as well as the Vice President for Economic Affairs, Mohsen Rezaei.source : mehrnews.com