Author: Steven Sahiounie

The staff of the hospital in Montelimar, in the French department of Drome, have gone on indefinite strike to protest the new rules demanding they take a vaccine against Covid-19 by mid-September or face losing their jobs. The strike against “forced vaccination” was announced on Thursday by the CGT-GHPP trade union, and affects some 200 doctors and 1,500 nurses in the southeastern French city. Hundreds of them gathered outside the hospital on Friday, denouncing lockdowns and vaccine mandates and chanting “liberté!” (freedom).  The French legislature is finalizing the proposal that would require all medical professionals in contact with the vulnerable to be fully vaccinated…

Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are set to hold military drills next month near the border with Afghanistan where the Taliban militant group has over the past weeks ramped up attacks against government forces. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday that the joint drills would take place from August 5 to 10 at the Kharbmaidon training ground in Tajikistan. Troops from a Russian military base in Tajikistan and Russia’s Central Military District will take part in the war games, the ministry stated. The state news agency TASS quoted Central Military District Commander Colonel-General Alexander Lapin as making…

The French government denounced Monday what it described as ‘extremely shocking figures’ in the wake of several media outlets revealing that the Moroccan intelligence services had spied on around 30 French journalists and a media boss using Israeli software. The French government spokesperson told Franceinfo, “They are extremely shocking facts, and if they are true, they are extremely serious.” “We are extremely committed to the freedom of the press, so it is very serious to have manipulations techniques which aim to undermine the freedom of journalists, their freedom to investigate and inform,” he added. Attal continued, “There will obviously be…

The Iraqi National Security Service (INSS) arrested ISIS’s “Governor of Baghdad” on Monday. The INSS said in its statement: “By the Grace of God and the National Security Service’s efforts to continue our word in eliminating the remnants of “ISIS” gangs,” and in an operation to collect information, “the INSS was able to arrest the so-called ‘Governor of Baghdad’ after” a pursuit that spanned three Iraqi provinces. “The arrested terrorist is one of the oldest leaders of ISIS and has held a number of posts, including” “General Prince of the Al-Shamiya, Raqqa, Al-Badiya, Salah al-Din and Baghdad provinces. He confessed…

Ethiopian media announced today, Monday, completing the second filling phase of the “Renaissance Dam” that Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile. The Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation stated that the second filling would be completed within minutes after the Nile water level reaches the height of the dam’s middle passage.  Last week, the UN Security Council held a session to discuss the crisis of the Renaissance Dam between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan but has not issued a decision or recommendation. The session came after Ethiopia officially notified Egypt and Sudan to start the second filling of the Renaissance Dam reservoir that…

Iranian Leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei said that “the US and its cohorts are sensitive about the word resistance and have decided to show all kinds of hostility to the Islamic Resistance Front. Some regional governments’ cooperation with them is a bitter reality that strengthens those malicious acts as well.” Khamenei made his remarks in a message on the occasion of the commencement of the Hajj rituals, adding that “the US propaganda efforts to distort the will, demands, and actions of the courageous youth and forces of the Resistance in Syria, Lebanon, and other countries and to attribute them to Iran…

In a world plagued with cyber insecurity, Pegasus stands out as the most powerful piece of spyware ever developed and to which the most recent hacking scandals involving privacy invasion can be attributed. The mastermind behind this hacking software is no other than the Israeli firm NSO Group. What is Pegasus? How does it function? As a spyware, Pegasus, which has the capability to infect billions of phones running either iOS or Android operating systems, silently infiltrates your phone, takes hold of your data, and turns your device into a 24/7 surveillance unit. It can copy all your messages, harvest your photos, and record…

Germany’s interior minister has refuted opposition criticism that a “systemic failure” of government resulted in the high death toll in last week’s floods, saying “local knowledge” is the only way to manage such catastrophes. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Horst Seehofer rejected claims that the government hadn’t given enough warning before the devastating floods hit, resulting in a higher death toll. “It would be completely inconceivable for such a catastrophe to be managed centrally from any one place. You need local knowledge,” Seehofer stated. It’s not Berlin that declares a state of emergency, that is done locally. Seehofer’s comments came after…

Japanese composer Keigo Oyamada has pulled out of the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, amid controversy over decades-old interviews in which he boasted about physically and sexually bullying a disabled classmate. Oyamada, who goes by the stage name ‘Cornelius’, announced his resignation from the games’ opening ceremony via Twitter on Monday, stating that his participation “lacked consideration for various people.” Oyamada apologized last week after some damning interviews he gave to Japanese magazines in the 1990s resurfaced. In the interviews, Oyamada admitted to bullying classmates in high school, claiming that he beat and teased a disabled student, and forced him…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan an “occupation” that needs to stop, while brushing aside the militant movement’s warning about deployment of Turkish troops in Kabul. “The Taliban should end the occupation of the soil of their brothers,” the Turkish leader said on Monday during a press conference. He said the approach taken by the movement was not how Muslims brothers should treat each other. He also downplayed the Taliban’s negative reaction to the Turkish proposal to deploy additional troops to guard the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. The strategic piece of Afghan infrastructure…