ISTANBUL – Sanctions-hit Russia and Iran are focusing their efforts on bypassing SWIFT with an alternative interbank messaging system, an Iranian diplomat announced. “We are making efforts in this direction,” said Kazem Jalali, Iran’s ambassador to Russia, according to Russian news channel RT. Under Western sanctions ov...
DOUALA, Cameroon – The court of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) has ordered the lifting of sanctions imposed on Mali by the eight-nation body. The UEMOA slapped sanctions on Mali in January after the military junta, which first seized power in August 2020 and then again in May 2021, delayed elections that […]
WASHINGTON – The UN General Assembly has once again voted to denounce its war on Ukraine and called for an immediate end. A total of 140 nations voted to censure Russia after one day of debate, with one less nation voting to do so compared to an earlier vote on March 2. As with the […]
WASHINGTON – North Korea’s launch of an apparent long-range ballistic missile risks “significant escalation of tensions in the region,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said. The UN chief strongly condemned the launch. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement “another breach of the DPRK’s announ...
BERLIN – The G7 group of the world’s major economic powers has warned Russia against the use of weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine. “We warn against any threat of the use of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons or related materials,” the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US said [...
PARIS – The French Defense Ministry has announced the successful testing of a modern version of the nuclear-capable ASMPA missile. The medium-range air-to-surface missile, developed by MBDA missile systems, was fired from a Rafale jet from Air Force Base 120 in Cazaux, southwestern France, according to a ministry statement. The first tes...
WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden called for Russia to be expelled from the G20 group of nations due to its ongoing war against Ukraine. Biden, however, acknowledged that any action “depends on the G20,” but said it was discussed during his meetings with NATO and allied nations in Brussels. Biden said he proposed an [&helli...
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – A Bangladeshi court on Thursday sentenced two elderly people to death for alleged crimes against humanity during the country’s “independence war” in 1971. They are Abdul Khaleq Mandol, who is a district head for the opposition Jamat-e-Islami party and a former lawmaker, and Khan Rokonuzzaman, wh...
LONDON (AA) – Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness has told Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate that his country wants to be “independent.” William, second in line to the British throne, and his wife are currently on a weeklong tour of the Caribbean, a trip dogged by public protests calling for reparations for slavery […]...
BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) – Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday marked the sixth anniversary of the guilty verdict against ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic for genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1990s Bosnia war. Karadzic, who spearheaded the most severe war crimes committed in Europe since World War II, was sentenced to 4...
