Author: Alexander Casey

June 21 — The European Union announced on Friday that it will begin accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova to join the 27-member political and economic bloc starting next week. All 27 members agreed to the Ukraine and Moldova joining the European Union. Negotiations will begin for both countries on Tuesday in Luxembourg, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union said on X. The move comes at a critical time for both nations with Ukraine in the middle of an invasion by Russia and Moldova facing a Russian-led insurgence by a breakaway state. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the European Union for its…

Elon Musk visited China and Indonesia and he met with Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the 10th World Water Forum in Bali. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is looking to bring Starlink internet services to Sri Lanka after he cancelled his visit to India. The tech billionaire visited China and Indonesia after which he met with Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the 10th World Water Forum in Bali. Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Media Division wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “During the 10th World Water Forum High-Level Meeting in Indonesia, President Ranil Wickremesinghe met with @elonmusk to discuss the implementation…

The U.S. Congress this week passed long-awaited, hotly contested legislation providing military aid to Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific, along with humanitarian aid to victims around the world — bills of which President Joe Biden signed immediately . The aid for Ukraine is critical: Its military has been running short of ammunition and Russia has been exploiting its advantage to make battlefield gains. This is, explained Biden, “a good day for world peace.” Passing the aid package is a victory for internationalists in Washington and the consensus that has guided foreign policy in the U.S. capital since the end of…

Microsoft-owned Activision Blizzard has agreed to settle a case from a California state agency that alleged the video game publisher discriminated against women, including denying them promotion opportunities and paying them less. California’s Civil Rights Department said in a statement on Friday that as part of a proposed settlement agreement, Activision Blizzard will pay nearly $55 million to provide relief to female employees and contractors from October 2015 to December 2020 and cover legal fees. About $46 million of the total will go to the fund for affected women, the agency said in the statement. The news comes almost two years after…

The passage of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) through the US Congress overnight will enable seamless research collaboration in key areas of defence, and represents an important step towards bringing the AUKUS agreement to fruition, according to Australia’s research-intensive universities. Group of Eight (Go8) Chief Executive Vicki Thomson said, “the NDAA will streamline export control provisions and defence trade between AUKUS partners, enabling unprecedented levels of scientific and technological collaboration to support the contribution of our research intensive universities to Australia’s national security. “As the universities who collectively invest $7.7 billion on R&D annually including 44 per cent of the total university…

As housing in the US has become increasingly unaffordable over the past few years, the number of people experiencing homelessness surged to its highest level on record this year, according to an annual survey taken in January. The number of unhoused people in the United States jumped by 12% early this year from the year before, an increase of about 70,650 people, according to an annual report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development released on Friday. Known as a “point-in-time” estimate, the annual snapshot looks at the number of individuals nationwide who are living in shelters, temporary housing and unsheltered settings…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top two U.S. military leaders are traveling to Tel Aviv to advise the Israeli government on how to transition from major combat operations against Hamas in Gaza to a more limited campaign and prevent a wider regional war. Their trip comes as Iranian-backed militants on Saturday launched a wave of attack drones against ships in the Red Sea and said they would continue until Israel’s “aggression” ends. One of the American warships assigned to the Ford carrier strike group, the destroyer USS Carney, “successfully engaged” 14 one-way attack drones launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.…

Oscar Pistorius will be released on parole in January, prison authorities announced Friday, drawing criticism from Reeva Steenkamp’s mother, who said she did not believe the South African athlete had been rehabilitated since he murdered her daughter almost 11 years ago. Pistorius shot Steenkamp four times through the bathroom door of his house in 2013, denying that he killed her in a fit of anger and saying instead he had mistaken her for an intruder. He was originally sentenced to 13 years and five months imprisonment. June Steenkamp said she was concerned for the safety of other women once he was…

In the small, remote town of Livingston, Kentucky, residents had been preparing their turkeys and setting their tables for Thanksgiving the following day. The roughly 200 people had no idea that a train carrying chemicals had derailed off the tracks nearby. In total, 16 large train cars derailed – two containing molten sulphur. The chemicals instantly caught fire and sent large clouds of smoke billowing into the air. The atmosphere quickly filled with toxic sulphur dioxide, prompting authorities to declare an emergency and evacuate residents from their homes, sending them to shelter in hotels, lodgings, and even a local middle school. It wasn’t quite the Thanksgiving Livingston…

Virginia Democrats are hoping to gain full control of the commonwealth’s statehouse during next Tuesday’s election, in what could be an indicator of the party’s strength heading into 2024. Democrats in and out of the state have poured money into the off-year elections, focusing particularly on the issue of abortion access. Republicans, on the other hand, have zeroed in on crime and the economy as key issues. Democrats lost their trifecta in Richmond two years ago when Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) was elected and the GOP won back control of the House of Delegates. However, Democrats say they feel optimistic now following…