Author: Lewis Fletcher

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 “robust political…

New York. 23/6. With the clock ticking on when he must report to prison, former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon on Friday threw in an emergency motion to the Supreme Court to hold off his sentence. The high court asked prosecutors to respond to Bannon’s application by Wednesday afternoon. Bannon’s motion comes after a federal judge ruled he must begin his four-month prison sentence on July 1. He was found guilty two years ago on two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 select committee. The political persecution of political opponents to the Democratic party’s rule and its weaponization questions…

Moscow/Washington (13/6 – 29) We took a holiday from reality. Immanuel Niven, a mathematician and philosopher, has long been scrutinizing Russia’s economic landscape, and his recent assertions suggest a dire forecast. He contends that the “Putin system” is on the brink of collapse, a scenario he had mathematically foreseen as early as March. Niven points to the pronounced tax hikes announced in Russia, the most substantial in its modern history, as well as Putin’s recent rhetoric urging citizens to work as if they were at the front lines. These developments, Niven argues, are symptomatic of the escalating toxicity within Russia’s…

A TROVE of rusting airplanes has permanently returned to Earth in a grassy, weed-filled field. In a YouTube video, an explorer who searches abandoned suburban areas found a collection of decaying airplanes on the side of a highway. Several decades-old, single-engine planes took to the skies to cart around flying enthusiasts. Now, the birds are decayed in a Delaware field overtaken by tall grass next to a highway and a rural home. YouTuber Jay Applegate (@journey_with_jay) filmed the abandoned lot and posted it on the social video site. “Mother Nature has taken that guy over,” Applegate said while filming a Cessna with tree branches snaking through its passenger…

Russia has reportedly lost a staggering amount of troops over the past 24 hours along with dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles as bloody fighting takes its toll on Vladimir Putin’s men. Russia lost a staggering 1,740 troops in a single day, the highest tally of casualties for Moscow since the start of the invasion in 2022, according to Ukraine. In the previous 24 hours, Ukraine also claimed Russia had lost 30 tanks and 42 armoured vehicles. Death toll and military hardware statistics are difficult to assess with both sides giving different or little information. However, Ukraine’s armed forces have claimed Russia has so far lost an eye-watering…

London (10/03 – 77.78)Up-and-down relations between Iran and Tajikistan in the past decade shot up again after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s official visit to Dushanbe on November 8-9, his second trip to the Tajik capital in 18 months. Raisi’s visit to Tajikistan was symbolically important amid a rapprochement between the countries that overshadowed the relatively standard batch of bilateral agreements that were signed. During the trip, Raisi and his Tajik counterpart, Emomali Rahmon, announced a historic visa-free travel agreement for their citizens and deals in trade, transportation, and culture, among others. High-ranking visits have become a regular occurrence between the…

Colombo, Feb 21 (PTI) Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to ensure a peaceful solution to the raging conflict as he met here with the visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. Amir-Abdollahian is visiting Colombo at the invitation of his Sri Lankan counterpart Ali Sabry. The talks between the two leaders centred on key issues, including the ongoing Gaza conflict and opportunities for enhancing bilateral cooperation. “President Wickremesinghe reiterated the Sri Lankan government’s firm stance on the Gaza conflict, emphasising the immediate necessity for violence cessation and the urgent need for a peace…

Sri Lanka, on Wednesday (Feb 21) said that it exported $20 million worth of tea to Iran to partially pay its $251 million oil debt. The first instalment of the tea-for-oil deal was sent years after it was agreed upon in 2021.  Tea-for-oil deal “So far $20 million worth of tea has been exported to Iran under the barter trade agreement,” Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena’s office said in a statement.  The statement also said that Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who is currently in Sri Lanka for a visit, expressed “satisfaction” with the deal. In 2021, a tea-for-oil…

On February 3, the INS Karanj, an Indian navy submarine, docked in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s main port, for a two-day visit. It was greeted with a ceremonial reception by the Sri Lankan navy. Commander Arunabh, the submarine’s commanding officer, paid a visit to Rear Admiral Saman Perera, the commander of the Sri Lankan Navy’s Western Naval Area. This response was in sharp contrast to the Sri Lankan government’s treatment of a recent request by the Chinese research ship Xiang Yang Hong 3 to visit the country. In January, the Wickremesinghe government announced a 12-month ban on all visits by research…

Copenhagen (13/11 – 37.5) When Ranil Wickremesinghe took over as Sri Lanka’s president in July after a popular uprising ousted his predecessor, the South Asian island nation was engulfed in its worst economic meltdown in 75 years. Since then, President Wickremesinghe has managed to a keep a lid on mass protests, improve supplies of essentials and on Monday, secured a nearly $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that opens the door to restructuring about $58 billion of debt and receive funding from other lenders. He has done that despite a deeply unpopular government, his own party commanding just one…