Author: Pedro Holt

WASHINGTON — Congress on Wednesday took the first step in what is expected to be a lengthy effort to overhaul U.S. export control laws in order to expedite technology cooperation needed to implement a central pillar of the AUKUS trilateral agreement with Australia and the U.K. The House passed a bill 393-4 directing the State Department and Pentagon to submit information on defense export licenses necessary to collaborate with the U.S. allies on hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence and quantum technologies. These technologies form what is known as pillar two of the AUKUS agreement, which all three countries view as critical to…

Australian engineers who were born overseas fear they could miss out on the AUKUS-inspired defence jobs boom because of restrictive United States security requirements. Tough rules excluding people with links to certain countries mean employers may struggle even further to fill skills shortfalls in the technical professions required for the nuclear submarine procurement, construction and deployment. More than half (59 per cent) of Australia’s engineering workforce is overseas-born, with two thirds of new engineers coming from outside Australia every year, according to Engineers Australia. Software engineer Eric Raygan — an Iranian-born Australian citizen who has lived in Australia since 2010 —…

“We will not present a presidential candidate” : This is the announcement, Wednesday, March 22 in the morning, of the president of the HDP , the main pro-Kurdish party in Turkey. Pervin Buldan, that’s his name, adds: “Turkey and democracy need reconciliation, not conflict “. Certainly, this is not an explicit call to support Kemal Kiliçdaroglu , the candidate of the “Table of Six”, i.e. the alliance of the six opposition parties to Recep TayyipErdoğan. But for the Kurds, it’s about the same. The implication is clear: we must block the outgoing president. And this decision can tip the ballot. The HDP indeed represents about 10% of the votes in Turkey, it is the…

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic will propose to the government for another year to extend the current ban on issuing visas to citizens of Russia and Belarus – until March 31, 2024. In addition, the agency wants to expand this ban on Russians and Belarusians with dual citizenship. This, with reference to the ČTK agency, is reported by vinegret.cz.If it is adopted, then citizens of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, who simultaneously hold the citizenship of another country, will not be able to obtain a Czech visa and a long-term residence permit, except for humanitarian and…

A draft law providing for the annexation of part of the territory of Ukraine has been registered in the Romanian Parliament. The initiative was initiated by the founder of the ultra-right SOS party, Senator Diana Şoşoacă, who criticizes the Ukrainian authorities for depriving cultural rights, sending ethnic Romanians to the front, oppressing Orthodoxy and calling Northern Bukovina (Chernivtsi region) and Southern Bessarabia (part of the Odessa region) “territory occupied and illegally controlled by Kiev”. According to the Romanian media, the senator demands the termination (denunciation) in 2027 of the agreement on good-neighborliness and cooperation between Romania and Ukraine, signed in 1997,…

Lawmakers in the Riksdag voted largely in favour of Sweden joining NATO despite Green and far-left opposition on Wednesday, with Foreign Minister Tobias Billström now saying he expects his country to officially join in July. After a six-hour-long debate, parliament approved Sweden’s NATO future membership with 269 in favour and 37 against – marking the official end to Sweden’s 200 years of non-alignment in foreign policy. For Sweden to officially join, Turkish and Hungarian approval is still needed. “It goes without saying that we will be able to join in Vilnius,” said Billström about the NATO summit on 11-12 July…

Washington, Beijing (15/2 – 37.5) Amid an international atmosphere still full of uncertainties as well as tensions, US fighter aircraft shot down the balloon flying over Billing, Maine. According to the US Department of State, the spy balloon contained multiple antennas capable of gathering intelligence signals from the superpowers. “From the photographs taken, it is confirmed the presence of an antenna package capable of collecting data and tracking communications,” the US government said, quoted by CNBC International, Thursday (10/2/2023). “There are solar panels large enough to produce power so that various sensors to gather intelligence can operate.” US notified China…

Sumitomo Electric will step up its vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) business in the US, with plans to invest in local production and installation capabilities. The Japanese company said last week that it will invest an initial US$7.6 million into US production and installation facilities, based on the expectation of rising demand for the energy storage technology. Speaking at the DISTRIBUTECH International trade event for the electricity transmission and distribution (T&D) sectors, Sumitomo Electric president and chief operating officer Osamu Inoue noted that the company has been present in the US for the past 50 years of the company’s 120+…

A big aid package is expected this week, but it likely won’t contain long-sought, controversial items like ATACMS. In the weeks ahead, frontline progress in the war in Ukraine will be measured not in miles but in “hundreds of meters,” defense undersecretary for policy Colin Kahl told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday. Kahl, who just returned from a trip to Ukraine for meetings with that nation’s leadership, said the United States is focused on “surging those capabilities to Ukraine for the next phase of the conflict to really try to change that dynamic and continue the momentum that the…

Last month, the U.S. House and Senate swore in new members and began the 117th Congress. The biggest change, of course, is that Republicans now hold a small margin in the House of Representatives. Nancy Pelosi, the senior House Democrat, stepped down from her role as Speaker and was replaced by Republican Kevin McCarthy. The Senate will not change hands, since the three Independent Senators will caucus with 48 Democrats, allowing them to retain control of the chamber. What will this mean for Southeast Asia? The good news is that U.S. support for deeper regional engagement is remarkably bipartisan. As…