Month: October 2022

Britain’s defense ministry has cast doubt on Russia’s ability to continue to produce weapons during its invasion of Ukraine. In an intelligence update posted to Twitter on Sunday, the ministry estimated that Russia fired more than 80 cruise missiles into Ukraine on Oct. 10, a move that Russian President Vladimir Putin said was in retaliation for the bombing of the bridge that links Russia to the annexed Crimean Peninsula earlier this month.  There has been no claim of responsibility for the blast. “Russia’s defense industry is probably incapable of producing advanced munitions at the rate they are being expended,” Britain …

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Malta on Sunday marked the fifth anniversary of the car bomb slaying of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia with calls for justice, just two days after two key suspects reversed course and pleaded guilty to murder on the first day of their trial. The archbishop of the small Mediterranean island nation, Charles Scicluna, celebrated a morning Mass in the small Bidnija church near where Caruana Galizia lived, making several references to the need for justice even when it makes the powerful uncomfortable. “The question we have to answer, before complaining to God, is: are we doing our part,” Scicluna told …

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Greek police have rescued a group of 92 illegal migrants who were discovered naked, and some with injuries, close to its northern border with Turkey, police said Saturday. The migrants, all men, were discovered close to the Evros river that marks the border between Greece and Turkey on Friday, Greek police said in a statement. An investigation by Greek police and officials from the EU border agency Frontex, found evidence that the migrants crossed the river into Greek territory in rubber dinghies from Turkey, police said. “Border policemen…discovered 92 illegal migrants without clothes, some of whom had injuries on their …

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U.S. President Joe Biden says he thought British Prime Minister Liz Truss’ original economic plan was a mistake and that he wasn’t alone. Truss’ plan led to a steep dive in the value of the British pound. “I wasn’t the only one that thought it was a mistake,” Biden said to reporters during a stop at an ice cream shop in Oregon where he was helping campaign for Tina Kotek, who is running for Oregon governor. The White House has refrained from commenting on Truss’ problems and when asked about the strength of the U.S. dollar, Biden said, “I’m not …

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Saturday called for reforms of the European Union to make it fit for the admission of new countries as well as more military autonomy of the 27-country bloc. Speaking at the Congress of the Party of European Socialists in Berlin, Scholz advocated for gradually abolishing the principle of unanimity for decisions in foreign policy, but also in other areas such as tax policy. “I know that we still have a lot of convincing to do there,” the chancellor said. “But I also say clearly: if a geopolitical Europe is our aspiration, then majority decisions are a …

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Egypt’s energy minister says gas supplies in the Mediterranean region are probably sufficient to meet Europe’s need if investments are made to exploit gas fields in the area.    Egyptian TV reported Saturday that Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades thanked Egypt for its efforts to jointly coordinate the exploitation of regional undersea natural gas resources by putting together the East Mediterranean Gas Forum last June.   Arab media also reported Saturday that Egypt’s energy minister, Tarek el Molla, who attended the one-day conference bringing together several nations in Cyprus Friday, said that gas supplies in the East Med region will be …

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Two women have been charged with criminal damage after climate change protesters threw soup on Vincent van Gogh’s painting “Sunflowers” at London’s National Gallery, British police said Saturday. A video posted by the Just Stop Oil campaign group, which has been holding protests for the last two weeks in the British capital, showed two of its activists on Friday throwing tins of Heinz tomato soup over the painting, one of five versions on display in museums and galleries around the world. The gallery said the incident had caused minor damage to the frame, but the painting was unharmed. It later …

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Iran has once again rejected allegations that it has supplied Russia with weapons “to be used in the war in Ukraine”, its foreign ministry said Saturday. Kyiv and many of its Western allies have accused Moscow of using Iranian-made drones in attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks. The topic is expected to be discussed by European Union foreign ministers in a meeting in Luxemburg on Monday. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian “emphasized that the Islamic republic of Iran has not and will not provide any weapon to be used in the war in Ukraine,” the foreign ministry said in a …

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