Month: May 2023

Iran’s oil minister Javad Owji said that the oil market is on the right track after decisions made by OPEC+, the semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim reported on Wednesday. “Iran and Russia have the same views inside OPEC+,” Owji added on the sidelines of an Iranian-Russian conference of economic cooperation held in Tehran. OPEC and its allies led by Russia, known as OPEC+, agreed to cut production in late 2022 to support the market as the economic outlook worsened, hitting prices. Then in a surprise move in early April, Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ members announced further oil output cuts …

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The U.N. special rapporteur for Myanmar said Wednesday that Myanmar’s military has imported at least a $1 billion worth of weapons and weapons materials since overthrowing the democratically elected government in February 2021, with Russia as the junta’s top supplier. “Russia and China continue to be the main suppliers of advanced weapons systems to the Myanmar military, accounting for over $400 million and $260 million respectively since the coup, with much of the trade originating from state-owned entities,” Tom Andrews said. He told reporters at a news conference at U.N. headquarters that weaponry provided by Russian suppliers has been used …

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Britain’s Prince Harry, his wife Meghan and her mother were involved in a “near catastrophic car chase” involving paparazzi photographers, a spokesperson for the prince said on Wednesday. It occurred after the couple had attended an awards ceremony held in New York by the Ms. Foundation for Women, where Meghan was honored for her work.   Pictures that have appeared on social media have shown Harry, Meghan and her mother, Doria Ragland, in a taxi.   “Last night, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Ms Ragland were involved in a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a …

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The U.S. military has confirmed another Russian military aircraft was tracked while operating near the U.S. state of Alaska on Monday, the second such incident in less than a week. North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said that it had “detected and tracked” one Russian military aircraft while it was operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter U.S. or Canadian sovereign airspace, according to a NORAD press release. Speaking to VOA on Wednesday, a NORAD official declined to identify the type of Russian military aircraft, adding that …

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A French appeals court on Wednesday upheld a one-year prison sentence for former President Nicolas Sarkozy on a conviction for corruption and influence peddling. His lawyer said he will take the case to France’s highest court and insisted that Sarkozy is innocent. The 68-year-old ex-president would not have to serve time until a final ruling, and if definitively convicted, he could ask to serve his sentence at home. Sarkozy, 68, was convicted in 2021 of trying to bribe a magistrate in exchange for information about a legal case in which he was implicated. It was the first time in modern …

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The symbolism will be palpable when leaders of the world’s rich democracies sit down in Hiroshima, a city whose name evokes the tragedy of war, to tackle a host of challenges including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rising tensions in Asia. The attention on the war in Europe comes just days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy completed a whirlwind trip to meet many of the Group of Seven leaders now heading to Japan for the summit starting Friday. That tour was aimed at adding to his country’s weapons stockpile and building political support ahead of a widely anticipated counteroffensive to …

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Britain is accelerating plans to protect London from flooding caused by a warming climate and rising sea levels, bringing forward its scheme to protect the city center by 15 years. London, which sits on a tidal stretch of the River Thames about 80 kilometers from the sea, is protected from storm surges by a 520-meter-wide movable flood barrier east of the city that is raised a handful of times each year. The government said in a statement it was speeding up an existing climate adaptation program, bringing forward a target to raise defenses in the city to 2050, rather than …

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European leaders on Tuesday pledged to hold Russia to account for its war against Ukraine and unveiled a mechanism to track the losses and damage inflicted by Moscow’s forces. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak were among those who underlined their support for Ukraine in a rare meeting of the Council of Europe rights body as it convenes in Iceland for a two-day summit. They were joined via video link by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the heels of his tour of European capitals to secure more weapons and aid before an …

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Russian authorities have suspended the release of an award-winning film about a serial killer who targets sex workers in Iran, a distributor said on Tuesday. “Holy Spider,” directed by Danish Iranian Ali Abbasi, was inspired by a true story about a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war who killed 16 sex workers in the early 2000s in Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city and a main shrine city of Shiite Islam. The move comes as Russia and Iran are seeking closer ties amid Moscow’s growing isolation in the West over its war on Ukraine. Russia has become increasingly conservative since President Vladimir Putin …

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