Geopolitical News from the modern world

Monthly archive

Ottobre 2017 - page 6

Southern Yemen leader sees independence referendum soon

in MIDLE EAST/PRESS RELEASE/REGIONS by

Yemen’s former Aden governor, who has declared a council that seeks secession for southern Yemen, said a referendum on independence would be announced soon. Aidaroos Al-Zubaidi, who governed Yemen’s main southern city of Aden until he was sacked by President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi in April, made his announcement during an interview with a local news channel. Al-Zubaidi announced on May 11 the new council formed by senior tribal, military and political figures. The council seeks the secession of southern Yemen and is looking to establish a political leadership under his presidency that would represent and administer the south. The move threatens more turmoil in the impoverished country where the internationally recognized government is forced to sit in Aden because Houthi rebels control the capital Sanaa. Hadi’s government has rejected the formation of the council, saying it would deepen divisions and play into the hands of the Houthi rebels.

 

 

You might be interested in

North Korea is preparing to launch another ballistic missile before a joint naval drill by the US and South Korea

in MIDLE EAST/PRESS RELEASE/REGIONS by

North Korea is believed to be preparing to launch a missile before a joint naval drill by the US and South Korea, a news report said on Saturday, citing a government source. The US navy said on Friday that a US aircraft carrier will lead the drill next week, a fresh show of force against North Korea as tensions soar over the hermit state’s weapons programme. The move is likely to rile Pyongyang which has previously responded angrily to joint exercises. The Donga newspaper, quoting a government source, said satellite pictures show missiles mounted on launchers being transported out of hangars near Pyongyang and in North Phyongan Province. US and South Korean military officials suspect the North might be preparing to launch missiles capable of reaching US territory, the newspaper said. A defence ministry spokesman declined to comment on the report, saying: “We don’t comment on any matters of military intelligence”. “We are keeping a close watch over the North”, he said. The joint drills led by the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier come after hectic US military hardware movements around the Korean peninsula in recent days. Professor Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies said it was “highly likely” that the North could launch missiles in response to next week’s joint navy drill. US President Donald Trump’s continued threats of military action against Pyongyang if it does not tame its weapons ambitions have fuelled fears of conflict on the Korean peninsula. But military intervention against North Korea would have “devastating consequences”, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg warned on Friday, after Trump said diplomatic efforts had failed.

You might be interested in

Small quake registered in North Korea near nuclear test site

in ASIA/PRESS RELEASE/REGIONS by

The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a small earthquake in an area of North Korea where previous nuclear tests have been carried out. The USGS said the magnitude 2.9 quake occurred about 13 miles northeast of Sungjibaegam, North Korea. It added that the quake was recorded “in the area of the previous North Korean Nuclear tests”. The USGS noted, “The event has earthquake like characteristics, however, we cannot conclusively confirm at this time the nature (natural or human-made) of the event. The depth is poorly constrained and has been held to 5 km (3 miles) by the seismologist”. The USGS further added that the Air Force Technical Applications Center is the only organization in the federal government whose mission is to detect and report technical data from foreign nuclear explosions. Earlier last month, on September 23, a magnitude 3.4 earthquake was registered under Mt. Mantap, an area of North Korea where earthquakes do not normally occur. Later, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and UC Santa Cruz released a joint report that concluded that tunnels in the test site collapsed after the quake.

You might be interested in

North Korea claims it will not agree to nuclear deal

in ASIA/PRESS RELEASE/REGIONS by

In a statement issued on Russian state-run media, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho said that as long as the United States keeps applying pressure, it won’t agree to any deal. He said that U.S. President Donald Trump has “lit the fuse of war” with his “belligerent and insane statement” at the United Nations General Assembly. Yong-ho add, that North Korea has “nearly achieved the final point on the way to our ultimate goal, to achieving a real balance of force with the United States. Our nuclear weapons will never be a subject matter of negotiations as long as the United States’ policy of pressure on the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] has not been uprooted once and for all”. The North Korean Foreign Minister emphasized that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s warning for the United States to “act sensibly and stop troubling us” if it does not want to face a strike by the regime, adding that the United States will not “go unpunished”. The report noted that Kim Jong Un is said to have emphasized at the 7th Congress of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party that nuclear weapons are necessary for “protecting the destiny and sovereignty of our motherland from American nuclear threats”. Yong-ho said that it is Washington’s “turn to pay” and that the North Korean military servicemen and people “insistently demand that final scores be settled with the Americans only with a hail of fire, and not with words. Russian President Vladimir Putin “also acknowledged that the North Koreans will never give up nuclear weapons, even if they eat the grass, and stressed that the sanctions and the military hysteria won’t bring anything good”. He further added that North Korea sees “no prospect for improving the inter-Korean relations” as long as Seoul continues to resort to sanctions and a pressure campaign in line with the United States

You might be interested in

Xi Jinping’s debt-relief recipe: how China’s biggest bond defaulter unloaded its liabilities

in ASIA/PRESS RELEASE/REGIONS by

The massive steel plant in Dengshahe, which dominates a brutal, industrial landscape 50km northeast of downtown Dalian, is a source of pride and shame for the local economy. Ultimately owned by Liaoning’s provincial government, it produces the country’s best steel, with its high-quality products used in Chinese spaceships and rockets. But it is also the country’s biggest ever bond defaulter and a textbook example of President Xi Jinping’s approach to tackling China’s ballooning corporate debt. Dongbei Special Steel has failed to repay 10 batches of corporate bonds worth 7.1 billion yuan (US$1 billion) since March last year, leading to a year-long legal battle between the company and its 1,911 creditors, which include state banks, local lenders and small investors. In the past two years, as Dongbei Special Steel was talking with its creditors, China’s steelmaking landscape changed dramatically, with more than 100 million tonnes of obsolete or unwanted capacity shut down. Meanwhile, the benchmark Shanghai rebar price has almost doubled in the past 18 months, giving those steelmakers allowed to keep operating fat profits. According to official data, steelmakers’ profits were up 106.9 per cent year on year in the first eight months of this year. The Dengshahe steel plant, a key underlying asset of Dongbei Special Steel, made a gross profit of 320 million yuan in the first half of this year, ending years of operating losses, the official China News Service reported.

You might be interested in

Saudi Arabia welcomes ‘firm’ US strategy on Iran

in MIDLE EAST/PRESS RELEASE/REGIONS by

Saudi Arabia has welcomed US President Donald Trump’s “firm” strategy on Iran. Trump on Friday said he would not certify that Tehran is complying with the nuclear agreement struck with other world powers, warning he might ultimately terminate it. He announced the major shift in US policy in a speech in which he detailed a more confrontational approach to Iran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and alleged support for extremist groups in the Middle East, Reuters reported. Saudi Arabia praised Trump’s “vision” and commitment to work with US allies in the region in order to face “common challenges, particularly Iran’s aggressive policies and actions”. A statement stressed that Saudi Arabia had previously supported the nuclear agreement between Iran and the “5 + 1” powers, in the belief that it is necessary to limit proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. But it added that Iran had “exploited” the economic benefits of eased sanctions and continued to “destabilize the region”.

You might be interested in

China’s trade with North Korea slumped after nuclear sanctions

in ASIA/PRESS RELEASE/REGIONS by

China’s trade with North Korea slumped in September, amid United Nations sanctions aimed at deterring Kim Jong-un from pursuing his missile and nuclear weapons programmes. Exports to the restive state in the month fell 6.7 per cent from a year ago, while imports fell 37.9 per cent, customs administration spokesman Huang Songping said at a briefing in Beijing. North Korea’s deficit with China in the first nine months more than tripled from the same period of 2016, to US$1.07 billion, he said, without elaborating. With China’s support, the UN has agreed on two rounds of sanctions since the beginning of August, including bans on North Korean exports of iron, coal, lead, seafood, textiles, and oil import restrictions.  China’s overall trade with North Korea for the first nine months of the year rose 3.7 per cent year on year to US$4.03 billion, slowing from 7.5 per cent for the January through August period. China’s exports to North Korea from January to September rose 20.9 per cent to US$2.55 billion while imports fell 16.7 per cent to US$1.48 billion. The customs agency said it would publish details of its trade in specific products with North Korea on October 23.

You might be interested in

Bigger role of China in Unesco after US withdrawal

in ASIA/PRESS RELEASE/REGIONS by

The US withdrawal from Unesco could give China scope to take a bigger role in the world heritage body, analysts say, as Beijing seeks to boost its international soft power. Irina Bokova, director general of Unesco, expressed her “profound regret” at the decision. The loss of its biggest donor could seriously undermine the operation and functioning of Unesco, and China will likely take on a greater role, according to Jin Canrong, an international relations expert at Renmin University in Beijing. “It is inevitable that China’s importance in this organisation will increase, but I don’t think China wants to take over the role of the United States”, he said. Beijing on Friday said it would continue participating and cooperating with other countries in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation after Washington announced it would leave the agency the previous day. “China values the importance of Unesco and would like to contribute more to the organisation’s cooperation”, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing in Beijing. China is the third largest contributor to Unesco, providing 7.9 per cent of funding to the organisation. That compares to the 22 per cent the United States used to provide, and 9 per cent from Japan.

 

 

You might be interested in

Russia declares ISIL operates near U.S base in Syria

in MIDLE EAST/PRESS RELEASE/REGIONS by

Russia made today a new accusation to the United States, of allowing Islamic State to operate “under its nose” in Syria, saying Washington was letting the militant group move about freely in an area abutting a U.S. military base. The allegations, made by Russia’s Defence Ministry, centre on a U.S. military base at Tanf, a strategic Syrian highway border crossing with Iraq in the south of the country. The United States says the Tanf facility is a temporary base used to train partner forces to fight against Islamic State. But Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defence Ministry, said Moscow wanted to know how around 300 Islamic State militants in pickup trucks had passed through the U.S.-controlled area and tried to block the highway between Damascus and Deir al-Zor used to supply Syrian forces.“We issue a warning. All responsibility for sabotaging the peace process will lay exclusively with the American side”, he added.

You might be interested in

Iraqi forces, Coalition liberate 10,850 square kilometers in Hawija

in MIDLE EAST/PRESS RELEASE/REGIONS by

Iraqi forces regained control of 10,850 square kilometers from the Islamic State (ISIS) in Hawija, a military spokesman said on Thursday (October 12). Spokesman of Joint Operations Room of the Iraqi Army, Yahya Rasul, said during a press conference with Coalition forces spokesman, Colonel Ryan Dillon, that the Iraqi forces backed by the Coalition, continue advancing against the ISIS militants. “We will celebrate victory over the recapture of the areas controlled by Daesh”, Rasul added, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. The Iraqi Prime Minister last week confirmed the capture of Hawija, ISIS’ last stronghold in the north of the country, leaving the militant group holed up in pockets of land near the Syrian border.

You might be interested in

1 … 4 5 6 7 8 … 25
pressrelease
0 £0.00
Go to Top
× How can I help you?