Author: Avacalar

Moscow (28/2). Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that non-governmental organizations in Central Asia have stepped up their anti-Russian activities amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army. Shoigu said this at the board of the Russian Ministry of Defense on February 27. According to him, there are more than 100 “large pro-Western non-governmental organisations” operating in Central Asia, which have more than 16,000 representative offices and branches. “Against the backdrop of the special military operation, these NGOs have significantly increased their anti-Russian activities in order to reduce military-technical, economic and cultural cooperation between the Central Asian states and Russia.…

Berlin (2/3 – 62.50). Lt. Gen. Alfons Mais says the €100 billion committed by the government last year is insufficient. Meanwhile, an association representing soldiers says the Bundeswehr turnaround needs to speed up. Germany would have to spend more money on its armed forces if it wants it fully equipped, army chief Lieutenant General Alfons Mais said on Sunday. He told the German news agency, dpa, the €100 billion ($107 billion) to speed up the modernization of the armed forces promised by Chancellor Olaf Scholz after Russia invaded Ukraine was not enough. Mais, caused a stir last year when he criticized what he described…

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has a poster hanging on a wall of his office in Tel Aviv, in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. It shows mugshots of hundreds of the Palestinian militant group’s commanders arranged in a pyramid. At the bottom are Hamas’ junior field commanders. At the top is its high command, including Mohammed Deif, the shadowy mastermind of last month’s assault. The poster has been re-printed many times after Israel invaded Gaza in retaliation for Oct. 7: the faces of dead commanders marked with a cross. But the three men topping Israel’s hit-list…

The UN World Food Program said Monday it will end in January its main assistance program across war-torn Syria, where over 12 million people lack regular access to sufficient food.WFP in recent years has scaled down its support in Syria and neighboring countries that host millions of Syrians who fled the conflict, now in its 13th year. Humanitarian agencies have struggled to draw the world’s attention back to Syria as they face donor fatigue and shrinking budgets.In July, WFP said it had to cut assistance to almost half of the 5.5 million Syrians it supported in the country due to budget constraints.A month later, the…

Hamas likely fired a rocket during their October 7 attack on Israel which struck an Israeli military facility that experts believe houses many of Israel’s missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, according to a visual examination of the attack’s aftermath conducted by the New York Times. “While the missiles themselves weren’t hit, the rocket’s impact, at the Sdot Micha base in central Israel, sparked a fire that approached missile storage facilities and other sensitive weaponry,” the New York Times reported. It added: “Israel has never acknowledged the existence of its nuclear arsenal, though Israeli whistle-blowers, US officials and satellite imagery analysts all agree…

An Israeli drone struck Saturday a vehicle deep in Lebanese territory, official media in Lebanon said, after weeks of skirmishes mainly limited to border areas since the Israel-Hamas war began. Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said “an enemy drone targeted a pick-up truck” on a farmland in the Zahrani area on Lebanon’s coast, some 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the Israeli border, without reporting any casualties. The frontier between the two countries has seen daily exchanges of fire, mainly between Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and Israel, since October 7 when attacks on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas sparked war. Saturday’s was…

Nigeria’s state oil firm NNPC Ltd said on Sunday it had restored 275,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil production at its joint venture unit with TotalEnergies after negotiating an end to industrial action by workers. NNPC said in a statement that an agreement to suspend the action had been signed between TotalEnergies, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association and the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, which represent senior and junior workers in the industry. “The unions have agreed to suspend ongoing industrial action leading to immediate restoration of 275,000 barrels of oil per day production,” NNPC…

More than a dozen member states of the World Health Organization submitted a draft resolution on Friday that urged Israel to respect its obligations under international law to protect humanitarian workers in Gaza. War erupted in Gaza after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking hostages, 138 of whom remain captive, according to Israeli figures. Israel’s retaliatory air and ground assault on Gaza has killed 17,487 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the besieged Palestinian territory. The text of the draft resolution is due to be examined…

Almost 20,000 people have been internally displaced in south Lebanon and elsewhere since early October, a UN agency said on Monday, as violence escalates on the Lebanese Israeli border following the eruption of the Gaza war.The International Organization for Migration said 19,646 people had been displaced inside Lebanon since it began tracking movements on Oct. 8, the day after an assault on Israel by Hamas militants and an Israeli counteroffensive on Gaza.It said the movements were mostly by those fleeing the south of Lebanon, while some people have also moved from other areas.Israeli authorities have also been evacuating dozens of towns and communities from…

The head of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon on Tuesday expressed “deep concern” over the potential for further escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, as war rages in the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel from Gaza, Lebanon’s southern border has seen intensifying tit-for-tat exchanges, mainly between Israel and Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, stoking fears of a broader conflagration. Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Lieutenant General Aroldo Lazaro, expressed “deep concern about the situation in the south, and the potential for wider and more intensive hostilities.” “UNIFIL’s priorities…