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The United States and the Republic of Korea have decided to postpone joint military exercises, which were supposed to begin next week, in connection with the spread of the new coronavirus.  This is stated in a statement published on Wednesday by the command of American troops on the Korean peninsula.  "In light of the highest level of anxiety announced by the Government of the Republic of Korea on COVID-19 [new coronavirus infection], the Alliance of the Republic of Korea and the United States decided to postpone the joint command and staff exercises of the command of the combined forces of the United States and Republic of Korea to further orders," the document says .  Pentagon chief Mark Esper said Monday that both countries are considering cutting back on upcoming military exercises due to the virus.  

By Victoria Hudson. The production of the last film in the "Mission: Impossible" series starring Tom Cruise was stopped in Italy following the outbreak of coronavirus cases. According to US media, the seventh episode of the Paramount Pictures series had in fact planned to shoot in Venice for three weeks, but Cruise did not travel to Italy and the cinematographic production staff was allowed to return home. "For an excess of caution on the safety and well-being of our cast and our crew, we are changing our three-week filming plans in Venice, the first leg of the extensive production for 'Mission: Impossible 7," said in a note to The Wrap a Paramount spokesman, also quoting the municipality's decision to ban gatherings to try to contain the spread of the virus in Italy. So far in Italy there are seven victims, 229 infected and two new cases in Palermo and Florence. According to the new report of the Region, the number of people with Coronavirus p...

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo in a telephone conversation reminded Iraqi appointed Prime Minister Mohammed Tawfik Alawi of the republic’s obligations to protect American diplomats, military personnel and facilities.  This is stated in a written statement published on Sunday following the results of their conversation, the head of the press service of the State Department, Morgan Ortegus. Secretary of State Pompeo welcomed Alawi’s promise to hold early elections to strengthen Iraq’s democratic system. He called on the new Prime Minister to resolve differences with the Kurdish and Sunni political leaders in Iraq to ensure success in addressing the vital challenges facing his government. The Secretary of State also focused on  Iraq’s commitment to protect diplomats, military personnel, and the facilities of the United States and the Washington-led international anti-terrorism coalition. The head of the Department of State and the appointed prime minister "discuss...

The decision to dissolve the Thai opposition Future Forward Party may deprive voters of their right to vote.  This is stated in a statement posted on Saturday by the US Embassy in Thailand. "The United States strongly supports democratic governance around the world and appreciates Thailand’s recent appointment of a democratically elected government. Although the United States does not support any particular political party in Thailand, more than 6 million voters have chosen the Future Party in the March 24 election. Decision to dissolve the political union  may deprive her voters of the right to vote and calls into question their representation in the Thai electoral system, "the statement says. On February 21, the Thai Constitutional Court decided to dissolve the opposition Future Party for violating the electoral law, as it accepted an illegal loan from its leader Thanathorn Chungrungreangkit. The court decided that funds in the amount of 191.2 million baht ($ ...

Turkey still interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.  The engagement of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan doesn't limit only to Syria, Libya and Yemen where Erdogan still supporting and financing extremists groups, Turkish interference is becoming more clear even in India. Last week president Erdogan visited Pakistan, talking with journalists the Muslim Brotherhood leader said the situation in Indian Kashmir was worsening because of sweeping changes New Delhi introduced in the Muslim-majority territory and that Turkey stood in solidarity with the people of Kashmir. On Monday India summoned Turkish ambassador, Sakir Ozkan Torunlar, asking him to clarify recent remarks of sultan Erdogan. According to Reuters, "This recent episode is but one more example of a pattern of Turkey interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. India finds that completely unacceptable," foreign ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar said. India brought Kas...

Erdogan’s regime chose to hostile the Arab countries by interfering in the internal affairs of these countries through the use of militant groups and organizations, to impose the Turkish agenda in the region and plunder the wealth of the Arab peoples, especially oil and gas. The Turkish regime lined up under the auspices of Recep Tayyip Erdogan alongside armed militias and extremist groups and provided them with financial, political and media support, to promote the project of the “caliphate” which is recep Tayyip Erdogan’s dream in Ankara and is the same project that ISIS carried out during its invasion of Iraqi lands in 2014. Istanbul embraces dozens of media studios that support the ideology of the terrorist Brotherhood, which broadcasts to a number of Arab countries that reject the Turkish sabotage role, the most prominent of which are channels to broadcast lies and rumors about the situation in Egypt and Libya, Syria. Media platforms funded by Turkey, which target Eg...

Military exercises called "Talos 1 - 2020" with the participation of the National Guard of the Republic of Cyprus and the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle are held in the Eastern Mediterranean. In the maneuvers that began on Monday morning, air defense systems were used to work out a scenario of actions during a hypothetical attack by external forces on the Republic of Cyprus.  “Today the first phase of joint exercises with France took place, the purpose of which was to attack virtual targets,” the publication quotes the words of the Cypriot Minister of Defense Savvas Angelidis. The head of the defense department of the island state also said that he expects during a meeting on Tuesday with his French counterpart Florence Parley to discuss the issue of further cooperation between the two countries in the field of security and defense.  "We will have the opportunity to exchange views on assessing risks for the region," said Angelidis. The Minis...

By Victoria Hudson. Far-right group members arrested in Germany in the context of extensive counter-terrorism investigations were planning large-scale attacks against mosques similar to those in New Zealand last year. The German newspaper "Der Spiegel and Bild" reported that the group, whose 12 members were arrested on Friday, was planning attacks on mosques in times of prayer. Reports revealed that detainees were planning attacks similar to those in Christchurch, New Zealand, where two mosques were targeted by shooting, killing 51 people. According to AFP, the alleged leader of the group, which was kept under surveillance by the authorities, informed his collaborators of his plan during a meeting last week. An informant who entered the group was the one who informed the investigators of the plot. This information moved the authorities to launch raid operations to find out if the suspects were provided with weapons or other materials that could be used to carry ...

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said that soon opposition leader Juan Guaido will go to jail for the crimes he committed against the country.  He made a statement on Friday during a press conference in Caracas. "The day that the republic’s judges issue a warrant to detain Juan Guaidó for all the crimes he committed, he goes to jail that day. That day has not arrived yet, but he will come," said Maduro, whose speech was broadcast on state  to television. The situation in Venezuela escalated after Guaidó, whose appointment to the post of speaker of the parliament two days earlier, was canceled by the Supreme Court on January 23, 2019, declared himself acting president.  He was recognized as the interim head of state by the United States, Lima Group countries (except Mexico), the Organization of American States and most EU countries joined them.  Maduro called the incident an attempted coup and announced the severance of diplomatic relations with the Unite...

On Thursday, UK's finance minister Sajid Javid surprisingly quit as tensions stirred between his team and Johnson's top advisers. Later, Downing Street called a routine reshuffle of ministers. Rishi Sunak is designated as the new Chancellor of the Exchequer. Sunak is 39-year-old, and former Goldman Sachs banker, who became a member of parliament for the overseeing Conservative Party in 2015. He had been shifted for advancement on Thursday after a fast-ascent through government ranks. Sunak had been working as Javid's deputy in the finance ministry. However, barely a few anticipated that Brexit-supporting Oxford graduate would climb to perhaps the highest office of the fifth-largest economy. Son of a GP and pharmacist from Southampton; in 2009, Sunak wedded Akshata, the daughter of an Indian businessman, and philanthropist Narayana Murthy, the co-founder of Infosys. Javid's emphasis on adhering to his fiscal standards of adjusting the present account budget...

Over 60 German nationals are fighting for radical groups in Syria's Idlib, reports say, as a regime assault on the rebel-held territory keeps on seething.  The foreign fighters are generally people from the Al Qaeda-connected group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) and Junud Al-Sham, German television broadcaster SWR provided details on Sunday.  The telecaster stated transcripts of communications on texting apps demonstrated that many fighters were attempting to obtain financial help from supporters in Germany, asking supporters to send donations to a person in Turkey utilizing money transfer or Bitcoins. Idlib, in north-west Syria, is the last significant resistance bastion in the nation.  Three million individuals reside here, half of them previously uprooted by Syria's staggering war.   On Sunday, regime forces promised to keep up the campaign to recapture control of the entire nation, days in the wake of catching swathes of an area in a Russia-b...

President Donald Trump fired Gordon Sondland, the diplomat to the European Union, and Lt Col Alexander Vindman from his White House office on Friday. Both Vindman and Sondland gave damaging testimony during the indictment inquiry against Trump. Sondland said in an announcement that he was advised today that the president expects to review him by taking effect right now as United States Ambassador to the European Union." Hours sooner, Vindman, a Ukraine expert on the national security council who had been booked to rotate out of his White House assignments, was out of nowhere terminated on Friday, as indicated by an announcement from his legal counsel. The lawyer, David Pressman, stated: "He followed orders, he complied with his promise, and he served his nation. What's more, the most influential man on the planet – floated by the silent, the compliant, and the complicit – has chosen to get retribution. "There is no doubt in the minds of any American...

Turkey is not the only one to invite the US wrath as much as India is as it agreed to by the S-400 missile system from Russia last year. Soon, the US had threatened India with sanctions for choosing its arch rival over itself for military sales. But India will receive its first shipment of the missile systems in 2021 at the cost of rubbing Washington the wrong way. India has made a purchase deal of $5 billion in 2018. Speaking at the Defense Expo that concluded in India recently, Deputy Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC), Vladimir Drozhzhov has confirmed that “The contract is being implemented on schedule. The first shipment is due by the end of 2021.” In November 2019 as well, the same agency cited the general director of Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, Alexander Mikheev, as saying deliveries would start in September 2021. Turkey also went and changed course when it shook hands with Russia over a similar deal in July 2...

Iran has posed an atomic threat, and French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to address the issue in the watershed discourse on the nuclear deterrent. Macron has followed the ideas of his forerunners in setting up the milestone address. The address will focus more on France and Europe as they have faced many atomic threats in these recent years. North Korea and Iran pose threats on the atomic stage, and the established arms control deal that has supported western nuclear policy for a considerable length of time is in the process of unraveling.  Macron is expected to commit once again France to the atomic deterrent and define his nation's nuclear stance.  In January 2018 speech, Macron committed France to a renewal of its atomic capacity in air and sea by 2035.  A research associate at Chatham House's Europe Program, Alice Billon-Galland, stated: "We see an arrival to various diverse atomic issues in Iran, in the Korean promontory with a great de...

By Victoria Hudson. On Tuesday, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in Libya, Ghassan Salamè, confirmed in a press conference in Geneva, that the Libyan military dialogue committee (5 GNA + 5 LNA) agree on the need to transform the armistice into a permanent ceasefire. Salamè explained that this principle was adopted as the base of the first session and will be the basis for the work of next days, which will determine the conditions to apply this decision on the ground. "We started with one-to-one sessions and when the time comes, I don't exclude that the two parties will meet." Salamé stressed that it is the first time that high-ranking officials of the two sides have met and it’s not possible to resolve all Libyan issues in one meeting. "Certainly, the European proposal will be put on the table this w eek,” said the UN envoy and head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). In a separate context, ...

On Friday, US President Donald Trump issued an extended version of a visa ban that will target considered migrants from Nigeria and five different nations, which could impact a significant number of people. Four African countries and three other nations which have a Muslim majority are included in the list of visa ban. Immigration advocates and Democrats blame Trump for seeking to extend its initial 2017 ban that focused nations that have a Muslim majority and disproportionately concentrating more on African countries,  The National  reported. During a call with journalists, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf announced that the six nations neglected to meet US security and data sharing benchmarks, which required the new limitations. The issues Wolf referred to were sub-par passport technology and the inability to exchange data on criminals and terror suspects as well. Wolf added that Belarus had taken measures to remedy deficiencies in recent months, an...

By Victoria Hudson. The epidemic caused by the coronavirus arrived from China doesn’t stop. 46 deaths occurred only yesterday, the highest amount so far. The number of people infected has risen to 11,943, while the deaths are 259, according to the health authorities of the province of Hubei, in central China, where 1,347 new cases have been reported, 7153 in total. There are now 18,000 suspect cases in the country and 118,000 people under observation. Chinese authorities asked Saturday morning to postpone marriages and to reduce the funeral times to limit the spread of coronavirus in the country, as stated in a note from the Ministry of Civil Affairs. February 2 of this year is considered a lucky date for the sequence of numbers "02022020". Beijing, Shanghai and other cities had initially decided to offer the possibility of getting married on this date, despite the fact that it occurs on Sunday when the offices are normally closed, but now, in light of the e...

By Victoria Hudson. It is the darkest day for China since the beginning of the coronavirus epidemic. According to the latest data, published on the night between Thursday and Friday, the new death toll from respiratory problems related to the virus has reached 43, the highest number recorded so far, bringing the total to 213. With about 2 thousand new confirmed infections, the total is close to 10,000 people, passing the number of Sars’ cases between 2002 and 2003. While the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the epidemic a “global health emergency”, international isolation from China is growing. Italy, where have been registered 2 cases, currently is the only country to have completely blocked air traffic to and from China, but the United States now advise to not travel in the People's Republic while Japan has announced that will no longer let infected individuals enter its territory. At the moment, according to WHO numbers, there are no signs that the ...