Politics

The United States will take part in joint military exercises with India less than 100 kilometers from the South Asian country's disputed border with China. The drills will be held in mid-October at an altitude of 10,000 feet in Auli in the Indian state of Uttarakhand and will focus on high-altitude warfare training, according to a senior Indian Army officer with knowledge of the matter. Auli is about 95 kilometers from the Line of Actual Control (LAC), an inhospitable piece of land where the disputed border between India and China is roughly demarcated. Sino-Indian relations, strained since a deadly clash between their armies in the Himalayas in June 2020 and further aggravated by China's building of a bridge over the Pangong Tso lake on the border, were further upset by a visit to Ind...

States President Joe Biden revealed that Osama bin Laden's successor and al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri had been killed in a drone strike. Zawahiri, who was 71 years old, had remained a visible symbol of the terrorist organization for 11 years after bin Laden's death. At one point, he acted as bin Laden's personal physician. According to White House press secretary Joe Biden, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri was sheltering in downtown Kabul to reunite with his family. He was killed in what a senior administration official described as "a precise tailored airstrike" using two Hellfire missiles. The strike was authorized by Biden following weeks of meetings with his Cabinet and key advisers, the official said on Monday, adding that no American personnel were on the ground in Kabul at...

The European commission on Wednesday outlined its plan to reduce gas use by 15 in Europe as it works to strengthen the region's energy resilience in the face of growing geopolitical difficulties with Russia’s energy supplies. The commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced the construction of a Save Gas for a Safe Winter  package, stating that member states had been struck by either a partial or total cut-off from Russia s gas supply. The European Commission proposed new rules today aimed at reducing EU member states' dependency on Russian natural gas. According to Vice President of the European Commission, Jyrki Katainen, a total shut off of Russian gas is a "likely scenario." "Russia is blackmailing us," he said. "Russia is using energy as a weapon." The package proposes...

Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, confronted Joe Biden on Friday after the US president questioned him about the murder in 2018 of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. MBS, also known as Bin Salman, did not provide accountability for the demise of Jamal Khashoggi in the consulate of Turkey's kingdom. Biden said he was not in agreement with MBS, as indicated by American assessments, based on the source. In response to Biden bringing up the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Mohammed bin Salman cited sexual and physical abuse of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison by US military personnel and the May killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the occupied West Bank as incidents that reflected poorly on the US. Prince Faisal bin Farh...

At a Wednesday interview, former President Joe Biden said former US President Donald Trump made a "gigantic mistake" for withdrawing the US from the Iranian nuclear deal and regretted Iran's progress toward acquiring a nuclear weapon. The President said in an interview, "The only thing worse than the Iran that exists now is Iran with nuclear weapons." The President's comments come amid rising tensions with Iran and as Biden faces increasing pressure from key Middle East allies to outline a comprehensive plan to constrain Iran. Biden said in the interview he would use force "as a last resort" to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The President said he was also committed to keeping the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, on the foreign terrorist list, even if it would ki...

Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering told NBC that she didn't know where the gun used Monday in her city's mass shootings came from, but did know that it had been legally obtained. Rotering had known the suspect in the shooting, Robert Crimo III, as a child and believed that he had not been previously known for questioning by the police. I suspect he's the individual Highland Park PD recognized as the gunman who shot during a Fourth of July parade. At least five people were killed, and dozens were injured. The gunman was detained Monday evening. Chris Prizon, the mayor of Crimo, said several of his online posts contained a pattern and a desire to commit violence for a long time in advance. And that's a point where you take a step back and you think, "What happened? How did so...

An official statement said that a Russian airstrike struck a shopping mall in Kremenchuk, central Ukraine, on Monday, setting the building ablaze and prompting speculation of mass casualties. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was quoted as saying on the day of the attack that up to 1,000 people were in the mall when it was hit by missiles, adding, "The number of victims is impossible to imagine." Later on Monday, the head of the Poltava region military administration, Dmytro Lunin said 10 people had died in the attack. Another person later died at hospital, taking the death toll to 11. At least 58 people were injured, officials said. Video from the scene showed heavy smoke billowing from the building which was engulfed by fire. The mall measures about one hectare -- roughly the si...

For several years, lovers have called for awareness of Asia: this is where some of the largest CO2 emitters reside. burn fossil fuels to tackle climate change. Since late February, global energy prices have jumped because Russia invaded Ukraine. Countries in the region—including its three biggest economies China, Japan, and India—were criticized last year for not making a bigger commitment at the COP26 global climate change conference. But six months on, there is another, arguably more immediate reason for Asia to make the transition away from oil, gas, and coal: money. The continent of Europe is attempting to lessen its reliance on natural gas from Russia by exploring the possibilities of using hydrogen as a replacement. Japan, South Korea and China have invested heavily in hydr...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian artillery had "destroyed" 113 churches during the "full-scale war" with Ukraine up to that point. Zelensky described the monasteries that were destroyed by the Russian army during its occupation of Ukraine. He said, "Among them are the ancient ones - those that withstood World War II, but did not withstand the Russian occupation." He said that Skete of All Saints of the Sviatohirsk Lavra was rebuilt in 2001. June 10 would be another anniversary of its reconstruction. On Saturday, CNN reported that All Saints Church in Sviatorsky Lavra had been "destroyed" by Russian shells.   Zelensky noted in his address that it is not the first time that Russian forces have shelled the monastery and that three monks were kill...

Attention is rising regarding the case of Australian television host Cheng Lei, who has been detained in China for two years after being arrested for an interview with her partner where he was rumored to have alleged the authorities had restricted her access to embassy officials and had restricted her food. Cheng, a former undertaking presenter for CCTV China and mother of two, is accused of illegally supplying state secrets overseas, a charge that carries potential incarceration of as much as five years. The Chinese-born Australian artist and activist Yang Li was arrested in August 2020 amid rapidly worsening ties between Canberra and Beijing, the capital of China. Her partner Nick Coyle, the outgoing head of the China-Australia Chamber of Commerce, told CNN affiliate Sky News Aust...