World News & Politics Without Bias

What are​ the major wars of our time? Ukraine and Gaza, of course. But what about Syria, Yemen, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Sudan? Most of these are civil wars with very large numbers of fatalities. But they inspire much less interest than Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine or Israel’s attack on Gaza. The war in Syria received years of diligent consideration, if only because the principal crimes were carried out by designated enemies of the US and UK. On the few occasions when the British government was forced to defend its co-sponsorship with the US of the catastrophic Saudi intervention in Yemen (including its supply of at least £23 billion worth of arms), it offered up paper-thin arguments but was met with little criticism. The attitude to Yemen has been affected ignorance, but the conflicts in Myanmar, Sudan and especially Ethiopia have been greeted with something closer to indifference. None of them greatly increases the risk of global thermonuclear war, so the stakes are lower than in Ukraine. But that alone can’t explain the almost complete lack of interest.

The next major geopolitical conflict is brewing in the Sahel region, in the north-central stretch of Africa south of the Sahara. Islamists and armed militias are plunging the entire region into chaos, and it is even possible a new jihadist emirate may emerge. Experts are already predicting there will be thousands of new refugees.

The Vanuatu Government is considering the possibility of allowing the Manila Times University of Philippines to run nursing courses at the Vanuatu College of Nursing Education (VCNE) starting from June.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) plans to recruit nearly 100 qualified nurses from the Solomon Islands this year, as a significant number of these critical positions remain unfilled to meet the growing demand for services.

There is a need for 100 more doctors in the health system to fill the current shortage in the public health service says Professor Asiata Dr. Satupaitea Viali, the Dean of the Oceania University of Medicine.

Islamic State claimed responsibility on Thursday for two explosions in Iran that killed nearly 100 people and wounded scores at a memorial for top commander Qassem Soleimani.

In a statement posted on its affiliate Telegram channels, the militant Sunni Muslim group said two IS members had detonated explosive belts in the crowd that had gathered at the cemetery in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman on Wednesday.

The memorial was marking the fourth anniversary of the death of Soleimani, who was assassinated in Iraq in 2020 by a U.S. drone.

In Washington, White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters the United States was in no position to doubt Islamic State's claim that it was responsible for Wednesday's attack.

Tehran has vowed revenge for the bloodiest such attack since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The twin blasts also wounded 284 people, including children.

"A very strong retaliation will be meted out to them by the hands of the soldiers of Soleimani," Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber told reporters in Kerman.

> > > Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it killed Saleh al-Arouri in a drone strike in the Lebanese capital on Tuesday. But military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces were in a high state of readiness and prepared for any scenario. > > > > The assassination was a further sign that the nearly three-month war between Israel and Hamas was spreading across the region, drawing in the occupied West Bank, Hezbollah forces on the Lebanon-Israel border, and even Red Sea shipping lanes. > >

Hundreds of Kosovars rushed to Pristina airport to travel to EU countries on Monday after visas for Europe's open-borders Schengen zone were waived.

Kosovo was the only country in the Western Balkans whose citizens still needed visas to travel to the EU, many of whose members are part of the programme.

> > > 78 years since the end of World War II, Japan has decided to take yet another step on the path toward becoming a “normal nation,” able to employ its military to boost its national interests like any other. > > > > On December 22, the administration of Prime Minister Kishida Fumio revised guidelines on defense exports, allowing the transfer of finished lethal equipment, such as missiles, abroad for the first time. > > > > This marks another major shift in the nation’s post-war policy of maintaining an exclusively defense-oriented policy, following last year’s historic decision to acquire – and possibly use – so-called “counterstrike capabilities” to strike back against enemy missile bases in the event of an armed attack on Japan. > > > > Specifically, at the request of Washington, this time Tokyo has decided to export the Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC) system, or an air and missile defense (AMD) system, owned by Japanese Self-Defense Forces (JSDF), to the United States, where the interceptor system is licensed. > > > > Demand for air defense systems, including Patriot surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) has significantly increased in countries such as Ukraine, Poland, Israel, and Taiwan and elsewhere in recent years. Accordingly, the U.S. has been drawing on its own missile inventory to provide those countries with missile interceptor systems. Exports from Japan will make up for its ally’s shortfall. > >

In a bid to address the pressing shortage of healthcare professionals, the Guyana government has announced its intentions

A key committee in the Turkish parliament on Tuesday approved Sweden's bid to join NATO after months of delays, clearing another hurdle in the Nordic country's accession process in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year.

Several thousand people protested in front of the central election commission building in Belgrade over an election that international monitors said was unfair.

Ethiopia became Africa's third default in as many years on Tuesday after it failed to make a $33 million "coupon" payment on its only international government bond.

Africa's second most populous country announced earlier this month that it intended to formally go into default, having been under severe financial strain in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and a two-year civil war that ended in November 2022.

It had been supposed to make the payment on Dec. 11, but technically had up until Tuesday to provide the money due to a 14-day 'grace period' clause written into the $1 billion bond.

According to two sources familiar with the situation, bondholders had not been paid the coupon as of the end of Friday Dec. 22, the last international banking working day before the grace period expires.

Ethiopian government officials did not respond to requests for comment on Friday or over the weekend, but the widely-expected default will see it join two other African nations, Zambia and Ghana, in a full-scale "Common Framework" restructuring.

Moscow: Russia may cut diplomatic ties with the United States if Washington confiscates Russian assets frozen over the Ukrainian war, the Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Friday.

The United States "must not act under an illusion that Russia is clinging with both hands to diplomatic relations with that country," Ryabkov said.

BEIJING: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has told the Philippines to address through dialogue serious difficulties in their relations over the South China Sea, warning that any miscalculation would prompt Beijing to defend itself and "respond resolutely".

Beijing and Manila have traded sharp accusations in recent months over a succession of run-ins in the South China Sea.

The United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) has temporarily suspended food assistance in some parts of Sudan's state of Gezira as fighting spreads south and east of Sudan's capital Khartoum, the aid agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

For the first time since mass European migration to the Americas at the turn of the 20th century, the number of foreigners living in Uruguay is on the rise, this time driven by a wave of arrivals from Venezuela and Cuba.

Malaysia’s government announced Wednesday that it was imposing a ban on all Israeli owned and flagged ships, as well as any vessels headed to Israel, from docking at its ports.

CAIRO/GAZA/JERUSALEM, Dec 20 (Reuters) - The leader of Hamas paid his first visit to Egypt for more than a month on Wednesday, a rare personal intervention in diplomacy amid what a source described as intensive talks on a new ceasefire to let aid reach Gaza and free more hostages.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who normally resides in Qatar, typically wades publicly into diplomacy only when progress seems likely. He last travelled to Egypt in early November before the announcement of the only deal on a ceasefire in the Gaza war so far, a week-long pause that saw the release of about 110 of 240 hostages taken by Hamas in its Oct. 7 rampage into Israel.

Islamic Jihad, a smaller Palestinian militant group that is also holding hostages in Gaza, said its leader would also visit Egypt in coming days to discuss a possible end to the conflict.

> > > Freight rates for Indian shipments headed to Europe and Africa could surge as much as 25-30 per cent if the ongoing security concern along the Red Sea trade route – the shortest trade route for ships moving from Asia to Europe – were to continue, according to Indian merchandise exporters. > > > > The disruption assumes significance as Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Arabian Sea via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, is vital for 30 per cent of global container traffic and India relies on the route to trade with parts of West Asia, Africa, and Europe. It also comes at a time when exports are already slowing due to sluggish global demand. > >

French lawmakers gave their final approval to a contested bill that toughens rules for immigrants on Tuesday, giving President Emmanuel Macron a policy victory that nonetheless exposed cracks in his centrist majority.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia would be prepared to talk to Ukraine, the United States and Europe about the future of Ukraine if they wanted to, but that Moscow would defend its national interests. Putin, who sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, has repeatedly said he would be prepared to talk about peace, though Western officials say he is waiting for the U.S. presidential election in November before making a genuine effort.