Author: Ermenegilde Petit

Berlin/Singapore (1/3 – 38.46).               Russian propagandists have published a recording of a “conversation between four senior German officers”. In it, they discuss the possible supply of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. The recording is authentic, the Bundeswehr has since confirmed. “This is a very serious matter and that is why it is now the subject of a very meticulous, in-depth and rapid investigation,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. On Friday afternoon, a half-hour recording of the conversation, which reportedly dates to Monday, Feb. 19, circulated on Russian propaganda channels. Margarita Simonyan, the head of Russia’s state broadcaster RT, then published…

Kenes Rakishev, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fincraft Resources, signed a memorandum of understanding, as well as a shareholder agreement with the Indian holding Monnet Group on the establishment of a joint venture in Kazakhstan for the production of ferro-alloys. The company was named TB Alloys Kazakh Limited. It was confirmed by the Fincraft Resources press service. The new plant is planned to be located in the industrial zone of the city of Taraz. The company has already started pre-design work. At the first stage, the planned capacity of the enterprise will be up to 50 thousand tons…

A man identified as the French climber Remi Lucidi has been found dead in Hong Kong and is believed to have fallen from a high-rise building while attempting a stunt. Police said the body of a 30-year-old man believed to have engaged in extreme sports was found on a patio of an apartment block in the city’s Mid-Levels area. He was named in local media as Lucidi, who had gained a large social media following under the name “Remi Enigma” as he posted photographs from tall structures around the world. Hong Kong police said that after an initial investigation they believed the man had…

French may be the language of Baudelaire, Rimbaud and Voltaire, but sometimes it takes a rugby player from Cork to inject extra oomph. Ronan O’Gara, a former Ireland international who coaches the French club La Rochelle, has lit up the internet with a pep talk to his team that seamlessly blended French with English swearing, graced with a Cork accent. “L’opportunité est fucking énorme,” he told his players on the eve of a match against Bordeaux. They needed to focus on their own performance, he said, jabbing a finger. “Je m’en fucking fous d’adversaire”, O’Gara exhorted, which can be translated as “I don’t give…

Those who have seen Quentin Dupieux’s strange comedy Deerskin, with Jean Dujardin as a murderous would-be cinéaste obsessed with the sartorial superiority of his fringed deerskin jacket, or any of the film-maker’s other wacky adventures, will have an idea what to expect of this latest romp. They may also be justifiably unsure whether to find his movies irresistible or insufferable. I am still undecided in some ways. Incredible But True has a wacky premise that Dupieux very possibly had no idea how to develop. And yet I found myself laughing quite a lot of the time. The sheer silliness and zen…

France recognises the full sovereignty of Malaysia within its internationally-recognised borders. This was affirmed by French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna during a bilateral meeting with Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir on Thursday (June 1), during the latter’s working visit to Paris. A statement released on the French Ministry’s website also said the two ministers underlined the solid foundations of the relationship between France and Malaysia, in particular the seniority and quality of their defence industrial partnership. The two ministers expressed their support for a free, open, inclusive Indo-Pacific space, which also includes South China Sea, where…

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan plan to expand agricultural cooperation, creating modern production facilities, said Kazakh First Vice Minister of Trade and Integration Arman Shakkaliyev at the Asia Grain Conference 2023, which took place on April 25-26 in Almaty, reported the ministry’s press service on April 27. According to Shakkaliyev, the sides plan to launch joint grain and fodder production in the Akmola and Kostanai regions by the year-end, implementing investment agreements and trade contracts signed during Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s state visit to Tashkent in December 2022. “The Uzbek side plans to visit Kazakh regions to determine land plots and conditions of the…

Food price inflation in France – which has been a major concern for consumers – should ease off by September, said government minister Olivia Gregoire on Sunday. “By the time people come back from their holidays in September, we will have a visible decrease in the prices you see on the shelves and in terms of food price inflation,” Gregoire, who is a government minister responsible for small-and-medium sized enterprises (SMEs), told France Inter radio. Gregoire’s comments echoed those from Bank of France governor and European Central Bank member Francois Villeroy de Galhau, who said earlier this month that he expected…

Russia used Iskander-K missiles to strike Ukraine this night , which are difficult to detect and shoot down. This was stated by the speaker of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yuriy Ignat on the air of the telethon. According to him, this cruise missile has the same tactical and technical characteristics as the Kalibr, and due to its low flight altitude, it is difficult to shoot it down. “According to updated information, … Iskander-K missiles were flying from the south direction. This is also a cruise missile, which, in principle, has the same performance characteristics as Caliber, but…

Bolstered French police forces clashed with demonstrators in numerous cities Tuesday as hundred of thousands of marchers protested President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular retirement reform. Security was ramped up for the 10th round of protest marches since January after the government warned that some demonstrators intended “to destroy, to injure and to kill.” The Interior Ministry put the number of demonstrators nationwide at 740,000, down from more than 1 million five days ago when protesters voiced their rage at Macron’s order to ram the bill raising France’s legal retirement age from 62 to 64 through parliament without a vote. The Paris…