Author: Noel Baldwin

Egypt’s Cabinet approved on Wednesday, a draft decision to pardon the remaining sentence of some convicts, on the occasion of the celebration of Police Day and the January 25 Revolution for the year 2025. During its meeting, the cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli, has also approved a new mechanism to settle LE 60 billion in overdue payments owed to export companies through the Export Development Fund. The move aligns with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s directives to support the export sector and strengthen its role in the national economy. From 2019 to 2024, the government disbursed EGP 70…

Donald Trump on the sidelines in France where he attended the re-opening of a change of direction of U.S. involvement in helping NATO and Ukraine. This was also confirmed by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaking at the OSCE conference in Malta. The Russian take the signaling of the European and U.S. as concerning. Trump is perceived as the rising star on the foreign affair domain as a tough negotiator. The toughness becomes evident with the former Lithuanian prime minister becoming the first dedicated defense commissioner this month, tasked with turbocharging Europe’s defense industry and the stuttering push to…

In a sprawling criminal investigation, all roads lead to the European Parliament’s subcommittee on human rights. Maria Arena is blaming her secretary. The Socialist MEP, who chairs the European Parliament’s human rights committee, accepted a trip to Qatar — and then failed to declare properly that the Qatari government paid for her flights and hotel, POLITICO can reveal. Arena has admitted the administrative misdemeanor, but blamed it on her office assistant who she said did not complete the paperwork as required. The senior MEP could now face sanctions including a financial penalty of up to €10,140 or being banned from…

It was bitter cold, but I don’t remember freezing or being cold. Hemingway wrote that the air was so cold when you took a breath it was like drinking water. We travelled by train, then we walked through the cold streets, no bus was running, we had to hustle to catch the last ride up the mountain, then it was up to the mountain, bundled up in two thick woolen blankets with the snow showering us. It was warm looking out of the peep hole I created, flying up the mountains sitting on the last ride of the day. The…

The Union of Shopping Centres (STTs) estimates that half of the country’s shopping centres are facing high debt burdens. Many have taken out loans with floating rates, which creates a risk of widespread bankruptcies. Marina Malakhatko, a senior director at the consulting firm CORE.XP, told the Russian media outlet Kommersant that at least 200 shopping malls will be at risk of bankruptcy in 2025. She said some owners are already looking to sell their assets. Debt servicing has become even tougher after Russia‘s Central Bank was forced to hike interest rates to 21 percent – the highest level in over 20 years. The…

Russian officials allege that Ukraine is gearing up for a chemical weapons attack, with backing from the US-led NATO military alliance. Meanwhile, the UK has imposed sanctions on Russian military units for their involvement in chemical warfare in Ukraine. This development has raised international concerns about the possibility of chemical terrorism in the region. Russian officials claim that Ukraine is preparing for a chemical weapons attack with active support from NATO. The Russian Embassy in Washington has called on the United States to cease backing what they term Kyiv’s “provocations” and to evaluate the risks of potential Ukrainian “chemical terrorism.”…

Moscow (11 September/ 33.33). Russia waged a 2-year war of aggression against its neighbor, the Ukraine. Two years on, hundred thousand of deaths, families destroyed, Russia is no where near its 3-day goals of occupation. The Russian army slugs on, mile for mile, killed for killed. Vladimir Putin and his Siloviki continues a red army model. Heavy artillery, wave of men urging forward. The result, mass casualties. Total loss of life, and equipment. What does Russians do if in trouble. Reversing to its all bag of tricks. Spies and sabotage. Recent Russian sabotage operations across Europe were “reckless”, Moore said,…

The terrorist attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall in March 2024, which left 140 people dead, has sparked a crackdown on central Asian workers living in Russia, and put the relationship between the region and Russia under increasing strain. The four suspected gunmen under arrest are all citizens of Tajikistan, a central Asian nation that was once part of the Soviet Union. Following the Crocus City attack, Russian police started rounding up and deporting workers who are originally from Tajikistan, as well as from Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The attack, which Russia has blamed on Ukraine, also sparked massive police raids, document checks of migrants…

Russia may respond to any U.S. confiscation of its currency reserves frozen in the West by seizing the assets, including property and cash, of U.S. citizens and investors in Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, a senior security official, said on Saturday. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill allowing the Biden administration to confiscate Russian assets held in American banks and transfer them to Ukraine, something the Kremlin has said would be illegal and trigger retaliation. In response to Russia’s war in Ukraine, the United States and its allies prohibited transactions with Russia’s central bank and finance ministry and blocked about…

The Czechs have never forgotten that allies handed over their Sudetenland Province to Hitler in 1938 after the German dictator promised it would be “last territorial demand I have to make in Europe.” The Czechs have never forgotten that allies handed over their Sudetenland Province to Hitler in 1938 after the German dictator promised it would be “the last territorial demand I have to make in Europe.” Months later, Nazis occupied their country and waged war in Europe and around the world for seven more years, killing tens of millions. To many today, Ukraine is the next Sudetenland as it…