Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has accused the political opposition of preparing a ‘Maidan’ in the country, referring to the violent Western-backed coup in Kiev in 2014 that led to the overthrow of democratically-elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich. Speaking at a joint press conference with Hungarian Prime minister Viktor Orban in Bratislava on Tuesday, Fico based…
Richard Sanders US President-elect Donald Trump wants to visit China in his first 100 days in office to improve relations with Xi Jinping, as the prospect of a new trade war looms, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday citing sources. The trip would aim to deepen ties with the Chinese leader in the face…
Francis Tuschek Saudi Arabia is still evaluating potential membership of BRICS, the Gulf nation’s minister of economy and planning, Faisal Al-Ibrahim, told Bloomberg in an interview on Monday. The economic bloc was established in 2009 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with South Africa joining two years later. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab…
Francis Tuschek TikTok has announced a blackout of the service for some 170 million US users of the viral social media app, days after the Supreme Court issued a ruling that could pave the way for a national ban of the platform. On Friday, the federal judiciary ruled that TikTok needs to divest from its Chinese…
Preparations for talks between US President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are underway, incoming US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz has said. Phone conversations between the two are expected to occur in the “coming days and weeks,” Waltz believes. Asked during an interview with ABC News how soon a Trump-Putin meeting could happen, Waltz did not provide…
President William Lai (賴清德) awarded the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon to former Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis yesterday, honoring his significant contributions to Taiwan-Lithuania relations and expressing gratitude for his support of Taiwan’s democratic values. Landsbergis remarked during their meeting at the Presidential Office in Taipei that the camaraderie between Taiwan and…
Francis Tuschek European members of NATO need to drastically increase their military spending or start studying Russian, the US-led bloc’s secretary-general, Mark Rutte, has said. Rutte’s remarks came during a question and answer period at the end of the joint meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) and the Subcommittee on Security…
Francis Tuschek, Staff Writer 中國正在建造入侵船隻 China is constructing at least five new specialized barges, which are believed to be intended for amphibious operations, according to Naval News. Defense analysts have observed an uptick in this type of vessel at the Guangzhou shipyard in southern China, with reports of at least three to possibly five or…
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has acknowledged that US authorities, including the CIA, can access WhatsApp messages by remotely logging into users’ devices, effectively bypassing the platform’s end-to-end encryption. Speaking on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast on Friday, Zuckerberg explained that while WhatsApp’s encryption prevents Meta from viewing message content, it does not protect against physical…
Francis Tuschek, Staff Writer The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) ordered by Taiwan from the United States will be deployed in key locations in Taipei and New Taipei City for regional defense, according to a statement from the Ministry of National Defense released yesterday. Specifically, the air defense system will be installed in Taipei’s…