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As the U.S. and Russia vie for greater influence in Africa, Moscow is seeking access for its warships to a Mediterranean port in Libya that could expand its naval footprint in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s backyard. Senior Russian officials, including Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, met with Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar in recent weeks to discuss long-term docking rights in areas he controls in the war-torn country’s east, according to Libyan officials and advisers.

The weapon Beijing launched over the South China Sea traveled at speeds of more than 15,000 miles an hour as it circled the globe. Flying at least 20 times the speed of sound, it could reach anywhere on earth in less than an hour. The summer 2021 test flight ended with the missile striking near a target in China, but it sent shock waves through Washington.

WARSAW—Russia’s blockage of Ukrainian food exports has become a painful political issue next door in the European Union. EU authorities must decide Friday whether to extend a ban preventing Ukrainian grain from being sold in neighboring EU countries, an issue that has sparked a rift between Kyiv and Poland, one of the Ukrainian government’s strongest backers in the war. The temporary ban, aimed at keeping out cheaper exports, expires at midnight Friday.

Read more of our recent coverage of the Ukraine war In early May Russia’s ambassador to Germany threw a party to honour Soviet victory in the second world war. Guests at the embassy, a Stalin-era colossus that occupies more German territory than the nearby parliament building, included a host of dignitaries. The last boss of communist East Germany, Egon Krenz, now 86, mingled under the chandeliers with Gerhard Schröder, chancellor of united Germany from 1998 to 2005 (and, more recently, a lobbyist for Russian energy firms).

Berkeley Earth, which focuses on environmental data science and analysis, said last month was the warmest August since records began to be kept in 1850, with «particularly warm conditions» prevailing in parts of India, Japan, North Atlantic, Eastern Equatorial Pacific, Northern South America, Central America, parts of Africa and the Middle East. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a US government agency, said on Thursday that 2023 witnessed Earth's hottest August in its 174-year climate record. The sizzling month also marked the northern hemisphere's warmest meteorological summer and the southern hemisphere's warmest meteorological winter on record, the NOAA's National Centres for Environmental Information said. Berkeley Earth said August 2023 exceeded the previous record set in August 2016 by 0.31 degrees Celsius, «a surprisingly large margin, well outside the margin of uncertainty». Its researchers said: «We estimate that 13 per cent of the Earth's surface experienced its locally warmest August average, and 87 per cent of the Earth's surface was significantly warmer when compared to its local average during the period from 1951 to 1980.» In total, they estimated that 65 countries (mostly in the tropics) witnessed their warmest August on record. These countries include Bahrain, Barbados, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, China, Colombia, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Niger, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Turkiye, Venezuela and Yemen. Some of these countries broke their August records by extraordinary margins.

The Financial Times citing American officials. The report came shortly before high-ranking diplomat Rahm Emanuel, the US ambassador to Japan, stated on social media that Li "hasn't been seen or heard from in 3 weeks," and that the minister might have been placed under house arrest, as reported by AFP. These recent events contribute to the mounting signs of possible instability within the Beijing leadership.

By Sudarshan Varadhan

Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia's Security Council, wrote in Russia's foreign intelligence agency's house magazine: «In recent years, hundreds of employees of foreign intelligence services, as well as other persons involved in organising intelligence and subversive activities against our country and our strategic partners, have been identified and neutralised». Patrushev, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is a former director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and is seen as a key advocate of hardline, hawkish policies within the Kremlin.

Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the scheme’s official name in English, as a gift to the world that has created huge economic benefits. China claims that 420,000 jobs have been created in BRI countries and 40m people lifted out of poverty thanks to BRI-generated growth. America, and many of its allies, see the BRI as far less benign: a political tool aimed at stifling foreign criticism of Mr Xi’s iron-fisted rule and providing a leg-up for his country’s firms that has saddled countries with crippling debt.

AP, the demand for food is continuously increasing while humanitarian funding is diminishing. According to WFP estimates from 79 countries where the Rome-based agency operates, up to 783 million people — one in 10 of the world’s population — still go to bed hungry every night.

The price of uranium surged to its highest price in 12 years amid fears of a supply crunch instigated by a coup in Niger, and Canadian miner Cameco’s decision to curtail production, just as demand for the commodity is poised to increase.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stopped in a far eastern Russian city Friday to see a factory that builds the country's most advanced fighter jets on his extended trip that hints at his interest in sophisticated weaponry, as the U.S. and others warned Moscow and Pyongyang against making banned weapons transfer deals. Kim's visits to Russian weapons and technology sites and meetings with President Vladimir Putin have raised speculation he will supply ammunition to Russia for its war efforts in Ukraine in exchange for receiving advanced weapons or technology from Russia as the two nations deepen their ties while both are increasingly isolated and sanctioned in separate confrontations with the West. Russia's state news agency RIA Novosti published video showing Kim's armored train pulling into a station in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Kim's convoy sweeping out of the station shortly afterward.

A major Russian banking association has warned that the digital ruble will drive up loan rates as banks struggle to cope with the soon-to-be-issued CBDC.

Ranjit Rath, Chairman, Oil India, says “after economic sanctions against Russia came in, about $150 million from Oil India point of view is lying in one of the State Bank of India’s branches in Moscow. It is a matter of time before we are able to negotiate and get the money repatriated. Multiple channels of discussion processes are being evaluated including the legal options alternatives, G2G engagements. So, it is absolutely not a concern.”On Oil India’s investment in current yearExploration, development and production would encompass about 7,500 crore investment on a standalone basis from Oil India Limited for the current year.

Chandrayaan-3's soft landing on the moon, ISRO's live stream of the event which took place on August 23rd has set a new record on YouTube, with over eight million concurrent viewers. This event marks the highest viewership in YouTube history. YouTube's Chief, Neal Mohan, congratulated ISRO on this remarkable feat.

sanctions packages related to the war in Ukraine, penalizing more than 150 companies and individuals that officials said were profiting from Russia's invasion and their proximity to the Kremlin and President Vladimir Putin. The sanctions are part of the U.S. effort «to target Russia's military supply chains and deprive Putin of the equipment, technology, and services he needs to wage his barbaric war on Ukraine,» Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement. «Today's actions show our global reach in imposing severe costs on Putin's oligarchs,» she added. The Treasury Department's sanctions targeted nearly 100 Russian military-linked elites and individuals — including some in Turkey, Georgia, Finland and the United Arab Emirates — involved with Russia's industrial, financial and technology industries.

Oil prices rose to their highest level in 10 months on Friday, after China cut banks' cash reserve requirements to boost its economic recovery, and on expectations that major global interest rate hike cycles were nearing their end. Brent crude rose 46 cents, or 0.5%, to $94.16 as of 0027 GMT, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) was up 0.6% at $90.74.

Cryptocurrency stolen by North Korea-linked hackers is down a whopping 80% from 2022 — but a blockchain forensics firm says it isn’t necessarily a sign of progress.

Russia have agreed to train Indian seafarers in the polar and Arctic waters. The decision was arrived at during talks to widen maritime cooperation in the Russian Pacific port city of Vladivostok on Wednesday. The talks also focussed on the use of new transport corridors such as the Northern Sea Route via the Arctic (Vladivostok-Chennai route). Discussions on India-Russia maritime cooperation gained momentum when ports, shipping and waterways minister Sarbananda Sonowal met Russian minister for development of the Far East and Arctic A O Chekunkov in Vladivostok on Wednesday.

Kim Jong Un visited an aeronautics factory Friday on his tour of Russia's far east following his summit with President Vladimir Putin. Two days after meeting Putin at a spaceport, amid speculation they would agree an arms deal, Kim's bullet-proof train arrived in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russian news agencies reported. Kim is in the city, an important Russian industrial centre, to visit an aviation firm producing military and civil equipment. The RIA Novosti news agency published footage of Kim's train arriving in the city, with the red carpet rolled out to greet him. He was met with flowers, music, a dance group and ceremonial loaves of bread, the Interfax agency said. Kim, who seldom leaves his country, held talks with Putin at the Vostochny cosmodrome on Wednesday. Putin said on television Wednesday that Kim «will visit factories where civilian and combat aviation equipment is produced» in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. His visit to Russia's far east comes as US officials and experts have said Moscow is interested in buying North Korean ammunition to use in the conflict in Ukraine — an arms deal that would defy global sanctions. Kim's visit will last a few more days, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on Thursday, without giving further details.

Beijing is getting bullish about the cross-border use of the digital yuan – with Chinese experts now talking about BRI/“new Silk Road” CBDC integration.