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☆ Russian threat to Baltic security rising -Estonian intelligence report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Andrius Sytas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

VILNIUS, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Estonia's Foreign Intelligence Service said it believed Russia still had the strength to exert "credible military pressure" on the Baltic region, where the security risk has risen for the medium and long-term. NATO and the European Union members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - the so-called Baltic states - have sharply boosted defence spending in response to Russia's 2014 capture of Crimea from Ukraine and the invasion of Ukraine last year. "Russia considers the Baltic states to be the most vulnerable part of NATO, which would make them a focus of military pressure in the event of a NATO-Russia conflict." Russia's military presence near the Baltic states' borders could be rebuilt in four years, the intelligence service said. Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius, editing by Terje Solsvik and Bernadette BaumOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

WASHINGTON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - The United States will significantly increase its anti-ship missile capabilities in Japan as part of a broader effort to deter China, three U.S. officials told Reuters on Tuesday. The anti-ship missiles would arrive in Japan under a revamped Marine Corps regiment of 2,000 troops that will focus on advanced intelligence, surveillance and transportation, the officials said. Japan has watched with growing concern China's belligerence toward Taiwan as Beijing seeks to assert its sovereignty claims over the island. Japan hosts 18,000 U.S. Marines, the biggest concentration outside the United States. In total, there are about 54,000 U.S. troops in Japan.

REUTERS/Joshua RobertsWASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - The United States and Japan on Wednesday announced stepped-up security cooperation in the face of shared worries about China, and Washington strongly endorsed a major military buildup Tokyo announced last month. At the briefing, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced plans to introduce a Marine Littoral Regiment in Japan, which would bring significant capabilities, including anti-ship missiles. A senior administration official told Reuters that Biden and Kishida are expected to discuss security issues and the global economy and that their talks are likely to include control of semiconductor exports to China after Washington announced strict curbs last year. The large U.S. presence has fueled local resentment, with Okinawa's government asking other parts of Japan to host some of the force. In total, there are about 54,000 U.S. troops in Japan.

☆ Don't fight the Fed, make things and do stuff at a profit, and other Cramer lessons from 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

At one point Nvidia (NVDA), a very good company, was worth more than $820 billion, or more than 29 times sales. Last November, we made a determination that we were going to buy stocks of companies that 'make things and do stuff' at a profit. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade.

☆ Taiwan pledges deeper Japan security cooperation as senior lawmaker visits
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen gives a speech on National Day in Taipei, Taiwan, October 10, 2022. REUTERS/Ann WangTAIPEI, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen pledged on Saturday to deepen security cooperation with Japan to ensure freedom in the Indo-Pacific, during a meeting with a senior member of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Meeting in the presidential office in Taipei, Tsai thanked Koichi Hagiuda, the LDP's policy chief, for Japan's support over issues like maintaining security in the sensitive Taiwan Strait. "We have seen in recent years Taiwan-Japan relations have become ever closer," she said. Japan has watched with growing concern China's belligerence towards Taiwan as Beijing seeks to assert its sovereignty claims over the island.

☆ How Trump’s legacy became ‘pure poison’ for independents
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Ronald Brownstein | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

Among female independents, Trump’s ratings were even worse: just 23% favorable and 72% unfavorable, according to previously unpublished exit poll results provided by the CNN polling unit. Trump’s unfavorable rating hit a comparable 69% among independents with at least a four-year college degree. That was a significantly smaller advantage than the double-digit lead among independents Democrats enjoyed in both the 2020 presidential race and the 2018 contest for the House. While Democrats held the presidency, Republicans won independents by double-digits in House elections in the midterms of 2014, 2010 and 1994. Gretchen Whitmer won 59% of the independents with degrees and 56% of women independents.

☆ For Iranians, this World Cup is about more than football
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Issy Ronald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

In the buildup to the World Cup in Qatar, there were calls for Iran to be thrown out of the tournament. Protesting at the World Cup, on the biggest stage of all for football, carries potentially huge risks for the current players in the national team. Nonetheless, players will be free to protest at the World Cup so long as they do not break FIFA rules, their manager Queiroz has said. Iran’s football authorities vowed that “people who have not followed professional and sports ethics … will be dealt with according to the regulations,” a statement published by Iran’s Football Federation after the beach soccer game said. “While this is happening, I cannot see people being overly excited [about the World Cup] when they’re out on the street fighting for freedom,” Mossavat says.

[1/5] Posters from Taiwan People's Party can be seen on the streets ahead of the election in Taipei, Taiwan, November 18, 2022. REUTERS/Ann WangTAIPEI, Nov 18 (Reuters) - China's belligerence towards Taiwan and the future of the island's democracy are taking centre stage in campaigns ahead of local elections next week, a key test of the ruling party's support before a presidential vote in early 2024. The Nov. 26 mayoral and councillor polls are nominally about domestic issues such as transport and the COVID-19 pandemic rather than China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory. "Russia has invaded Ukraine and Taiwan is facing the threat of China," Premier Su Tseng-chang told reporters this week. "The China issue is not an issue for local elections," he told Reuters.

☆ Ali Daei: Iranian football legend refuses to attend World Cup in solidarity with protesters
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Mostafa Salem | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Iran’s record international goalscorer Ali Daei said on Monday that he refused an invitation to attend the World Cup in Qatar next week to stand in solidarity with Iranian protesters. “I rejected the official invitation of FIFA and Qatar Football Federation to attend the World Cup with my wife and daughters,” he wrote on Instagram. The 53-year-old Iranian football legend scored 109 goals for Iran between 1993 and 2006, a record broken by Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo last year. Football player Sardar Azmoun also potentially risked missing out on being selected for the World Cup after criticizing the government. Long live Iranian women.”However, Azmoun was named in Iran’s World Cup squad on Sunday.

☆ Tapped to head new hard-right government, Netanyahu pledges Israeli unity
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Dan Williams | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Ronen ZvulunJERUSALEM, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received an official mandate on Sunday to form a new government and pledged that he would seek national consensus after an election in which Jewish far-rightists surged, drawing concern at home and abroad. Tasking Netanyahu with building the next coalition, President Isaac Herzog noted that Israel's longest-serving premier had received enough recommendations from like-minded parties to secure 64 of parliament's 120 seats. Dismissing what he called "fear-mongering" about the health of Israel's democracy, Netanyahu said the country would continue to be a "beacon" for the region. Herzog noted Netanyahu's trial but said it posed no legal obstacle to him serving as prime minister again. But he looks likely to finalise the talks this week, having launched them semi-formally right after the Nov. 1 election.

☆ Iran should not be allowed to play at World Cup, says former FIFA President Sepp Blatter
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Nadine Schmidt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter thinks Iran should be barred from the upcoming World Cup in Qatar, a Swiss paper and online news website quoted him as saying Friday. Swiss outlet ‘Blick’ showed a video of the former FIFA President at a talk at its publisher’s headquarters on Thursday. Meanwhile, soccer player Sardar Azmoun risks missing out on being selected for the World Cup after criticizing the government. Football and the World Cup are too big for it,” Blatter said of Qatar, the first country in the Middle East to host the tournament. The World Cup starts on November 20 with Iran starting its campaign against England on November 21.

☆ Elon Musk is threatening to 'thermonuclear name and shame' advertisers that press pause on Twitter. It's a dumb thing to do to your biggest customers.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Jake Swearingen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

After advertisers paused spending, Musk went on the offensive, tweeting that advertisers were causing a "massive drop in revenue," He continued: "Extremely messed up! Per a Standard Media Index report, total advertising spending was down by 5% year-over-year in September. Other advertising giants like YouTube and Meta reported year-over-year declines in advertising revenue, with YouTube down by 2% and Meta down by 4%. Brand advertising relies highly on "brand safe" outlets where ads won't appear near objectionable content like violence, pornography, or hate speech. To replace the $40 million in lost monthly revenue, Twitter would need to sign up a little over 5 million Twitter Blue accounts paying $8 a month in its first month.

☆ Congo expels Rwanda ambassador as M23 rebels capture strategic town
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The rebel group, which Congo authorities accuse Rwanda of backing but Rwanda denies, seized the town of Kiwanja in eastern Congo on Saturday, effectively cutting North Kivu's capital Goma off from the upper half of the province. The army has conducted strategic retreats from populated areas to move fighting away from towns and protect civilians. Neither General Sylvain Ekenge, the army's national spokesman, nor Colonel Ndjike Kaiko, the army's spokesman for North Kivu, immediately responded to calls and messages requesting comment. Unrest in North Kivu has broken months of relative calm in eastern Congo after the resumption of clashes between the army and the M23 militants. read moreWhen it formed in 2012, M23 was the newest in a series of ethnic Tutsi-led insurgencies to rise up against Congolese forces.

☆ Russia says outgoing PM Truss was a 'catastrophically illiterate' disgrace
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova speaks during a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in Saint Petersburg, Russia June 16, 2022. REUTERS/Maxim ShemetovOct 20 (Reuters) - Russia's foreign ministry on Thursday welcomed the departure of British Prime Minister Liz Truss, saying she was a disgrace of a leader who would be remembered for her "catastrophic illiteracy". "Britain has never known such a disgrace of a prime minister," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a social media post. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Zakharova's reference to illiteracy appears to refer to that trip, when Truss was British foreign minister. In a meeting with Russia's veteran foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, she appeared to confuse two regions of Russia with Ukraine, drawing mockery in Russian media.

☆ Group of prominent Iranian sports figures In Iran calls on FIFA to ban Iranian Football Federation from World Cup
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Wayne Sterling | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —A law firm has sent a letter to FIFA on behalf of a group of former and current Iranian sports figures urging football’s governing body to suspend the Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI) and ban it from participating at this year’s World Cup in Qatar. Iranian authorities have since unleashed a brutal crackdown on demonstrators, who have united around a range of grievances with the country’s authoritarian regime. Iran faces England in its first match of football’s flagship event on November 21, followed by a game against Wales on November 25. The nation is also set to face the United States in its third and final group stage match on November 29. CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly named four Iranian players and former players as among those who signed the letter sent by Spanish law firm Ruiz-Huerta and Crespo.

☆ Putin's nuclear threats are pushing people like Trump and Elon Musk to press for a Ukraine peace deal. A nuclear expert warns that's 'dangerous.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Growing fear of nuclear war has prompted calls for an immediate settlement to end the war in Ukraine. But abandoning support for Ukraine now could spur Russia and others to make more nuclear threats. "Just giving in at this point would actually be dangerous," nuclear expert Pavel Podvig told Insider. In discussions with Insider, Podvig said that Russia could decide to use nuclear weapons if its hold over Crimea were threatened. Instead of capitulation, dressed up in a universal desire for peace, he argued, "You could in effect show – demonstrate in practice — that nuclear weapons are not a useful instrument of terror and compellence."

Energy analysts believe the deep production cuts could yet backfire for OPEC kingpin and U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. Energy analysts believe the deep production cuts could yet backfire for OPEC kingpin and U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, particularly as Biden hinted Congress would soon seek to rein in the Middle East-dominated group's influence over energy prices. OPEC and non-OPEC allies, a group often referred to as OPEC+, agreed on Wednesday to reduce oil production by 2 million barrels per day from November. "In light of today's action, the Biden Administration will also consult with Congress on additional tools and authorities to reduce OPEC's control over energy prices," the White House said. While the group likes to say they keep politics out of their decisions, there's no denying that there are potential ramifications to this beyond the oil price.

☆ Australia seeks stable ties with 'great power' China, minister says
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong speaks during a news conference on the sidelines of the 77th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., September 20, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Australia is aiming for a stable relationship with China despite differences in particular on trade, Australia's foreign minister said, as she called on China to use its influence as a great power to help end the war in Ukraine. "China is a great power ... We encourage China as a P5 member with a special responsibility to uphold the U.N. charter to use its influence to end the war," she said. Wong said in her talks with Wang Yi she had raised the issue of Australian journalist Cheng Lei and blogger Yang Hengjun, who have been detained in China and face espionage charges. Thursday's meeting with Wang Yi, the second in three months, comes as the recently elected Labor government looks to rebuild ties after a sharp deterioration during the term of the previous conservative government.

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