TEHRAN, Dec. 22 (MNA) – US Central Command (CENTCOM) has confirmed carrying out an airstrike on Yemen’s capital Sana’a.
Russian Navy to receive latest nuclear-powered submarine
The announcement was made by a source in the domestic shipbuilding industry in an interview with TASS on Sunday.
“In the coming days, literally on the New Year’s eve, the cruiser Arkhangelsk will join the Navy,” the source said.
“The submarine has successfully passed shipbuilders’ sea trials and is fully ready for its delivery to the Navy and for hoisting the flag,” the source specified.
The Arkhangelsk submarine was rolled out from the slipway of the Sevmash Shipyard on November 29, 2023 for completing its construction afloat.
The Sevmash Shipyard is constructing four Project 885M submarines: the Perm, the Ulyanovsk, the Vladivostok and the Voronezh. The Project 885/885M nuclear-powered subs Severodvinsk, Kazan, Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk have been delivered to the Russian Navy.
Project 885M nuclear-powered submarines carry Oniks and/or Kalibr-PL cruise missiles as their basic strike weapons.
MP/
Trudeau’s future hangs in balance as key ally vows to topple government
New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh, a key ally, says he will introduce a motion to topple the minority Liberal government
Published Date – 21 December 2024, 12:01 PM
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Toronto: The future of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau‘s leadership appeared increasingly uncertain after New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh, a key ally, said he would introduce a motion to topple the minority Liberal government.
Singh, whose party has been helping keep Trudeau in office, announced in an open letter posted on social media that he would declare a loss of confidence in the Trudeau-led Liberal government next year, a move that would trigger an early election if other opposition parties support his move.
Canada’s next election must be held on or before October. Singh is the last of Canada’s three main opposition parties to turn on Trudeau. In his letter, Singh said the Liberals were undeserving of “another chance.” “That’s why the NDP will vote to bring this government down and give Canadians a chance to vote for a government who will work for them,” he wrote.
He said the New Democrats plan to use their next opposition day in the House of Commons — during which opposition priorities are given precedence over government business — to introduce the vote. The House is currently on its winter break and is set to resume on January 27.
Singh’s letter came as questions swirled about the future of Trudeau, with at least 21 Liberal MPs now calling for him to resign, CBC News reported. Singh’s announcement is the latest in a series of political setbacks suffered by Trudeau this week after the resignation of Chrystia Freeland, his deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister.
Freeland quit hours before she was set to deliver an economic statement on Monday, citing political disagreements between her and Trudeau on the “best path forward for Canada” in light of tariff threats posed by US President-elect Donald Trump. “No matter who is leading the Liberal party, this government’s time is up,” Singh’s letter read.
Singh also said the Liberals have frequently not lived up to their promises and that the time for change is now. The letter was released just before Trudeau announced his revamped front bench on Friday morning. The New Democrats ended their parliamentary alliance with the Liberals in early September, but have repeatedly declared confidence in the government when the Conservatives have introduced votes to bring the Liberals down.
Tehran calls on Paris to probe killing of two Iranians in northern France shooting
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has called on the French government to thoroughly investigate the “suspicious” killing of two Iranians in an armed shooting in northern France.
According to Le Monde, five people were killed in northern France on December 14, including two Iranian men, aged 19 and 30. It quoted local police and the prefecture as saying that the men were living in a local camp for migrants.
A 22-year-old suspect surrendered to authorities and was taken into custody on the same day with authorities saying he had no criminal record
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Consular, Parliamentary, and Expatriate Affairs Vahid Jalalzadeh on Friday expressed condolences to the families and loved ones of the two Iranian nationals who were killed in a “suspicious armed attack for racist motives”.
He called on relevant security and judiciary officials of France to investigate the case and give accurate information in this regard.
Immediately after the incident, the Iranian embassy in Paris contacted the French authorities to follow up on the matter and demanded the identification, prosecution and punishment of the perpetrators of the crime, he said.
Jalalzadeh added that Iran’s Foreign Ministry, in contact with the French embassy in Tehran, has emphasized the need for a thorough judicial investigation and prosecution of the perpetrator or perpetrators of this crime in order to ensure justice is served and blood money of the victims will be paid.
He affirmed the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s seriousness in fulfilling its duties vis-a-vis the rights of the country’s nationals living abroad.
The ministry would take necessary measures to facilitate the repatriation of the bodies of the two men to Iran and pursue the issue until all circumstances of the incident are clarified, the diplomat emphasized.
Russia has no concerns about who attends Trump's inauguration
“I would like to emphasize that the inauguration ceremony is a strictly regulated event. There are certain traditions that have developed over decades in the US, but each president-elect brings his own specifics,” the senior diplomat told TASS. “We approach all of this with calm. We do not interfere in US internal affairs at all and have never done so, nor in any protocol matters,” Ryabkov stressed.
According to the senior diplomat, this issue lies “on the periphery” for Moscow, and Russia views it “detachedly.”
Earlier, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Trump had not sent Russian President Vladimir Putin an invitation to the inauguration, scheduled for January 20, 2025. Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov stated that Russia’s special representatives would not attend Trump’s inauguration ceremony, as it does not expect the presence of foreign delegations, except for envoys accredited in Washington.
Ambassadors and other high-ranking diplomats are typically invited to US presidential inaugurations. According to the State Department, no foreign leader has attended a US inauguration ceremony since 1874.
MNA/
2 freight trains collide in Russia's East Siberian region
According to the press service of the East Siberian Transport Prosecutor’s Office, the incident occurred at approximately 07:30 local time (2230 GMT Saturday) at 6,623 kilometers on the section between Bushulei and Zhireken.
The first train derailed 35 cars, while the second lost seven coal-loaded cars, according to the press service, as reported by Russia’s TASS news agency.
No injuries have been reported, and a recovery train has been dispatched to the site.
Authorities confirmed there is no threat to environmental safety, and investigators are conducting a thorough inquiry to determine the cause of the collision.
MNA/
US Universities urge international students to return before Trump’s 2025 inauguration amid travel ban fears
Universities such as Harvard, Brown, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Southern California issued advisories to foreign students as some begin their classes after the Presidential inauguration on January 20, 2025.
Published Date – 21 December 2024, 03:03 PM
Hyderabad: Several US universities advised its international students, including Indians, on winter break to return to the US before the President-elect Donald Trump takes over office on January 20, 2025. The move comes amid growing concerns over travel restrictions and a plan of mass deportation by the new US government.
The universities including Harvard and Brown, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University and University of Southern California issued the advisory to foreign students as some of them commence classes after the Presidential inauguration day on January 20, 2025.
In one such advisory, the University of Massachusetts Amherst strongly recommended its international community, including students, scholars, faculty and staff, to return to the US prior to the Presidential inauguration day.
“Given that a new presidential administration can enact new policies on their first day in office (January 20), and based on previous experience with travel bans that were enacted in the first Trump Administration in 2017, the Office of Global Affairs is making this advisory out of an abundance of caution to hopefully prevent any possible travel disruption to members of our international community. We are not able to speculate on what a travel ban will look like if enacted, nor can we speculate on what particular countries or regions of the world may or may not be affected,” the advisory read.
In his last term at office in 2017, Trump issued an executive order, banning citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen from traveling to the US.
“Given the past experience, the Trump administration is unpredictable. Some universities have advised students to return to campuses fearing potential travel restrictions and deportation issues,” said a US Education expert.
As per the Open Doors 2024 report, over 1.1 million international students enrolled in the US universities during the 2023-24. Indians emerged as the largest source of foreign students in the US, surpassing China. As per the report, 3,31,602 Indian students studying in the US universities as against 277,398 Chinese.
Iran dismisses UK, Australia’s ‘baseless’ claims, urges end to interventions in West Asia
The spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry has rejected as “baseless, unrealistic, and irrelevant” the recent claims made by the UK and Australia on the Islamic Republic.
On Friday, Esmaeil Baqaei called on the two countries to reconsider their policies and stop interfering in the internal affairs of the other countries and West Asia in violation of international law.
He made the remarks in response to the joint statement issued by Australia’s and British ministers earlier this week in which they criticized Iran’s retaliatory operations against Israel.
Baqaei condemned the stance as “one-sided and biased”, stressing that Iran’s operations “True Promise 1” and “True Promise 2” came in accordance with the country’s legitimate right to self-defense which is enshrined in the UN Charter.
The “True Promise 1 & 2” followed the attack on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, and the assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh who was in Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, respectively.
The spokesman also rejected the repeated claim that Iran has provided Russia with ballistic missiles, describing the accusation as part of the US and UK’s scheme aimed to “securitize international relations” and “globalize” the Ukraine conflict.
He noted that even Ukraine’s president has denied the allegation.
Referring to the support given by the West, particularly the US, Britain and Australia, to Israel, the spokesman said the supporters of the occupying regime and its expansionist policies, which are “the main cause of instability in West Asia”, must be held accountable for their complicity in the “heinous” crimes committed in Gaza and the entire region.
He also called on Australia and the UK to stop “their fraudulent and instrumental” use of the human rights issue.
Referring to human rights abuses in the two countries’ asylum seekers’ detention centers and their support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Baqaei said the two countries are in no position to comment on the other countries’ human rights records.
Baqaei also dismissed the British and Australian accusations regarding Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.
He said, “Iran’s nuclear activities and plans are taking place based on the technical and practical needs of the country, within the framework of Iran’s obligations and legal rights as a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and according to the safeguards agreement, and under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.”
“According to the reports of the agency, it [Iran’s nuclear program] has never deviated from the peaceful path,” he stressed.
Referring to the IAEA’s criticism of the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal, under which the US and UK will provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, and these countries’ inaction on Israel’s arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, the spokesman noted that their policies are “clear examples of their double standards” on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and their lack of concern about the international peace and stability.
Russia has confidence in its weapons, senior diplomat says
Commenting on President Vladimir Putin’s remark about a potential duel between Russia’s Oreshnik missile system and US-made missile defenses, Ryabkov said: “The president made it all clear. We are confident in the power of our weapons and we know for sure that we can always rely on them to ensure national security.”
Ryabkov stressed that the recent developments had shown that the US policy of establishing a system of increasingly layered missile defenses was wrong. “It doesn’t enhance US security. In terms of cost effectiveness, this is not the best option, and even based on the most cautious estimates, this is not the best way to spend money. Perhaps, the US defense industry benefits from it but definitely not the American people,” the senior Russian diplomat noted.
During his annual combined press conference and Q&A session, Putin challenged all the Western experts who questioned the capability of Russia’s newest Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile system. Putin suggested that the West choose a target in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev or any other location, amass missile defenses there, and check if it’s possible to intercept a hypersonic missile like that.
MNA
