Author: Tony Ricardo Chambers

William Lai is officially making only transit stops in the US on his way to and from Paraguay, but China has reacted with anger. Taiwan Vice President William Lai has left for a sensitive trip to the United States, which China has condemned and Taiwanese officials fear could prompt more Chinese military activity around the democratically governed island. Lai, the frontrunner to become Taiwan’s president in elections in January, is officially making only transit stops in the United States on his way to and from Paraguay for the swearing-in of its president. Speaking to reporters on Saturday at Taiwan’s main international airport…

Cairo – The U.S. Embassy in Cairo welcomes Sean Jones as the new Mission Director for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Egypt. Mission Director Jones brings a wealth of experience and expertise to his new role, where he will oversee a portfolio of more than 45 projects delivered as part of the United States government’s $125 million in annual economic assistance to Egypt. “I am thrilled to join the USAID team in Egypt and to build on over four decades of partnership between the United States government and Egypt,” said Mission Director Jones. “I look forward to working…

For the month of August, the United States will serve as President of the United Nations Security Council, a position that rotates every month among the 15 Council members. In this role, the United States will be responsible for setting the agenda of the Security Council for the month, organizing Security Council meetings, managing the distribution of information to Council members, issuing statements, and communicating the Council’s actions to the public. A top priority for the United States during its Security Council presidency will be addressing food insecurity. “The Biden Administration has been rallying the world to address this challenge, including by launching the Roadmap for Global Food Security last year,”…

The United States will not invite Hong Kong’s chief executive, who faces U.S. sanctions, to visit San Francisco during November’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, two congressional aides said on Friday. The U.S. is set to host this year’s gathering of leaders of APEC, of which Hong Kong is a member. Hong Kong’s top official John Lee was placed under U.S. sanctions in 2020 because of his role in implementing what Washington deems a “draconian” Hong Kong national security law when he was the city’s security secretary. Reuters reported in June that a group of lawmakers, including Republican Senator Marco Rubio, sent a letter to…

Geneva, London (29/7 – 50) Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, condemned the arrest and imprisonment of journalists, bloggers and civil society activists in Tajikistan, and questioned the credibility of the evidence presented in court against them. Lawlor was on a two-week official visit to Tajikistan last December. The report prepared by her and members of the delegation on the results of this visit was published in May of this year, but only now became available to the public. The authorities of Tajikistan will have to prepare an official response to the document, which…

It has been announced that Australian submariners are to graduate from the United States Navy’s Nuclear Power School next week. The first few cohorts of Australian submariners are due to graduate from the US Navy’s Nuclear Power School, aka “Nuke School,” next week. The graduates are important in Australia’s plans to field a fleet of nuclear-powered, conventionally-armed submarines under the trilateral Australia-United Kingdom-United States defense cooperation agreement, or AUKUS. At an open event on Monday, Admiral Michael Gilday, the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), the US. Navy’s top uniformed officer, announced this news: “We graduate our first group of Australian Submariners from…

LOS ANGELES — LeBron James made his way down the ramp to exit the arena Monday night, having just completed his 20th NBA season with an unceremonious sweep out of the playoffs, not knowing if it would be the last time he would make that walk as an active player. James told ESPN he will consider retirement this offseason. After scoring 40 points and playing all but four seconds of the Los Angeles Lakers’ 113-111 Game 4 loss to the Denver Nuggets — with his last-second floater to try to force overtime being blocked at the buzzer — James ended his news conference by telling reporters, “Going…

Enel North America has officially named Oklahoma as its choice for its 3-gigawatt (GW) solar panel and cell factory – the largest economic development project in the state’s history. The factory, which Enel first announced in November 2022, will be one of the largest in the US to produce solar cells through its affiliate 3Sun USA – and Enel says it eventually plans to double the factory’s capacity to 6 GW. The solar factory is going to be in Inola, Oklahoma, about 25 miles east of Tulsa. Construction is planned to begin in fall 2023, and the first panel will be…

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Fugees rapper on trial in a multimillion-dollar campaign finance and foreign influence case was trying to reinvent himself as he entered the political arena, not break any laws, defense attorneys said Monday. Prakazrel “Pras” Michel became a best-selling, Grammy-winning artist with the 1990s hip-hop group the Fugees, but in the years after its breakup was looking for his next chapter, attorney David Kenner said as he began making the defense case. Michel surrounded himself with people to help with his transition to politics and eventually entered the orbit of a wealthy Malaysian “playboy” but didn’t engage…

The Pamir Gate triggers a geopolitical crisis. Berlin (2/5 – 100) For the Pamiri ethnic minority and the inhabitants of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) in Tajikistan, the month of May is a reminder of the dark past. Of death, oppression, violence, fear, flight, and resistance. On May 14, 2022, an uprising broke out in Khorog, the capital of GBAO, the homeland of the Pamiris. About 1,000 people gathered to peacefully demand the resignation of regional official Alisher Mirzonabatov, contemptuously called “The Butcher of the Pamirs”, and the fair investigation into the death of Gulbidin Ziyobekov, a resident of…