AstraZeneca Plc’s China President Leon Wang is under investigation by the country’s authorities, as Beijing’s intensifying regulatory scrutiny on the British drug giant.
Wang is cooperating and, if requested, Astra too will “fully cooperate with the investigation,” the British company said without revealing further details about the probe.
Wang’s involvement is a significant escalation of China’s probe into the company, after police detained multiple current and former Astra employees for questioning earlier this year over potential illegal activities. It’s a sign that Beijing is widening its scrutiny of Astra’s operations in mainland China, a worrying development for the drugmaker which counts on the country for 13% of total revenue.
The company said its China arm will continue under the leadership of General Manager Michael Lai. The world’s second-biggest economy is an important market for AstraZeneca
China hit out at European Union duties on imports of Chinese-made battery electric vehicles accusing the 27-member country bloc of "pure protectionism" that would hurt East-West supply lines, consumers and the effort to deal with the climate crisis and said it had filed a complaint at the WTO.
"The EU's anti-subsidy probe and high tariffs on Chinese EVs -- neither of which were demanded by the industry -- is pure protectionism detrimental to China-EU supply chain cooperation, to European consumers, and to EU's green transition and global climate response," Lin Jian
Lin said "trade frictions" were best dealt with by talking to each other respectfully and through consultation in a way that served the interests of all parties.
"We urge EU to continue its consultations with China, work constructively and show sincerity and flexibility to find the solution and avoid escalating trade frictions," he added.
Ukrainian troops in Russia have an advantage that they haven't had before in this war.
Being on foreign soil means less pressure to defend and more strategic options, war experts say.
One expert said that Ukraine could "fight where it's advantageous and pull back when it's not."
Ukrainian troops fighting on Russian soil have a kind of flexibility in combat that they haven't had before in this war.
Ukrainian forces surged into the southwestern Russian region of Kursk in August, and at the peak of the incursion, they held about 500 square miles. Russia has taken back some territory, but the Ukrainians still hold ground inside.
Ukraine's fight against Russia's invasion had, prior to the Kursk incursion, taken place exclusively on Ukrainian soil, its long-range drone strikes on military facilities and oil refineries and Black Sea battles aside.
Indonesia's position on the South China Sea remains unchanged and it will respond appropriately to safeguard its territory, an official said on Thursday, after a Chinese coast guard vessel interrupted a survey by Jakarta's state energy firm.
Indonesia said last week it had driven the Chinese coast guard ship away three times in just a few days after its presence in waters more than 1,500 km (932 miles) from the Chinese mainland disrupted a survey by a vessel contracted by Pertamina.
China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, which it asserts through an armada of coast guard ships, some of which are accused by its neighbours of aggressive conduct and of trying to disrupt energy and fisheries activities.
"On the South China Sea, nothing changes from the Indonesian government. We will do what's appropriate," foreign ministry
A treaty that Russia and Iran intend to sign shortly will include closer defence cooperation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.
Military ties between the two countries are a source of deep concern to the West as Russia wages war in Ukraine while Iran and Israel have exchanged missile and air strikes in the Middle East.
"The treaty on a comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and Iran that is being prepared will become a serious factor in strengthening Russian-Iranian relations," Lavrov
"It will confirm the parties' desire for closer cooperation in the field of defence and interaction in the interests of peace and security at the regional and global levels," Lavrov said. He did not specify what form the defence ties would take.
Russia has deepened its ties with Iran and North Korea, which are both strongly antagonistic towards the United States, since the start of its war with Uk
Iran is preparing a fresh attack on Israel within days, intelligence officials believe.
Tehran is expected to launch the attack from Iraqi territory using drones and ballistic missiles, possibly before the US election, Israeli officials told Axios.
The attack would be intended as a response to Israeli strikes launched against Iranian military sites over the weekend.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said Tehran had the right to defend itself, describing Israel’s strikes as “evil committed by the Zionist regime”.
However, the supreme leader said it was up to Iranian officials how to respond to Saturday’s early morning strikes by Israel, rather than issuing a warning of imminent retaliation.
Officials believe that pro-Iranian militias launching the attack from Iraq could be an attempt by Tehran to avoid another Israeli retaliation against strategic targets in Iran.
https://youtu.be/hFLzpHKzu...
What can the West do about North Korea giving troops to Russia? Not much it hasn't already flinched from.
North Korea fighting alongside Russia would be a serious escalation to the Ukraine war.
NATO and Western allies are facing pressure to respond — but have historically been hesitant.
Experts criticized a lack of decisive Western strategy in countering the threat.
Western allies have options to react to the threat of North Korean troops in Russia, but are hamstrung by fears of escalation.
NATO chief Mark Rutte said that some troops are already in Kursk, calling the move "a significant escalation." He added that it is "yet another" contravention of UN Security Council resolutions.
He said the bloc is "actively consulting" on what to do next. Despite these statements — and a similar chorus of condemnation from Western governments — few commitments have been made.
It is clear what Russia stands to gain from an influx of some 10,000 North Korean troops to aid its war in Ukraine. Less apparent is what might be in it for Kim Jong Un.
Pyongyang’s seemingly imminent entry into Moscow’s war is a watershed moment that further complicates the international web of interests entangled in a conflict that is fast approaching its thousandth day. To many observers, it risks escalating the conflict by connecting rising tensions in Europe and the Asia-Pacific.
Kim has spent months issuing mounting threats against his southern neighbors and working to enhance his nuclear arsenal, while Russian President Vladimir Putin has engaged in his own saber-rattling with the West as his military lost scores of men to make battlefield gains. Now the two are intensifying their partnership, alarming the United States.
“North Korea might be getting combat experience with drones and some real combat experienc
Sharmahd, 69, was put to death in Iran on Monday on terrorism charges, the Iranian judiciary said. That followed a 2023 trial that Germany, the U.S. and international rights groups dismissed as a sham.
The decision to close the Iranian Consulates in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich, announced by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
The German Foreign Ministry had already summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires on Tuesday to protest against Sharmahd’s execution. German Ambassador Markus Potzel also protested to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, before being recalled to Berlin for consultations.
Sharmahd was one of several Iranian dissidents abroad in recent years either tricked or kidnapped back to Iran.
Israel’s prime minister told top Biden administration officials on Thursday that the main points of any cease-fire agreement with Hezbollah must provide Israel the ability to counter security threats from Lebanon and return Israeli citizens to communities in the north of the country.
Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein, senior White House officials on the Middle East, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, working to advance a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hezbollah that would halt escalating conflict in the region.
Netanyahu’s remarks came as rockets fired by Hezbollah reportedly killed at least seven people and wounded others. In Lebanon, at least six health workers were killed in Israeli strikes.
“I can tell you that Iran knows this message quite clearly — they should not in any way continue to escalate this conflict. This should be the end of it,” Matthew M
The Kremlin said on Thursday that Ukraine's leadership was clearly nervous about Russian advances along the front line if Kyiv was asking the United States to supply it with long-range Tomahawk missiles.
The New York Times reported that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had asked the United States for Tomahawk missiles, which have a range of 2,500 km (1,550 miles), far greater than any missile Ukraine currently has in its arsenal.
Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the trend on the front lines of the war, where Russia has advanced in the past three months at its fastest pace in two years, was clear.
"Against the background of this dynamic, the Kyiv regime is beginning to show considerable nervousness," he said.
Zelenskiy had asked the U.S. to provide the Tomahawks as part of the "victory plan" he presented earlier this month, parts of which he said at the time were secret.
The winner of the US presidential election could have a sweeping impact on the contentious relationship between the world’s two largest economies and rival powers.
But in China, where election news is filtered through heavily censored state and social media, the focus has been more on spectacle than substance – with a sense that no matter who wins, the tensions of the US-China relationship will remain.
“To us ordinary Chinese people, whoever becomes the US president, whether it’s candidate A or candidate B, it is all the same,” Beijing resident Li Shuo told CNN in the lead-up to polls opening.
Trump’s last term saw the Republican slap tariffs on hundreds of billions worth of Chinese goods, launch a campaign against Chinese telecoms giant Huawei and use racist language to describe the virus that causes Covid-19, which was first identified in China.
A series of rocket barrages from Lebanon struck northern Israel on Thursday, killing a total of seven people, including four Thai workers. The attacks marked the deadliest strikes to hit Israel since its military invaded southern Lebanon at the beginning of October.
The Israeli military warned people to evacuate from more areas of Lebanon's south and east and launched airstrikes that killed at least 24. Some 1.2 million people have been displaced since Israel’s escalation, according to government estimates.
The developments come as international mediators are ramping up efforts to halt the wars in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, circulating new proposals to wind down the regional conflict.
Lebanon’s Heath Ministry said more than 2,800 people have been killed and 13,000 wounded since Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel, drawing retaliation.
Iran and Russia close in on deal as Tehran threatens revenge against Israel.
Iran and Russia are closing in on a deal that will bolster their defensive cooperation and strengthen military ties at a time when Western nations are increasingly concerned about regional wars in Europe and the Middle East.
"The treaty on a comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and Iran that is being prepared will become a serious factor in strengthening Russian-Iranian relations," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday, according to a Reuters report.
The foreign minister, who said the treaty would be signed "in the near future," claimed that the deal will "confirm" both Iran and Russia’s "interests of peace and security at the regional and global levels."
A similar agreement signed between Russia and North Korea earlier this year was followed by Pyongyang’s decision to send some 10,000 soldiers.
Harris seizes on Trump's pledge to protect women 'whether they like it or not'
Vice President Kamala Harris slammed former President Donald Trump on Thursday, saying his campaign rally pledge to protect women "whether they like it or not" was "offensive to everybody."
"It's just — it's actually is, I think, very offensive to women in terms of not understanding their agency, their authority, their right and their ability to make decisions about their own lives, including their own bodies," Harris told reporters in Wisconsin.
Harris quickly rephrased her statement, saying, "It is offensive to everybody."
During the rally at Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Wednesday night, Trump attempted to appeal to women voters.
"I want to protect the women of our country," said Trump.
He said his remarks went against guidance from his advisers, whom he claimed had called the statement "very inappropriate."
Israel, Fear not-Don't be dismayed for God is with you.
All the Christians joining the LGBT abd Islamic Jihadists protest against Israel will see the wrath God .
Exodus 19:6
And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Genesis 12:3
I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Deuteronomy 7:6-8
“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 14:2
For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
What does the Bible said about Israel
Psalm 135:4
For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession.
Ukraine’s ‘Victory Plan’ Leaks Out! Zelenskyy...
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alluded to the embattled nation’s need for long-range Tomahawk missiles from the United States in a video published on October 30. However, he slammed the US administration for disclosing the “confidential information.” Zelenskyy was...
https://afriprime.net/posts/62718V-22 Osprey: ‘Close Shave’ For U.S. Marines, Japanese...
The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) has grounded its fleet of Osprey tiltrotor aircraft after one of its V-22 Ospreys sustained damage during a failed takeoff attempt as part of the ongoing “Keen Sword 25” joint exercise with the United States. The incident, which...
https://afriprime.net/posts/62717Sighter Burst! India ‘Stopped’ Israel From Bombing One...
Sighter Burst is a typically ‘fighter pilot’ terminology, who flew the older generation aircraft viz the majestic Hunters, the wily Gnat, and, of course, the famous Sabre Jet (F-86). All these aircraft were equipped with gyro gun sights, which were used to track the target...
https://afriprime.net/posts/62716‘First Win’ For Pakistan; Thailand Inks Deal To Arm...
In a key development for military cooperation in South Asia, Thailand has officially signed an agreement with Pakistan to supply 100 Chaiseri First Win 4×4 armored vehicles to the Pakistan Army. The agreement, finalized by Thai Defence Industry Co., Ltd. (TDI)—a joint venture...
https://afriprime.net/posts/62713China Plans Expansion Of Tiangong Space Station; Set To “Rule...
As the International Space Station (ISS) approaches the end of its operational life in the 2030s, China’s Tiangong space station is poised to potentially take over a central role in the future of space exploration and research. For now, China is the only nation operating its own space...
https://afriprime.net/posts/62712German Leopard-2 Tank Gets ‘Israeli Protection’; 1st...
In a demonstration of its burgeoning defense cooperation with Israel, Germany has unveiled its first upgraded Leopard-2 Main Battle Tank (MBT) equipped with an Israeli TROPHY Active Protection System (APS). On October 29, the Defense Ministries of Germany and Israel integrated the...
https://afriprime.net/posts/62711AUKUS ‘Pillar Two’: UK Lawmakers Urge Expansion Of...
The UK’s House of Lords has called for the expansion of the AUKUS alliance—comprising Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States—to incorporate Canada, Japan, and South Korea, underscoring a critical shift in global security dynamics. During a recent debate in...
https://afriprime.net/posts/62709“Consistently Defeating” U.S. Navy Fighters, Meet The...
At the height of the Cold War, the European Panavia Tornado GmbH consortium developed a new variant of the Tornado aircraft—the Tornado Air Defense Variant (ADV)—which took to the skies for its maiden flight forty-five years ago on October 27, 1979. The Panavia Tornado aircraft...
https://afriprime.net/posts/62708