MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and members of a Russian delegation have been granted visas to attend the United Nations’ General Assembly, a Russian news agency reported, citing the foreign ministry. Russia has for weeks criticized the United States for not granting members of the Russian delegation visas to attend the 77th session of the assembly, which opens in New York today. Moscow has accused the United States of trying to block Russia’s full participation in the general assembly by delaying the granting of visas for Russians to attend. The forum’s high-level sessions get underway next week.The Kremlin on Tuesday said the United States was “violating its obligations” by not issuing visas to Russia’s full delegation and said it was taking steps to hold both the UN and the U.S. to account over the situation.
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BERLIN (Reuters) -- Germany is working on a new China policy that will not be naive and will aim to reduce its dependency on Beijing for raw materials, batteries and semiconductors, Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Tuesday.
Habeck said China was a welcome trading partner, but that Germany must take countermeasures against state protectionism.“We cannot allow ourselves to be blackmailed,” the minister said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday.
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TANAGRA, Greece (AP) — Greece’s air force took delivery of a first pair of upgraded F-16 military jets under a $1.5 billion program to modernize its existing fighter fleet amid increasing tensions with neighboring Turkey. The two F-16s presented at the Tanagra airbase northwest of Athens are the first of 83 to be refitted with advanced electronics, radar and weapons capabilities by late 2027 by Greece’s Hellenic Aerospace Industry, in coordination with U.S. manufacturer Lockheed Martin. Following years of forced savings during the 2010-2018 financial crisis, Greece has embarked on a multi-billion dollar spending spree to boost its armed forces and counter the threat from Turkey. It has bought or ordered French Rafale fighter jets and FDI frigates, and is planning to purchase F-35 fighters from the U.S. The F-16s, developed in the 1970s, are the workhorse of Greece’s air force. It acquired a first batch of 40 in 1989, and another 130 over the years. The latest upgrade will bring the 83 planes to the Block 72 variant, which is the most advanced version of the model in service in Europe.
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WASHINGTON (BBC News) -- The New Shepard rocket and capsule system developed by U.S. billionaire Jeff Bezos has had to abort a mission mid-flight over the Texas desert. The rocket experienced what appeared to be a propulsion failure about one minute after leaving the launch pad. A motor pushed the capsule clear, enabling it to make a soft return to the ground with the aid of parachutes. New Shepard regularly carries people, but on this occasion the only payload was a batch of zero-G experiments. The incident occurred at an altitude of just over 28,000ft (8.5km) while the vehicles were moving upwards at 700mph (1,120km/h). Monday’s mission was uncrewed. The capsule was carrying 36 payloads from academia, research institutions, and students from across the globe - largely paid for by the US space agency NASA.
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ADDIS ABABA (AFP) -- The capital of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region was hit by an airstrike on Tuesday, hospital officials and Tigrayan rebels said. The reported strike on Mekele came just days after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) said it was ready for a ceasefire and talks with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government after nearly two years of war.“AbiyAhmed’s drones targeted MekelleUniversity Adi Haki campus,” TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda said on Twitter. Another TPLF spokesman, Kindeya Gebrehiwot, also said on Twitter that Mekele University had been “bombed” causing injuries and property damage, which was still being assessed. Kibrom Gebreselassie, a senior official at Tigray’s Ayder hospital, also said on Twitter there had been “an early morning drone attack” on Mekele. Tigray has been hit by several airstrikes since fighting resumed in late August between government forces and their allies and TPLF rebels in northern Ethiopia.
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BRASILIA (Reuters) -- Brazil presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva continues to poll ahead of President Jair Bolsonaro, extending his lead to 15 percentage points, according to an IPEC poll published on Monday. The survey showed Lula with 46% of voter support against 31% for Bolsonaro in the first round of the election scheduled for Oct. 2, compared to 44% and 31% respectively in the previous poll.In the expected second-round runoff, Lula’s lead grew slightly to 17 points from 16, indicating he would get elected with 53% of the vote versus Bolsonaro’s 36%, the poll showed. Meanwhile, Bolsonaro’s approval rate stayed the same as the previous poll at 30%, despite the incumbent passing welfare programs and measures to tackle inflation.His disapproval rate was up slightly to 45% from 43% the previous week, according to the poll.