Author: Makvala Shushania

The three parties in Germany’s government are once again arguing about money. Finance Minister Christian Lindner warns that parts of the draft budget for 2025 may be unconstitutional. After weeks of wrangling and despite poor poll ratings and much disagreement on substantive issues, the top representatives of the three-way coalition — the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the environmentalist Greens and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) — managed to agree on a draft for the 2025 budget at the beginning of July. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) then went on vacation, but back home in Germany, the budget quickly became a hotly disputed topic again. Last week, Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP)…

EU chief nuclear negotiator Enrique Mora attended Pezeshkian’s formal inauguration but there were no high-level delegations from EU countries Another casualty of the alleged Israeli strike that assassinated the leader of Hamas’ political wing while he was in Tehran for the inauguration of Iran’s new president could well be the prospect of renewed Iranian diplomacy with the U.S. and the European Union. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed revenge for what Iran sees as a direct and brazen attack on its sovereignty. A further escalation of tensions between Iran and its “Axis of Resistance” and Israel and its allies would force Europeans…

Budapest (5/7 – 11.11) Former European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker defended U.S. President Joe Biden after his disastrous debate performance last week and warned of his rival Donald Trump’s “incomplete mind and flawed reasoning,” in an interview with Brussels Playbook. Juncker, who was Commission president from 2014 to 2019 during much of Trump’s presidency, said he had yet to watch last week’s debate, which triggered calls for Biden to step aside and make room for someone else to run as the Democratic presidential candidate. Still, Juncker insisted that “one can be of a certain age … and do a good job.” But Juncker…

Russia has reportedly lost a staggering amount of troops over the past 24 hours along with dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles as bloody fighting takes its toll on Vladimir Putin’s men. Russia lost a staggering 1,740 troops in a single day, the highest tally of casualties for Moscow since the start of the invasion in 2022, according to Ukraine. In the previous 24 hours, Ukraine also claimed Russia had lost 30 tanks and 42 armoured vehicles. Death toll and military hardware statistics are difficult to assess with both sides giving different or little information. However, Ukraine’s armed forces have claimed Russia has so far lost an eye-watering…

The third of four men who escaped from a Georgia jail last month was captured Sunday morning at a home in Augusta, local and federal authorities said. Johnifer Dernard Barnwell, 37, was captured in a home where police also found large quantities of drugs, according to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI. Barnwell was being held on drug charges when he and three other inmates escaped through a damaged window and a cut fence at the jail early Oct. 16. Authorities continue to search for 52-year-old Joey Fournier. Georgia news outlets reported that Fournier was being held on a murder…

The U.S. Department of Justice said the Georgia Institute of Technology will pay $90,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act over a lack of oversight in their research department. The National Science Foundation provided former Georgia Tech researcher Dr. Eva K. Lee with several grants over the course of her career, studying and modeling viruses and disease. Lee, who was employed by Georgia Tech since 1999, was accused of mismanaging research funds and falsifying a certificate needed to receive a $40,000 award from NSF, then lying about it to investigators, Channel 2 Action News’ investigative partner the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, reported in…

Currently, there is the problem that some of the Armenian trucks have been sent back, and some are waiting for the results of the examination. Vahan Hakobyan, the Armenian embassy in Russia’s customs attaché at the Upper Lars checkpoint on the Georgian-Russian border, told Armenian News-NEWS.am about this. Earlier, the media reported that the Armenian trucks were stuck in a traffic jam at the Upper Lars checkpoint. The Armenian truckers informed that the Russian customs officers at the checkpoint gave them various reasons—from weather conditions to problems with documents. The truckers, however, believe that the actual reason is the current…

EastFruit experts draw attention to a number of sequential events that have a negative impact on Armenia’s ability to export its fruits and vegetables, as well as other types of goods. Moreover, these events surprisingly coincide with the cooling of relations between Armenia and Russia, which the Armenian leadership actively accuses of failure to fulfill obligations on Karabakh. What kind of events are these? First of all, this is an announcement about unexpected road repairs on Upper Lars, which is the only route for the delivery of goods from Armenia to Russia. Repairing this mountainous road in the winter makes no…

Frankfurt, Atlanta (23/11 – 10) Potatoes are a serious matter. The lowly potato does in fact have a lengthy and exotic history, being grown as a food crop, or domesticated, around the border of Peru and Bolivia over 7000 years ago. Maybe you just purchased some of those 7500-year-old taters and wondered why they taste funny. The potato was brought to Europe in the 16th Century, following other such appealing imports as bananas, cacao, tomatoes, maize, corn and squash. Ask an average European and he or she would likely claim these as native to their country. A wholesome tuber rich in…

The 35-year-old Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict could finally be coming to an end after last month’s lightning offensive by Azerbaijan to retake Nagorno-Karabakh and the subsequent exodus of the region’s Armenian population and dissolution of its de facto government.  The fate of the Karabakh Armenians had long been the main sticking point in the peace talks underway since 2021. Now that that issue has been resolved, however crudely, and the sides have vowed to recognize one another’s territorial integrity, it might seem that a conclusion could be at hand.  But things aren’t that simple. Apart from the actual content of a peace deal – chiefly border delimitation/demarcation and the opening…