Emirates Official News
Head of the House Committee of Administration and Justice, MP George Adwan, on Tuesday received in his office at the Parliament, the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, Lisa A. Johnson.
Discussions reportedly touched on the general developments in Lebanon and the region.
Source: National News Agency – Lebanon
BUCHAREST: Romania will host a high-level meeting of the EU Council, Belgium, Hungary and Croatia on Wednesday on the preparation of the future Strategic Agenda of the European Union, Romanian news agency AGERPRES reported on Tuesday.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will host the working meeting on Wednesday at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace alongside the European Council president, Charles Michel, the Presidential Administration announced.
According to a press release sent to AGERPRES on Tuesday, the prime ministers of Belgium, Hungary and Croatia will also attend the meeting.
The consultations in Bucharest are part of a broader process of defining the European Union’s priorities for the period 2024-2029, which began at an informal meeting of the European Council in Granada on 6th October 2023.
The debates of the leaders of the EU member states revealed the interest in placing security and defence issues, global involvement and expansion of the Union, and strengthening the Union’s resilience and com
petitiveness at the top of the European agenda.
‘The discussions in the meeting at the Cotroceni Palace will be an opportunity to deepen these elements and to analyse the lines of action at the level of the European Union to achieve the common objectives of strengthening the EU’s profile at international level, ensuring prosperity and promoting and protecting democracy and European values,’ the Presidential Administration said.
Discussions to prepare the Strategic Agenda for the next institutional cycle will continue at the level of EU leaders, with the aim of its adoption by the European Council at the meeting scheduled for the end of June this year.
Source: Emirates News Agency
Russian Ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Rudakov, refuted in a statement the narrative surrounding the alleged massacre in Bucha, Ukraine, two years after the incident. He argued that Russia had no involvement in the events and criticized the Western media and Ukrainian authorities for fabricating the accusations, pointing to discrepancies in timelines and evidence.
‘Two years ago, on this very day, Ukrainian media outlets began spreading the monstrous forgery aimed at accusing Russia of committing a massacre in the town of Bucha. However, the sequence of events both before and after this date suggests that Russia has had no role whatsoever in this eerie theatrical performance.
First of all, Russian troops left the town at the end of March as a gesture of good will, signaling progress in the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations in Istanbul. Even local Ukrainian municipal authorities weren’t aware of supposed ‘piles of bodies’ on the streets after the withdrawal of Russian forces.
The story only unravels when Ukr
ainian Security Forces arrived in Bucha – several days after Russians had left the area. Within hours, the joint Western/Ukrainian fake news factory blew up the supposed ‘Russian massacre’ plot with unprecedented levels of brutality and clumsiness. One cannot help but notice the same signature propaganda style as with the notorious British-Syrian ‘White Helmets’.
Suddenly, Russia was once again demonized for actions that it had not committed. Moscow was accused of shooting civilians en masse using firearms, but the results of an investigation published by the UK-based ‘The Guardian’ indicated that the majority of deaths were as a result of anti-infantry shells used by Ukrainians.
Russian authorities attempted to call a meeting of the UN SC members on this matter, but it was blocked by the British representatives chairing the Council at that time. Such behavior was indicative of British eagerness to undermine the progress in the Istanbul peace negotiations. London’s role in this disgusting theater appears ev
en more suspicious if we take into account the swiftness of pre-determined sanctions and expulsions of Russian diplomats that followed the baseless accusations.
When the UN SC meeting eventually assembled, the majority of Member-States supported the idea of an independent investigation looking into the Bucha events. Our multiple inquiries to various international organizations, including to the UN Secretary General and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, demanding a proper investigation and a comprehensive list of victims are without a response to this day.
If anything, such behavior suggests that the ‘collective West’ continues to blindly cover up the Ukrainian involvement in this bloody affair, while Russia remains the scapegoat for all of its heinous crimes. One way or another, facts are stubborn things, and truth will eventually prevail.
Source: National News Agency – Lebanon
TEHRAN, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday warned the occupation Israeli entity that Tehran would retaliate for its attack on the Iranian consulate building in Damascus.
“This crime will not pass without punishment,” Rasisi said in a statement published by the Iranian presidency on its electronic website. “Let the Israeli usurping entity know that it will never attain its evil goals by inhuman practices and resorting to blind assassinations,” he said.
The Israeli occupation has once again committed a terrorist crime by resorting to assassinations and breaching international norms after suffering recurring defeats at the hands of the resistance front, he said.
Syria declared on Monday that a number of people including senior officers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard died in an Israeli missile attack on the Iranian consulate building in Mazze district in Damascus.
Source: Kuwait News Agency
ABU DHABI: H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, sent cables of condolence to Penny Wong, Australian Foreign Minister; Radoslaw Sikorski, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Poland; David Cameron, British Foreign Secretary; Antony Blinken, United States Secretary of State; Mélanie Jolie, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada; Ali Muhammad Younis, Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of the State of Palestine in Abu Dhabi; and Jose Andres, Founder of the World Central Kitchen (WCK) organisation over the victims of the Israeli targeting of a team of humanitarian relief workers from World Central Kitchen.
Sheikh Abdullah also expressed the UAE’s condemnation in the strongest terms of the Israeli occupation forces targeting with an air strike on a WCK aid convoy which resulted in the death of seven members of its team and a number of injuries. The WCK personnel were in Gaza to enhance the humanitarian response provided to civilians in the northern Gaza Strip who are suffering from a
tragic situation and facing famine.
He expressed his deep regret for the loss of life, and his condolences to the families of the victims, wishing a speedy recovery to all those injured.
The UAE top diplomat stressed the UAE’s call on Israeli authorities to conduct an urgent, independent and transparent investigation, and accept full responsibility, and to strengthen the humanitarian response to meet the needs of civilians affected by the current crisis.
H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed reiterated the importance of focusing regional and international efforts on protecting civilians and providing them with immediate humanitarian assistance, in addition to intensifying efforts aimed at halting escalation in the occupied Palestinian Territory and in the region.
Source: Emirates News Agency