Ex-French colony may host Russian military base – ambassador
While the move may cause discontent in some countries, it is not the Central African Republic's concern, according to Ambassador Leon Dodonu-Punagaza
Ex-French colony may host Russian military base – ambassador
Leon Dodonu-Punagaza © Sputnik / Alexey Nikolsky
The Ambassador of the Central African Republic (CAR) to Russia, Leon Dodonu-Punagaza, has said his country is interested in having a Russian military base on its territory that could accommodate between 5,000 and 10,000 soldiers.
"Our country is the first country in Africa that resisted the French," he said in an interview published by Izvestia on Monday, adding that a Russian military base would help reinforce CAR, where long-stading security threats have worsened due to the inflow of refugees from war-torn Sudan.
The ambassador praised the role of Russian military instructors in strengthening his nation’s armed forces and emphasized the importance of continuing military-technical cooperation, despite the opposition of some countries.
"In recent weeks, when Russia delivered six military aircraft to us, it was the French who began to resent it, yelling and yelling. But this is not our business; we are interested in cooperation with Russia," Dodonu-Punagaza noted.
In December last year, the last 130 French soldiers of the logistical mission MISLOG-B left the capital Bangui as a result of tensions with France over the growing Russian military presence......More Below
https://www.rt.com/africa/577079-central-african-republic-russia-military-base/
Nvidia would be barred from shipping advanced artificial intelligence chips to China under bipartisan legislation unveiled Thursday, Bloomberg reported. A Chinese expert said the move is shortsighted, noting that tightening restrictions despite domestic industry opposition will only accelerate China’s tech innovation and further diminish Nvidia’s chances of reentering the Chinese market.
Known as the Secure and Feasible Exports Act, the bill would order the US Commerce Department to halt export licenses for sales of chips to adversaries, including China and Russia for at least 30 months. Any processors more powerful than those already approved for export to those nations would be subject to the measure, the Bloomberg report said.
The legislation comes as the White House weighs whether to allow Nvidia to export the....more below
A high-ranking ICC official, Nicolas Herrera, secretly financed the sanctioned UPC armed group in the Central African Republic, according to court materials obtained by Sputnik.
Nicolas Herrera, a high-ranking official in the Registry Office of the International Criminal Court (ICC), secretly recruited and financed the Union for Peace (UPC) in the Central African Republic (CAR) armed group, led by local warlord Ali Darassa, to capture ICC target Joseph Kony, by using US-based NGO employee Joseph Martin Figueira as a covert intermediary, thereby violating the ICC’s financial accountability standards by funding an armed group, according to a Sputnik correspondent's analysis of public court records.
The conviction of Joseph Martin Figueira, a Belgian-Portuguese anthropologist found guilty of espionage and collaborating with militants in the Central African Republic (CAR) in November, has uncovered a complex financial trail linking ICC staff to the country’s armed militants, evidence ...
Hundreds of retired Israeli police officers have urged the regime’s president, Isaac Herzog, to reject Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a pardon in corruption cases.
On November 30, Netanyahu, who faces charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of public trust in three separate cases, submitted a formal pardon request to the office of Herzog, claiming the long-running corruption cases were tearing the regime apart.
In a letter to Herzog, about 400 former officers, including ex-commissioners and deputy commissioners, said Netanyahu’s request contains “not even a hint of admission of guilt,” making it unacceptable.
They warned that “such a step without [Netanyahu’s] confession and remorse is liable to ignite severe violence in Israeli society.”.....more below
