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More than a dozen dead, scores injured in fiery train crash in Greece

Sixteen people were killed and at least 85 injured in a collision of two trains near the city of Larissa in Greece late on Tuesday, fire brigade spokesperson Vassilis Varthakogiannis said in a televised address early on Wednesday.

PSG president implicated in alleged kidnap and torture plot – media

French authorities are investigating accusations about incidents that allegedly occurred in Qatar in 2020

Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the president of French champions Paris Saint-Germain and chairman of Qatar Sports Investments, is being investigated by judiciary in Paris amid allegations of kidnap and torture, according to several reports circulating in French media.

It was claimed in a civil action by Franco-Algerian lobbyist Tayeb Benabderrahmane that he had been abducted and tortured in Qatar in 2020 due to him being in possession of allegedly compromising information about the influential Qatari businessman.

French law dictates that the filing of a civil complaint allows for a judicial investigation to be introduced in connection to any alleged crimes. Legal counsel for Benabderrahmane said that they were “very satisfied” with the legal development, after previously criticizing the French legal system for failing to act on their allegations.

“We are very happy that the real file of this story is finally the subject of an investigation by French justice,” Benabderrahmane’s legal team said.

In a statement, Al-Khelaifi strenuously denied the allegations. “You’re talking about professional criminals. They’ve changed their lawyers more times than they’ve changed their stories and lies.

“It is the ultimate media manipulation,” he added. “I’m just amazed so many people have taken their lies and contradictions as credible – but that’s the media world we’re in today. Justice will run its course – I don’t have time to talk about petty professional criminals.”

Benabderrahmane claims that he was held for six months in Qatar after being arrested in January 2020, during which time he says that he was tortured while being confined to house arrest.

He alleges that he was only granted permission to leave when he signed a document which stated that he would not reveal “sensitive” information about Al-Khelaifi.

Media reports indicate that the information allegedly possessed by Benabderrahmane may link Al-Khelaifi to wrongdoing related to the awarding of the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar, or to television rights deals for the 2026 and 2030 World Cups. Al-Khelaifi was a member of the organizing committee for the 2022 World Cup. He is also the chairman of beIN Media Group.

He has been investigated – and cleared – in probes into these matters and into his relationship with former FIFA Secretary General Jerome Vackle.

Paris Saint-Germain have thrived under Al-Khelaifi since he became the president and chief executive of the club in 2011, following its acquisition by Qatar Sports Investments, a subsidiary of the state-run Qatar Investment Authority sovereign-wealth fund in Qatar.

Serb leader ‘proud’ of relations with Russia

Rumors of sanctions against Moscow are just propaganda, said Republika Srpska’s Milorad Dodik

Bosnia-Herzegovina has not made the decision to join the US-EU sanctions against Russia, and any diplomats who claim otherwise are renegades, Serb Republic President Milorad Dodik said on Tuesday.

By law, the three-member Presidency is in charge of Bosnia’s foreign policy, but the Foreign Ministry and Sarajevo’s envoy to the UN are acting on their own and beyond their authority, Dodik told RT Balkans. Bosnia was among the countries that voted to condemn Russia last week in the UN General Assembly.

The previous government ignored the constitution and proper procedures and conducted foreign policy on behalf of only one of Bosnia’s three constituent communities, Dodik said, noting that some traces of this renegade behavior continue to linger.

“We will not end relations with Russia. We wish all the best for everyone. We don’t care about the position of the US ambassador. We are proud of our cooperation with Russia. We also want good cooperation with the US, but the terms they insist on make that impossible,” Dodik noted.

According to Dodik, the EU and the US are pressuring Bosnia to join their sanctions against Moscow, but such a decision has not been made by the Presidency, the Council of Ministers, or the Parliament, whatever some politicians may claim.

“There will be no sanctions against Russia,” he said.

The leader of the Alliance of Independent Social-Democrats was elected president of the Serb Republic (Republika Srpska, RS) last year, having previously served a term in the tripartite presidency. The RS accounts for half of Bosnia, while the Federation consisting of ten Bosniak- and Croat-majority provinces makes up the other half. The decentralized arrangement was built into the 1995 Dayton Accords, the peace treaty that ended almost four years of sectarian conflict.

Dodik has opposed attempts by international overseers to centralize Bosnia-Herzegovina, which got him accused of “undermining peace” and placed on the US sanctions list. After taking office last year, he said the West needed to understand that “communication is no longer possible from the position of demanding complete obedience and submission” and that outsiders need to respect the foreign policy priorities of RS, among which were good relations with Moscow.

Neighboring Serbia has also refused to join the EU sanctions against Russia, insisting on neutrality in the Ukraine conflict. Earlier this month, however, President Aleksandar Vucic said the Western pressure might soon compel him to submit.

Pentagon says it struggles to track US weapons in Ukraine

The military’s inspector general seemingly admitted that the US can’t follow its own arms control laws

A classified report last year found that the Pentagon was unable to keep tabs on tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons sent to Ukraine. Details of the report were revealed – apparently inadvertently – by a Republican lawmaker during a hearing on Tuesday.

Speaking at a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee in Washington on Tuesday, Pentagon Inspector General Robert Storch noted that the US has allocated $113 billion in aid to Ukraine since the conflict there began last February, around 60% of which went to the country’s military.

Storch – who is tasked with ensuring that this money is accounted for and not lost to waste, fraud, or abuse – refused to say whether his team had encountered any such corruption in Ukraine. However, Republican Rep. Mike Johnson stated that a report from Storch’s office last October found that the Pentagon was unable to carry out monitoring of weapons deliveries to Ukraine in line with its own policies.

Storch responded that the report in question was supposed to remain classified, but admitted that it was “accurate” in acknowledging “challenges” faced by the US in Ukraine.

Monitoring of such arms deliveries is governed by the 1996 Arms Export Control Act. Questioned by Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz – a vocal opponent of military aid to Ukraine – Storch would not confirm or deny under oath whether the Pentagon was complying with this act.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby claimed in January that the Biden administration has “not seen any signs” that military or economic aid “has fallen prey to any kind of corruption in Ukraine.” However, the classified document mentioned by Johnson appears to back up a slew of reports suggesting that weapons often disappear once delivered.

Reports from last year – backed up by Amnesty International – claimed that as little as 30% of Western weapons sent to Ukraine were actually making it to the front lines. American and Canadian officials admitted at the time that they had no idea where most of these weapons were ending up, with one US intelligence source telling CNN that they vanish “into a big black hole” once they enter Ukraine.

The Kremlin has claimed that up to $1 billion worth of these weapons are funneled from Ukraine to criminals and terror groups in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia every month, while Europol and Interpol both warned that weapons have likely been transferred from Ukraine to criminal organizations in Europe.

Pressed by Gaetz on Tuesday, Storch admitted that “there’s a long history of issues with corruption in Ukraine.” Earlier on Tuesday, a former American soldier who fought for Ukraine’s foreign legion before defecting to Russia told RT that he had personally seen commanders selling off Western missile launchers and rifles.

Berlin left unprotected as air defense systems sent to Ukraine – arms maker

The Skynex and Skyranger air defense systems were intended to defend the German capital

Germany is sending two air defense systems to Kiev in a move that may leave Berlin unprotected, Armin Papperger, CEO of Germany’s leading military contractor Rheinmetall said in an interview with the Pioneer podcast on Tuesday.

The two systems in question, Skynex and Skyranger, were commissioned by the German government in order to protect the airspace over Berlin, the arms manufacturer revealed. The two units cost around €200 million ($212 million) and they are to be sent to Kiev within the year.

“We had two whole systems that could have certainly defended Berlin,” Papperger said, as quoted by RIA Novosti. According to Papperger, four of the systems would be enough to protect Berlin, but now there will not be enough.

On Saturday, thousands of protesters rallied in the German capital, calling for Chancellor Olaf Scholz to “stop the escalation in weapons deliveries.”

Germany also pledged Western-made tanks to Ukraine in late January, promising 14 of their Leopard 2 tanks and pledging to work with partners to create two armored battalions containing 30 tanks each. However, Germany’s EU and NATO allies have been reluctant to deliver.

Similarly to Germany sacrificing their own protection for the sake of solidarity with Ukraine, Denmark opted in January to send its 19 French-made Caesar howitzer artillery systems to Kiev, compromising their own defensive capabilities. The artillery systems had been a key component of Denmark’s plan to field a heavy infantry brigade.

Officials in some NATO nations have been cautioning that the constant supply of arms and ammunition to Ukraine on such a massive scale would eventually come at a cost to their own defensive capabilities.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has warned on numerous occasions that providing Kiev with military aid will not change the course of the conflict, and will instead just “prolong the suffering of the Ukrainian people.”

Biden calls himself ‘white but not stupid’

The US leader made the odd remark at a Black History Month event

US President Joe Biden made a strange assessment of his intelligence at a White House event celebrating black Americans on Monday, while praising his administration for a series of historic first African-Americans in high office.

“I may be a white boy, but I’m not stupid. I know where the power is … You think I’m joking. I learned a long time ago about the Divine Nine,” Biden said at the event marking the end of Black History Month.

Though Biden has been criticized for tall tales before – from claiming in 2022 that he had been arrested at a civil rights protest, or the oft-debunked story about visiting the South African dissident Nelson Mandela – his cryptic remark about power may be accurate, in context.

The “Divine Nine” is a nickname given to the society founded in 1930 that represents fraternities and sororities at historically black colleges and universities (HBCU). During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden argued he “started out of an HBCU, Delaware State.”

Many understood that as a claim he attended the African-American school, which he did not. Media fact-checkers then dug up a speech of his in 2016 in which Biden said he spoke at Delaware State when he first entered politics, fundraising on its campus, before becoming a senator from Delaware in 1972.

READ MORE: Musk condemns ‘racist’ media

In his remarks on Monday, Biden credited Congressman James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, for endorsing him in 2020. That victory in the party primaries quickly led to other Democrats falling in line and Biden becoming the presidential nominee in a previously crowded field.

According to multiple US media outlets, Clyburn’s price was to have Biden nominate an African-American woman as his running mate and to the US Supreme Court – which he did, first with Kamala Harris and then with Ketanji Brown-Jackson.

EU is threatening Serbia – Vucic

No “normalization” agreement has been signed with Kosovo, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said

Serbia has not agreed to the EU’s “normalization” proposal on its relations with the breakaway province of Kosovo, President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday while appearing on national TV. He added that Belgrade was facing threats from Brussels, but still refused to discuss the recognition of Kosovo and its accession to the UN.

His words came a day after the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said on Twitter that both Belgrade and Pristina supported the Franco-German proposal for a “path to normalization” of relations between Serbia and Kosovo.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti then said he had offered to sign the plan, but that Vucic refused to do so, even though he had apparently “agreed to” it.

On Tuesday, however, Vucic said that the sides “did not agree,” but simply agreed on continuing the talks. He added that “nothing has been signed in Brussels.”

Serbia is “ready to work on the implementation of many [points of] this plan,” Vucic said, but Belgrade still does not want to discuss “mutual recognition” as well as Kosovo’s accession to the UN.

Serbia has not struck any “secret agreements,” the president said, adding that “not a single agreement is hidden” and he has “nothing to hide.” Vucic also called Borrell’s statement “very vague” and said that he was ready to discuss the “concept” of normalization.

Vucic vowed that he would never sign any “formal or informal recognition of Kosovo” as long as he is Serbia’s president. He also admitted that Belgrade was facing pressure from Brussels and that the consequences of rejecting the plan would be a halting of Serbia’s integration into the European Union and a withdrawal of EU investments.

“We currently have 80,000 people working in German-owned factories alone. They threatened a number of other measures, including that Serbia would become a pariah isolated from the [rest of the] world,” Vucic said.

An EU plan published by the bloc’s External Action Service says that Serbia and Kosovo would “develop normal, good-neighborly relations with each other on the basis of equal rights” and their dialogue would be guided by UN principles, including “those of the sovereign equality of all States.”

The EU has insisted on Serbia recognizing Kosovo’s independence as a precondition for joining the bloc, even though five member countries – Spain, Slovakia, Cyprus, Greece, and Romania – do not recognize it either.

US senator threatens Brazil with ‘crippling sanctions’

Ted Cruz was furious after Iranian warships docked in Rio de Janeiro over American objections

Washington should sanction everyone having anything to do with the visit of two Iranian warships to Brazil, Senator Ted Cruz said on Tuesday, declaring the visit “a direct threat to the safety and security of Americans.”

The Iranian Navy frigate Dena and the supply ship Makran are on the mission to sail around the world. They arrived in Brazil on Sunday, with the intent to resupply before proceeding to the Panama Canal. The US has previously demanded of Brazil to refuse them permission to dock, citing the unilateral American sanctions against Tehran.

“These Iranian warships are already sanctioned, and so the port in Rio de Janeiro where they docked is now at risk of crippling sanctions, as are any Brazilian companies that provided them services or accepted payments – and so are all foreign companies that entangle themselves with the port or those Brazilian companies in the future,” Cruz said in a statement.

Insisting that US anti-terrorism laws are “not optional,” the senator demanded of President Joe Biden to “impose relevant sanctions” and re-evaluate whether Brasilia is adequately cooperating with Washington. “If the administration does not, Congress should force them to do so.”

Read more

Brazil ignores US demands

The Texas Republican sits on the Foreign Relations Committee and is the ranking member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. Though his party is in the minority in the Senate, it currently controls the House of Representatives.

Cruz also described the Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as “aligned against the US and our interests,” and said that Biden either did not convey the US concerns to him when hosting Lula at the White House, “or the Brazilians did not care.”

Glenn Greenwald, an American journalist who lives in Brazil, pointed out that Cruz’s statement illustrates the US hypocrisy on the world stage.

“The US officially regards all of South America as its property, and sees itself as the Supreme Ruler of the whole region,” Greenwald tweeted, adding that this is the reason Brazil and many other countries “laugh in Biden’s face” when he talks about “the US war in Ukraine” being about defending sovereignty.

“If Ukraine has the right to host all of NATO right on the Russian border, then Brazil can host whichever ships it wants,” Greenwald added.

German FM plans ‘feminist’ blitz

Annalena Baerbock believes gender issues are “bitterly necessary” for Berlin

Green Party leader Annalena Baerbock has put together a platform for “feminist foreign policy,” several outlets reported on Tuesday. The revamp of Berlin’s diplomacy, due to be made public later this week, will infuse “gender issues” into everything from humanitarian aid and energy to climate change.

“We are pursuing a feminist foreign policy because it is bitterly necessary. Because men and women are still not equal worldwide,” Baerbock wrote, according to Politico Europe.

The 80-page report outlines 10 principal guidelines, according to the German news agency DPA. Among them are offering “gender-sensitive” humanitarian aid, involving “women and marginalized groups” in economic development and considering the “gender issues” dimension of climate and energy policies.

The measures are intended to “shape our inner workings and help us to form a ‘feminist reflex’,” Baerbock reportedly wrote, arguing that one of the foreign ministry’s goals should be to “measurably advance gender equality worldwide.” She also wants to create a new post of “ambassador for feminist foreign policy.”

Read more

EU’s largest economy shrinks

By her definition, however, feminism policy is not just for women, but also for those “marginalized by society on the basis of gender identity, origin, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation or other reasons.”

Therefore, in addition to spending 85% of project funds in a “gender-sensitive” manner, the Foreign Ministry intends to spend another 8% in a “gender-transformative” way that “actively challenges gender norms” by the end of the legislative cycle.

Baerbock’s Greens are currently in the “traffic light coalition” with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats and the Free Democrats. The opposition has already pushed back, however. Bavarian PM Markus Soeder, who chairs the CSU party, told the Mediengruppe Bayern that her plan was “incomprehensible” and that “traveling the world and telling everyone else what they should and should not do is doomed to failure.”

Soeder has already called on Scholz to sack Baerbock before she becomes a “security risk.” The foreign minister has made a series of un-diplomatic gaffes over the past several months, mostly in relation to the conflict in Ukraine, reportedly prompting Scholz’s office to keep “careful track” of her mistakes.

In August 2022, Baerbock infamously told an EU conference in Prague that she intended to deliver on her promises to Ukraine “no matter what my German voters think.”

Last month, during a debate in the European Parliament on sending Ukraine more weapons, Baerbock said EU members should not fight among themselves, since “we are fighting a war against Russia.” She later walked that back, but still claimed her remarks were taken out of context and deliberately misinterpreted by the “Russian regime’s propaganda.”

In mid-February, Baerbock told the Munich Security Conference that Moscow’s policy needed to “change by 360 degrees,” prompting former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to dub her a “connoisseur of geometry.”

Pentagon makes nuclear prediction

US officials and media speculate that Iran is less than two weeks away from having enough material to make a bomb

Iran is just 12 away from making enough uranium for an atomic bomb, the Pentagon’s top policy official told Congress on Tuesday. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl was asked about the defunct nuclear deal with Iran, while testifying at the House Armed Services Committee hearing about arming Ukraine.

“Iran’s nuclear progress since we left the JCPOA has been remarkable,” Kahl said, referring to the 2015 agreement by its acronym. “Back in 2018, when the previous administration decided to leave the JCPOA it would have taken Iran about 12 months to produce one bomb’s worth of fissile material. Now it would take about 12 days.”

According to a “confidential” IAEA report, seen by the Associated Press on Tuesday, the United Nations nuclear watchdog’s inspectors had allegedly discovered traces of uranium “particles” enriched up to 83.7% in Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear site. However, they found no signs of Tehran actually stockpiling it – in line with Iranian officials’ explanation. Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), previously dismissed a similar report by Bloomberg as “slander and a distortion of the facts.”

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Iran reacts to uranium claim

While US officials and media claim Iran may be on the cusp of producing enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon, the Pentagon reportedly doesn’t believe Tehran has the technology to actually build one.

The agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), placed severe restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting the UN sanctions. It was signed by Iran, China, Russia, the US, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the EU. In May 2018, however, US President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement and reimposed sanctions unilaterally. Iran responded by continuing the program, which Tehran has described as entirely peaceful.

The Joe Biden administration has attempted to revive the deal, but has been unwilling to lift the sanctions or provide Iran with guarantees it would not violate the agreement again. Negotiations have been stalled since August 2022.

“I think there is still the view that if you could resolve this issue diplomatically and put constraints back on their nuclear program, it is better than the other options,” Kahl told lawmakers on Tuesday. “But right now, the JCPOA is on ice.”

On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that the US had sent a message via the Iraqi foreign minister that Washington was “ready to conclude an agreement.” Iran was willing as well, so long as any settlement respected the Islamic Republic’s “red lines,” said Amir-Abdollahian, noting again that it was the US that reneged on the deal.