Martin Schulz, the leader of the German Social Democrats (SPD), on Tuesday said that if he wins next month’s election he will ask the U.S. to withdraw its nuclear weapons from Germany. Source: Politico
Vladimir Putin has said that Russia finds the Kosovo authorities’ decision to create their own army regrettable and sees it as another risk of destabilization of the situation in the Balkans.
“Regrettably, Kosovo’s authorities took a series of provocative steps lately, thus greatly aggravating the situation. In the first place I have in mind their decision of December 14 to form a so-called army in Kosovo,” Putin told a news conference. “It goes without saying that this is a direct violation of the UN resolution, which does not allow for the creation of any paramilitary forces except for the international UN contingent.”
“Such irresponsible steps by Kosovo’s authorities may cause destabilization in the Balkans,” he warned. Source: Tass
The German government is debating whether to follow the United States and allies such as Australia in restricting China’s Huawei Technologies from accessing its next-generation mobile networks on national-security grounds.
Some Western countries have barred Huawei from their markets after US officials briefed allies that Huawei is at the beck and call of the Chinese state, warning that its network equipment may contain “back doors” that could open them up to cyberespionage. Huawei says such concerns are unfounded. Source: The Irish Time
- The bipartisan bills target firms supposedly in breach of US sanctions, and specifically cite Huawei and ZTE
- Republican Senator Tom Cotton branded Huawei ‘an intelligence-gathering arm of the Chinese Communist Party’
The measures would require the US president to ban the export of US components to any Chinese telecommunications company that violates US sanctions or export control laws. Source: South China Morrning Post
