Iran buys Russian Su-35 and Mi-28, three Baltic countries boycott OSCE meeting, UK cancels summit with Greece

The World & Vietnam Newspaper highlights some notable world news this morning, November 29.

Asia

BANGKOK POST. The Thai cabinet has approved a proposal by the Civil Service Commission (OCSC) to increase salaries for civil servants and public employees by 10 percent over the next two years to offset rising living costs.

Điểm tin thế giới sáng 29/11: Ba nước Baltic tẩy chay cuộc họp OSCE, Anh hủy cuộc gặp thượng đỉnh với Hy Lạp

Thailand has about 1.68 million civil servants and public employees, including about 427,000 teachers and education staff, 421,000 civil servants and 325,000 military personnel. (Source: Bangkok Post)

ANTARA. Indonesia officially began its 75-day presidential campaign until February 10, 2024, in preparation for the election scheduled for February 14, 2024.

TEMPO. Indonesia is building a frigate named Merah Putih at a base in Surabaya, expected to be launched in 2024, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto said.

YONHAP. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has ordered his cabinet to review the risk of cyberattacks on public digital infrastructure amid a series of administrative cyber incidents over the past week.

KOREA TIMES. The 22nd Korea-India Dialogue was held in Seoul from November 27-28 to enhance cooperation in various fields between the two countries in the new period.

DAWN. The Pakistan Army is hosting a two-week multinational joint counter-terrorism exercise in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, along with special forces from Bahrain, Iraq and Kuwait.

IRNA. Iran has finalized a deal to buy Su-35 fighter jets , Mi-28 helicopters and Yak-130 trainer aircraft from Russia, Deputy Defense Minister Mehdi Farahi said.

TASNIM. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi postponed his planned trip to Turkey on November 29 without giving a reason.

REUTERS. Director of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency David Barnea and Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) William J. Burns met with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in the capital Doha, discussing building on progress made in extending the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

Europe

YLE. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stressed that the EU's external borders are now "no longer a problem for Italy, Greece and Spain" but also a concern for the Nordic countries.

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (left) and his Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson in Helsinki on November 27. (Source: Lehtikuva)

YLE. Finnish Interior Minister Mari Rantanen announced new decisions to introduce restrictions on the border with Russia, but did not specify what kind of restrictions they would be.

TASS. Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the budget for 2024 and 2025-2026, which includes a significant increase in military spending, with about 30% of the budget allocated to the armed forces by 2024.

RIA NOVOSTI. The Russian Navy has commissioned a diesel-electric submarine named Mozhaysk into its Pacific Fleet.

ANADOLU. Russia does not plan to maintain contacts with Washington on nuclear weapons issues until the end of the year, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

AFP. Top diplomats from the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are not attending an OSCE meeting in Skopje, North Macedonia, because of a decision to allow Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to attend.

DW. Next year, Germany will reach the NATO target of spending 2% of GDP on defense , German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at a meeting of the alliance in Brussels, Belgium.

BBC. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has cancelled a meeting with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis in London because Mr Mitsotakis breached a commitment related to a dispute over ownership of the Parthenon sculpture.

TELECINO. Spain is ready to sign an agreement with Britain on the post-Brexit status of the territory of Gibraltar on November 29, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced before meeting his British counterpart David Cameron in Brussels (Belgium).

REUTERS. Poland's new government, led by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki , was sworn in, with more than 50% of its ministers being women.

AZE. Defense Ministers of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey held a trilateral meeting in the capital Baku to discuss military cooperation in 2024.

UNHCR. The total number of migrants who have crossed the sea to reach Italy so far this year has exceeded 150,000, the highest since 2016, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

BLOOMBERG. About 12% of companies in Germany are using artificial intelligence (AI), especially in the areas of accounting, control and financial management.

FRANCE24. France has detected an outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu at a turkey farm in the northwest, as a seasonal wave of infections spreads across Europe.

America

REUTERS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan spoke by phone with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss the process of normalizing relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

CNN. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on a trip to Europe to attend the NATO Foreign Ministers' Meeting, taking place from November 28-29 in Brussels, Belgium.

ECONOMIST. Some members of the US Congress are concerned that if an aid package for Ukraine cannot be agreed upon by Christmas, it could be delayed until after the US presidential election in November 2024.

Africa

MEDAFRICA. Angolan President Joao Lourenco has pressed the button to start the country's largest diamond mining project, located in Lunda Sul province, which could yield 628 million carats of diamonds.

The Luele mine is a kimberlite deposit diamond mine discovered in 2013. Mining operations are expected to last up to 60 years. (Source: ECP)

AFRICA NEWS. The 3rd International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA) opened in Lusaka, Zambia, with a call for increased cooperation and investment to improve health care delivery.

DAILY NATION. Kenya's finance ministry will sell stakes in 11 state-owned enterprises to raise funds for the government's depleted coffers as tax revenues continue to fall below target.

REUTERS. An attempted hijacking of a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden on November 26 appears to have been carried out by Somali pirates , not Houthi forces in Yemen, according to the US Department of Defense.

CBC. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the petrol bomb attack on a Jewish community center in Montreal as "heinous and hateful" amid escalating tensions over the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Oceania

ABC. Australia will ban the import of disposable vapes from January 1, 2024, in a bid to curb the rising use of e-cigarettes among young people in the country.

SBS. DP World Australia , one of the country's largest port operators, said hackers had accessed files containing detailed personal information of employees.

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