Author: Daily Sabah With Reuters

A Russian court ruled to place a U.S. citizen, suspected of drug smuggling, in custody for 30 days, Moscow courts press service said on Saturday. The U.S. citizen, Kalob Wayne Byers, was detained by customs officers at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport during a baggage check, the statement said. Russia’s Federal Customs Service confirmed on Friday that a 28-year-old U.S. citizen had been detained after customs officials found cannabis-laced marmalade in his luggage, the Interfax news agency reported.

China urged NATO to adopt a “rational and pragmatic” attitude and establish an “objective and correct understanding” of China, the foreign ministry said on Saturday. Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the comment to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Friday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, the ministry said. Wang said Beijing will continue to work with other parties to play a constructive role in promoting a political solution to the war in Ukraine.

Russian troops have taken control of the settlement of Berezivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin would not dare to attack a NATO country, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said at the Munich Security Council on Saturday, adding that Moscow would face the “full onslaught” of the alliance if that were to happen.

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday used his speech at the Munich Security Conference to criticize Europe for what he said was censorship of free speech and said the continent faces a “threat from within,” without offering any specifics on ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict. At several points in his speech, Vance minimized the risk of political interference by Russia, taking a similar stance to U.S. President Donald Trump, who has railed against claims by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia had interfered on his behalf in the 2016 election. “For years, we’ve been told that everything we fund and support…

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and U.S. counterpart Marco Rubio discussed Syria, Gaza, and the Ukraine-Russia war, as well as bilateral issues during their first in-person meeting in Munich on Friday, according to the information released by the Turkish foreign ministry sources. Fidan told Rubio about Türkiye’s views on measures that regional countries in the Middle East can take against Daesh [ISIS], the diplomatic sources said, adding he had also called for the ceasefire in Gaza to be made permanent. The two also “extensively discussed” possible developments on the achievement of peace between Ukraine and Russia, the diplomatic sources said.

Three federal judges will consider on Friday whether Elon Musk’s government cost-cutting team known as DOGE will have access to Treasury Department payment systems and potentially sensitive data at U.S. health, consumer protection, labor and education agencies. The Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency has swept through federal agencies since Republican Donald Trump became president last month and put the chief executive of carmaker Tesla in charge of rooting out wasteful spending as part of Trump’s dramatic overhaul of government. In Manhattan, U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas will consider a request by Democratic state attorneys general to extend a temporary block…

U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Friday backed a German far-right party as an eligible political partner in remarks rebuffed by Berlin as unwelcome interference in an upcoming election. The anti-immigration AfD, currently polling at around 20% ahead of the February 23 general election, has pariah status among other major political parties in a country with a taboo about far-right politics because of its Nazi past. In a policy dubbed the “firewall”, parties have formed a consensus not to work with the AfD, which is under surveillance by the German domestic intelligence service. In an apparent reference to the catchword,…

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said there were signs that cooperation with the United States on defence could continue but Europe must in any case do everything it can to better guarantee its own security. In an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio, to be broadcast on Sunday, Scholz said everything must be done to ensure NATO can continue to function, although this “will not be an easy task.” Scholz comments come after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Europe on Thursday against treating America like a “sucker” by making it responsible for its defence.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday that Tehran’s enemies may be able to strike the country’s nuclear centres but they cannot deprive it of its ability to build new ones. He made his comments after the Washington Post reported that U.S. intelligence believes Israel is likely to launch a pre-emptive attack on Iran’s nuclear programme by the middle of the year. “They threaten us that they will hit nuclear facilities… If you (the enemy) strike a hundred of those we will build a thousand other ones… You can hit the buildings and the places but you cannot hit those…