Explosion in Kabul at the American Embassy

1 Afghanistan

A powerful explosion took place near the American embassy in Kabul, on Wednesday night. The explosion took place on the anniversary of the terrorist attack on the twin-towers of the World Trade Center in the USA on 11th of September, 2001 — the »Associated Press» reports. Currently the assumed cause of the explosion is a launched rocket. The Information about the victims and the destruction hasn’t been reported yet. None of the terrorist groups declared their involvement in the explosion so far.

2. the USA

Donald Trump has extended the sanctions decree for the “foreign interference in the election” — the US administration reports. “Although there was no evidence that the foreign powers changed the results or the vote count itself in any election in the United States — the foreign powers have historically tried to use the free and open American political system” — the White House quotes the presidential message to the Congress. According to the US — the attempts to influence the elections can be carried out through the «illegal access to the infrastructure», or «the hidden spread of propaganda and misinformation». It was noted that due to the spread of the digital technology — the scale and the intensity of the threat of the foreign intervention has increased. The decree on sanctions for the interference in the elections was signed on 12th of September, 2018, with the possibility of yearly extension.

3 Ukraine

Kiev has suspended the process of the termination of the bilateral agreements with Russia. The process was started under the ex-president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko — the »Kommersant» newspaper reports while citing their source in the Russian Foreign Ministry. According to the »Kommersant» — Kiev stopped sending to Moscow the notifications of termination of the agreements with Russia. In total, the bilateral legal framework includes about 400 of documents. The last time the information on the number of broken agreements appeared back in the fall of 2018. In November, the currently-former Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavel Klimkin announced that Ukraine “killed” 48 agreements with Russia. He also promised to break another 40. The source of the »Kommersant» in the Russian government agencies that deal with Ukraine specified that since the time of that one Klimkin’s speech — the promised agreements have not been broken.

4 Japan

A new cabinet has been formed in Japan — Yoshihide Suga, the general secretary of the Japanese government, announced. In the new government, only two politicians that are the closest to the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, remained on their places. These two are: the Secretary General Yoshihide Suga, and the Minister of Finances, Taro Aso. The Foreign Minister, Taro Kono, headed the Ministry of Defense. The current Minister for the Economic Recovery — Toshimitsu Motegi, took his place in return. On Wednesday, due to the cabinet shifts announced by the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the entire Japanese government has resigned. Shinzo Abe conducts a traditional rotation in the Cabinet and in the leadership circles of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party via rearrangement in order to maintain the internal party balance. The Japanese emperor Naruhito has already approved the composition of the new government.