the US and the Taliban negotiations in Qatar

The DPRK launched several missiles once again — the Yonhap news agency reported with a reference to the South Korean military command. According to their data, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles into the Sea of ​​Japan. The missiles were similar to the ballistic missiles, tested previously by the DPRK on 25th of July. The missiles were launched at 5:24 a.m. and 5:36 a.m., from the North Korean southwestern district of Quil, in the southern province of Hwanhe. Both missiles flew for about 450 kilometers, at an altitude of about 37 kilometers — the Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea specified. This was the fourth case of missile tests, conducted by the DPRK in less than 2 weeks.

Donald Trump signed a decree that blocked the Venezuelan government property located in the US — Interfax reports while citing a statement from the White House press service. «All the property of the Venezuelan government, located in the US, or subsequently falling into the US, or under the control of any American person, is now blocked and can’t be transferred, paid for, exported, seized or otherwise processed» — the decree says. By the term “Venezuelan government” the decree means the state and the government of Venezuela, as well as any political unit, department or structure, including the Central Bank of Venezuela, and »Petróleos de Venezuela» — the largest state-owned oil and gas company of the country. The decree entered into force on 5th of August

London has joined the US-initiated coalition against Iran in the Persian Gulf — the British Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace announced. The British Ministry of Defense reported that «the Royal Navy will cooperate with the US Navy in order to ensure the safety of merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz» — RIA NEWS reports. London explained that the situation in the Persian Gulf proves the “growing threat to the commercial shipping”. The UK expressed its willingness to protect the strait from the “unlawful intrusion” by joining to the “new maritime security monitoring mission” in the region. The UK also wants to form a pan-European mission aimed to protect the commercial ships. Earlier, France and Germany refused to send ther warships to the Persian Gulf by the call of the US

Any Turkish operations in the northern Syria are extremely “unacceptable” — said the new US Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper. According to him — the US are ready to prevent any unilateral Turkish invasion in Syria. Nevertheless, Mark Esper hopes that Washington will come to an agreement with Ankara on this issue — Reuters reports. Earlier, Turkish President Recep Erdogan announced Ankara’s plans to launch a new military operation in the Kurdish-controlled area east of the Euphrates River, in northern Syria. He specified that both Russia and the United States were notified about the planned operation. He did not specify when it will start, however. If this operation will actually take place — it will be the third Turkish invasion in Syria since the start of armed conflict in the country.

The fire at the artillery warehouse in the Achinsky district in the Krasnoyarsk Territory has been completely extinguished — the Russian Defense Ministry announced. According to the Ministry — there are no open fires left in the warehouse. The detonation of the ammunition has also stopped. The ministry added that the IL-76 military transport aircraft and the Mi-8 army helicopters began droping water on the building.

During the negotiations in Qatar, the representatives of the USA and the Taliban radical movement resolved all their disagreements on the issues, related to the reconciliation in Afghanistan, on the withdrawal of the American troops from the country, and on the matter of refusal of the Taliban to contact other extremist groups — an unnamed Taliban spokesman told to the Associated Press. The US Special Representative, Zalmay Khalilzad, who participated in the negotiations, tweeted that as a result of several days of discussions »an excellent progress” was made in Qatar — Interfax reports. According to the agency, the government of Afghanistan didn’t participate in the negotiations in Qatar since the Taliban refuse to contact directly «with the US puppets». Right now, almost half of Afghanistan remains under the control of the Taliban. They carry out terrorist attacks almost daily, despite the ongoing negotiations. Constantine Reztsov, specially for ANNA NEWS.