President Widodo Calls for Scrapping Visa, MasterCard to Help Indonesia 'Be Independent'

Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has called for the country to scrap foreign payment networks, such as Visa and MasterCard, and instead using credit cards issued by domestic banks.

Indonesia, which is the world’s seventh largest economy in terms of GDP (PPP), launched a Domestic Government Credit Card payment system in March 2022.

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❗️ A BNSF train derailed on the Swinomish Reservation in Washington, spilling around 5,000 gallons of diesel.

▪️ The train could contain up to 10,000 gallons of diesel. No injuries have been reported.

▪️ The ecology department and Marine Spill Response Corp. are responding to the scene to remove the locomotives and contain the spill. Most of the diesel leaked on land, and there is no reported impact to groundwater or waterways.

📍 A few hours earlier, a freight train loaded with hazardous substances derailed near the town of Topock in Mojave County, Arizona, US, media reported Thursday, citing local authorities.

Fifty-Five Years Since My Lai Massacre: How US Soldiers Freely Murdered Vietnamese Civilians

On March 16, 1968, a company of US soldiers committed an atrocity that became emblematic of the war the country waged in Vietnam, murdering over five hundred unarmed civilians in a village called Son My located in what was, at the time, South Vietnam.

Despite the fact that over 500 innocent Vietnamese, including women and children, were murdered by US troops, virtually all of the perpetrators got away scot free.

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Buenos Aires Considers Buying Chinese-Pakistani F-17 Thunder Fighter Jet

Argentina could soon buy China's JF-17 "Thunder," an advanced fighter jet jointly developed with Pakistan and designed for export.

Argentina’s embassy in Beijing announced earlier this week that a group of defense officials led by Argentine Defense Minister Jorge Taiana had met with Argentine Ambassador to China Sabino Vaca Narvaja to promote cooperation with Beijing on defense.

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UK Government Bans Chinese TikTok Social Media App From Official Phones

TikTok users hoping to see British cabinet ministers and civil servants miming and dancing to pop songs in their Whitehall offices will be disappointed. Downing Street has banned the app on departmental mobile phones.

The British government has banned the Chinese-made social media app TikTok from officially-issued mobile devices. Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Dowden announced the ban "with immediate effect" in Parliament on Thursday.

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🔺A coalition of countries is needed to counter US hegemony in the world, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said
🔺The times of the empires are over, Maduro claimed at the High-Level Dialogue between the Communist Party of China
🔺‘I'm telling you, he did it’: Seymour Hersh slams Biden as Nord Stream bomber

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Seoul, Tokyo Agree to Resume 'Shuttle Diplomacy' After Fence-Mending Summit

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have agreed to resume "shuttle diplomacy" and take steps towards resolving a trade dispute after their fence-mending summit in Tokyo.

The South Korean president and his wife are scheduled to tour Japan on March 16-17, a trip that marks the first visit of a South Korean leader to the Land of the Rising Sun in 12 years.

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'Our Banking System is Sound': Yellen Tells Congress 'Decisive' Actions Stabilized Financial Markets

While the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates in an attempt to quell historically high inflation, the aggressive rate hikes have also devalued bonds into which investors have sunk large quantities of capital, increasing uncertainty as to how much cash banks can actually produce on demand.

Less than a week after two of the country’s largest bank collapses in history, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress the country’s banking system was not at risk.

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📹 Combat training of upgraded BRM-1KM reconnaissance vehicles in the rear area of the special military operation (video courtesy of Russia's MoD)

▪️ The armored vehicles can engage targets at ranges of over 1,500 m using 30 mm automatic guns with 7.62-mm PKT coaxial machine guns. The operator works using a modern computerized fire control system.

🔎 The search for targets for further engagement is carried out with the help of a portable radar. The station makes it possible to detect moving enemy ground objects at a distance of more than 5 km, as well as to determine the coordinates and characteristics of the target.

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Chancellor Scholz Claims Germany 'Independent' From Russian Fuel After 8 Months

According to the head of government, Berlin has successfully phased out Russian energy resources.

"In just eight months, we became independent from Russian gas, Russian oil and Russian coal. In just eight months we totally changed our energy supply with the help of new compounds and liquefied gas terminals. And nobody had to freeze," Olaf Scholz said during a Bundestag session

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Credit Suisse Crisis May Trigger Domino Effect and Eventual Capital Flight From Europe

Credit Suisse, a global investment bank and financial services firm, will borrow over 50 billion Swiss Francs ($53.7 billion) from Swiss National Bank (SNB) after investors sent its shares down by as much as 30% on Wednesday.

The Swiss lender's shares plunged after SNB, its top shareholder, ruled out providing it with fresh funding earlier this week. The development shattered the markets, which were already anxious over the collapse of California’s Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) last week.

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US Nuclear Plant Reveals Facility Spilled 400,000 Gallons of Radioactive Water

Local officials indicated the leak "poses no health and safety risk to the local community or environment," and that it has not reached the Mississippi River nor any drinking water sources. The Minnesota plant sits some 35 miles upstream from the river, which provides 23% of the nation's drinking water.

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🇫🇷 The leader of France's Eurosceptic party The Patriots, Florian Philippot, said that the French authorities may "slow down" the decision on the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine.

💬 "Everything is possible. However, I think this issue is becoming an increasingly difficult one for the French government since the French are increasingly in favor of negotiations and stopping arms shipments to Ukraine, as we can see from opinion polls," Philippot said when asked whether Paris would decide to supply Kiev with heavy arms.

The politician said that it would not be easy for Paris to send weapons and funds to Ukraine because of the current situation in France with the pension reform and the crisis in the healthcare system. He added that many French are already wondering why the government has no money for pensions, but there are always funds for military aid to Ukraine.

💬 "I think the authorities will slow down the decision on the issue; they just would not have any other choice ... The French are forcing the authorities to 'slow down,' to send fewer weapons and money [to Ukraine]," the politician noted.

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🇪🇨 Ecuador's lawmakers file impeachment motion against president Lasso

A group of 58 lawmakers of the Ecuadorian National Assembly, the parliament's lower house, have handed over to National Assembly President Javier Virgilio Saquicela Espinoza a motion to impeach incumbent President Guillermo Lasso, who is accused of corruption and administrative irregularities, the National Assembly said.

Earlier this month, the National Assembly approved a report of a legislative commission that recommended launching an impeachment process against Lasso because of his suspected involvement in corruption schemes.

The commission's investigation focused on Lasso's alleged involvement in a corruption scheme in state-owned companies, which the prosecutor's office called the Encuentro case, as well as leaked data from a police investigation into drug trafficking. These involve the president's brother-in-law, Danilo Carrera Drouet, and Ecuadorian businessman Ruben Scherres suspected of drug trafficking.

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🇰🇵🇯🇵 The Japanese government has sanctioned three North Korean officials involved in the development of nuclear and missile programs of North Korea in response to Pyongyang's launch of a Hwasong-17 ballistic missile on Thursday, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said.

💬 "These provocative actions, taken with unprecedented frequency, constitute a serious and imminent threat and are totally unacceptable," Matsuno told a briefing.

According to a the ministry's statement, the new sanctions list includes Jon Il Ho, the deputy head of the Munitions Industry Department, Kim Su Gil, the former director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army, and Yu Jin, a former head of the Munitions Industry Department.

The restrictive measures include a ban on any form of transaction with the three North Koreans and the freeze of all their assets in Japan if found, the statement said.

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