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Greeces conservatives win landslide victory in elections

Greece’s conservative New Democracy party won a landslide victory in Sunday elections, handing its leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis a second term as prime minister.  New Democracy’s win in Greece’s second election in five weeks inflicted a stinging defeat on their main rivals, the left-wing Syriza party . Near complete results show New Democracy has won just over 40.5% of the vote while the Syriza, was struggling to reach 18% – 2 percentage points lower than the last elections in May. "With today's electoral result, Greece opens a new, historic chapter in its course," Mitsotakis said in a televised statement. Voters, he said, "gave us a strong mandate to move faster on the course of the big changes our country needs. In a loud and mature way they have permanently closed a traumatic cycle of lies and toxicity that held the country back and divided society." NIGERIAN PRESIDENT REPLACES ALL SECURITY CHIEFS IN MAJOR SHAKEUP His second term as prime minister "ca...

China maintains support for Russia after aborted Wagner mutiny

China is maintaining support for Russia despite a short-lived mutiny by the Wagner group of heavily armed mercenaries Saturday that posed one of the biggest challenges to Russian President Vladimir Putin after more than two decades in power. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko held talks in Beijing Sunday to discuss "international" issues following the aborted mutiny.  Per the ministry’s telling, China "expressed support" for Russia’s leadership to stabilize the country after Saturday’s events .  China's foreign ministry initially said only that Rudenko had exchanged views with China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Sino-Russian relations as well as "international and regional issues of common concern." WHAT DOES PUTIN'S STANDOFF WITH WAGNER MERCENARY GROUP MEAN FOR RUSSIA?  It later said China supports Russia in maintaining its national stability and that the recent escalation in tensions in Russia was Russia's "i...

Russian warlord's days may be numbered after standoff with Putin: Retired admiral

The fate of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has become the source of intense speculation after he reached a deal with Moscow to go into exile. "The ‘Game of Thrones’ philosophy applies here: if you go for the king, you better kill the king," retired Adm. James Stavridis said of the news of Prigozhin's deal with the Kremlin during an appearance on "Meet the Press" on Sunday.  "Prigozhin didn't do that," Stavridis said. "He now is going to be isolated from the 35,000 fighters that have protected him. He's like a snake whose head has been cut off from its body." Starvidis' comments come after it was revealed Sunday that Prigozhin, the leader of the private Russian military organization, reached a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to go into exile in Belarus after a brief uprising against Russian forces that saw his troops take the city of Rostov-on-Don and start an advance toward Moscow. WHAT DOES PUTIN'S STA...

Was raid on Iran opposition group tied to possible new Biden-Tehran nuclear talks?

The Albanian government’s  raid of a camp run by the exiled Iranian opposition group Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) has led to criticism against the White House and Albania for allegedly placating the Islamic Republic of Iran – the world’s top state sponsor of terrorism. When asked about the Albania state raid, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News Digital, "By providing sanctions relief to the Iranian regime, President Biden and Rob Malley are abandoning the Iranian people and enriching their oppressors. The regime is committed to crushing its own people while spreading terror and mayhem abroad, and the Biden administration's blind desire to appease and negotiate with it has made the world a more dangerous place." Pompeo visited the MEK headquarters last year. Robert Malley, who is the U.S. special envoy to Iran, is seen by some Iran commentators as a highly controversial diplomat because of his efforts to offer Iran’s regime significant financial concessi...

Reporter's Notebook: 'One step closer to victory' as Ukraine counteroffensive gets underway

At the height of the just-concluded "armed uprising" by the Wagner mercenary forces in Russia, Ukraine’s Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov jumped into the breach.  Posting a video online addressed to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine, telling them to "…go home, protect your place." Adding, "Take care of your fate, you still have a chance to survive."  It’s the kind of active stance Reznikov assumes with his position which he’s held since before the war started last year. Since then, he’s been known to U.S. officials and figures around the world as one of the public faces of Ukraine’s war effort. Shortly before the "attempted coup" by the Wagner group, and amid complaints of a slower-than-expected start to Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia, we sat down with the defense chief for his battlefield assessment. He is small of stature but casts a long strategic shadow. Oleksii Reznikov, 57, was born in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv...

Wagner chief moving to Belarus after Lukashenko-brokered deal to halt march on Moscow

Wagner chief Veygeny Prigozhin is moving to Belarus under a deal brokered by President Alexander Lukashenko to halt the mercenary group’s march on Moscow, according to an announcement from the Kremlin.  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Lukashenko had offered to mediate, with an agreement from Russian President Vladimir Putin , because he had known Prigozhin personally for around 20 years.  The announcement came after Prigozhin said he had ordered Wagner troops to turn around, defusing a dramatically escalating crisis. Early Saturday, Wagner troops appeared to control the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, a city 660 miles south of Moscow that runs Russian operations in Ukraine. Wagner troops and equipment also were in Lipetsk province, about 360 kilometers south of Moscow, where authorities were "taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety of the population," said regional Gov. Igor Artamonov, via Telegram. TRUMP WARNS ABOUT OUSTING PUTIN IN RUSSIA, SAYS ...

Wagner Group chief likely thought 'odds were not in his favor' before ordering troops to turn around: Expert

The Wagner Group leader likely thought the odds weren't in his favor in continuing the march to Moscow before ordering troops to turn around, according to an expert. Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday that he ordered his troops to stop heading towards Moscow and instead return to Ukraine in order to "avoid bloodshed." Former CIA station chief Dan Hoffman told Fox News Digital on Saturday that he believes Prigozhin ordered his troops to turn around after realizing his chances weren't positive if his troops reached Moscow. "Clearly Prigozhin assessed that, you know, the odds were not in his favor if he carried on to Moscow, if he ever really intended to do that in the first place, I don't know," Hoffman said.  RUSSIA OPENS CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION INTO WAGNER GROUP CHIEF In the process, however, Hoffman said that Prigozhin has made himself "Vladimir Putin's enemy," saying "There's no question about that."...