Category: News

Iranian authorities confirmed that they have re-incarcerated French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah for breaking house arrest restrictions.  The judiciary news website Mizan.news on January 16 quoted the deputy head of the judiciary, Kazem Gharibabadi, as saying Adelkhah, who had been furloughed with an electronic-monitoring bracelet, violated judicial restrictions “dozens of times.”  The official claimed that Adelkhah, …

Read more “Iran Confirms Again Imprisoning French-Iranian Academic “

Microsoft said late Saturday that dozens of computer systems at an unspecified number of Ukrainian government agencies have been infected with destructive malware disguised as ransomware, a disclosure suggesting an attention-grabbing defacement attack on official websites was a diversion. The extent of the damage was not immediately clear. The attack comes as the threat of …

Read more “Microsoft Discloses Malware Attack on Ukraine Government Networks”

A Roman villa housing the only mural by Caravaggio and at the center of a legal battle between a former Playboy model and the sons of her late husband, an Italian prince, will go up for auction Tuesday. The sprawling property, valued at 471 million euros (almost $540 million), is a Baroque jewel with gorgeous …

Read more “Roman Villa Housing Caravaggio up for Auction Amid Legal Dispute”

Kyiv believes a hacker group linked to Belarusian intelligence carried out a cyberattack that hit Ukrainian government websites this week and used malware similar to that used by a group tied to Russian intelligence, a senior Ukrainian security official said. Serhiy Demedyuk, deputy secretary of the national security and defense council, told Reuters that Ukraine …

Read more “Ukraine Suspects Group Linked to Belarus Intelligence Over Cyberattack”

Kosovo’s parliament on Saturday passed a resolution banning ethnic Serbs from voting on Kosovan soil in Serbia’s national referendum on constitutional amendments. Serbia will hold a referendum on Sunday on amendments to the constitution that would change how judges and prosecutors are elected, a move the government says is aimed at securing an independent judiciary, …

Read more “Kosovo Bans Serbian Vote on Constitutional Changes on its Soil”

Only three times before has Buckingham Palace pressed what for the British monarchy is the “nuclear button” and transformed a royal into a mere private citizen. After a 90-minute meeting with his mother, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, followed by a terse public communique, Prince Andrew—who is battling a civil sex case trial in the U.S. over …

Read more “What’s in a Royal Title? A Lot, Apparently”

A Moscow court on Saturday remanded in custody three more suspected members of the ransomware crime group REvil for illegal trafficking of funds, a day after Russia claimed it had dismantled the group at the request of the United States. The court identified the three men as Mikhail Golovachuk, Ruslan Khansvyarov and Dmitry Korotayev.   …

Read more “Russia Detains 3 More Suspected REvil Group Members”

The U.N. human rights office condemns the rise of hate speech in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, warning it could incite violence between Serbian and Muslim ethnic groups that fought a devastating war following the breakup of Yugoslavia.  Religious holiday celebrations in the autonomous Serb Republic of Srpska last weekend unleashed a torrent of nationalistic …

Read more “UN: Hate Speech in Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia an Incitement to Violence”

The government of Ethiopia has sent a letter to the World Health Organization, accusing its Ethiopian director-general of “misconduct” after his sharp criticism of the war and humanitarian crisis in the country. Ethiopia nominated Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to be the head of the U.N. health agency four years ago, but says he has “not lived …

Read more “Ethiopia Objects to Alleged ‘Misconduct’ of WHO Chief Tedros”

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly will visit Kyiv next week to reaffirm support for Ukrainian sovereignty and reinforce efforts to deter “aggressive actions” by Russia, Ottawa said Saturday. Moscow has stationed more than 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine and the United States said on Friday it feared Russia was preparing a pretext to …

Read more “Canadian Foreign Minister to Visit Ukraine, Vows to Deter Russian Aggression”

With Russian troops massing and the specter of war looming over the trenches of eastern Ukraine, soldiers in the dugouts have found solace in the unlikely companionship of stray cats and dogs.  In a muddy and freezing trench near the town of Avdiivka, 21-year-old Ukrainian soldier Mykyta was petting a dog adopted by the troops …

Read more “In Ukraine’s Trenches, Strays Bring Respite to Russia-Wary Troops”

The mayor’s office in Lisbon has been fined $1.4 million for sharing the personal data of protest organizers with embassies of countries targeted by the protests, Portugal’s data protection commission said on Friday. The mayor’s office came under fire in June 2021 when Ksenia Ashrafullina, a Russian-Portuguese organizer of a protest rally in Lisbon, said …

Read more “Lisbon Fined for Sharing Protesters’ Data with Targeted Embassies”

Denmark’s former defense minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen said on Friday he has been charged with violating a section of the penal code which includes treason for leaking state secrets. Frederiksen, who served as defense minister from 2016-19, was charged with the rarely used section 109 of the code, which carries a maximum sentence of 12 …

Read more “Former Danish Defense Minister Charged with State Secret Leaks”

A key European diplomat believes there is still a chance to defuse the growing political crisis in Mali that has seen the country’s interim military government clash repeatedly in recent days with both its neighbors and members of the international community. Emanuela Del Re, the European Union’s special representative for the Sahel, criticized Mali’s current …

Read more “Europe Sees Hope for Eventual Deal in Mali “

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office apologized to Queen Elizabeth on Friday after it emerged that staff members partied late into the night in Downing Street on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral, when indoor gatherings were banned. Johnson is facing the gravest crisis of his premiership after almost daily revelations of social gatherings during …

Read more “Johnson’s Office Apologizes to Queen for Party on Eve of Husband’s Funeral”

A flurry of security talks in Europe this week aimed at defusing the crisis over Russian troops massed at the border with Ukraine have ended with no breakthrough. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan says Washington and its allies are now “ready for any contingency” to deal with Moscow’s actions, as Ukraine suffered a massive …

Read more “US Says Russia Preparing ‘False Flag’ Operation to Justify Invading Ukraine”

Russia has conducted a special operation against ransomware crime group REvil at the request of the United States and has detained and charged the group’s members, the FSB domestic intelligence service said Friday.  The arrests were a rare apparent demonstration of collaboration between Russia and the United States, at a time of high tensions between …

Read more “Russia Takes Down Hacking Group at US Request, Intelligence Service Says”

Turkey and Armenia on Friday said a first round of talks in more than 10 years was “positive and constructive,” raising the prospect that ties could be restored and borders reopened after decades of animosity.  Turkey has had no diplomatic or commercial ties with its eastern neighbor since the 1990s. The talks in Moscow were …

Read more “Turkey, Armenia Hold First Talks in Years on Normalizing Ties”

Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, MI5, is coming under political pressure to explain why it did not alert lawmakers sooner about the activities of a suspected Chinese spy, who the security service now say was “knowingly engaged in political interference in the U.K.” The British security agencies have been warning in recent months about China increasing …

Read more “British Intelligence Shines Light on Chinese Spy ‘Hiding in Plain Sight’”

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned as “judicial harassment” a recent court ruling in Bulgaria where two journalists and a website were found guilty of defamation for articles they published in 2018. The Sofia City Court (SCC) found that Boris Mitov, now a journalist for RFE/RL’s Bulgarian Service, and Stoyana Georgieva, had caused physical and …

Read more “Watchdog Slams Bulgarian Court Ruling as ‘Judicial Harassment’ of Journalists”

The U.N. human rights office says at least 108 civilians have been killed and many more injured in several air strikes allegedly carried out by the Ethiopian air force in the country’s northern Tigray region since the start of the new year. In the past two weeks, air strikes have hit Tigray’s state-owned Technical Vocational Education and Training Institute, a …

Read more “Airstrikes in Ethiopia’s Tigray Kill Over 100 Civilians This Year”

Decades of world dependence on Asian textile manufacturing, especially in China, have been disrupted by delays and rising freight costs because of the pandemic. This is forcing some companies in Spain to rethink their production setups, and that means bringing jobs home for the first time in decades. Alfonso Beato in Barcelona filed this report …

Read more “Snarled Supply Chains in Spain Force Manufacturing Closer to Home”

European Union officials have condemned Friday’s cyberattack on Ukraine that shut down government and emergency services websites and pledged to use EU resources to assist the nation. Ukraine’s foreign ministry reported Friday the websites of the country’s cabinet — seven ministries, including the treasury, the national emergency service and the state services, where Ukrainians’ electronic …

Read more “EU Condemns Cyberattack on Ukraine, NATO Pledges ‘Enhanced Cyber Cooperation’”

To mask or not to mask is a question Italy settled early in the COVID-19 outbreak with a vigorous “yes.” Now the onetime epicenter of the pandemic in Europe hopes even stricter mask rules will help it beat the latest infection surge. Other countries are taking similar action as the more transmissible — yet, apparently, …

Read more “Masks Rules Get Tighter in Europe in Winter’s COVID-19 Wave”