Jeremy Hunt Brought in From the Cold as UK’s New Finance Minister

Jeremy Hunt was named Britain’s new finance minister on Friday, the latest senior ministerial role for the self-proclaimed entrepreneur regarded by many in his Conservative Party as a safe pair of hands but whose days in top jobs had seemed over. After being the longest-serving health secretary in British history and stints running the foreign …

Ukraine Says Hundreds of Settlements Freed as Russian Airstrikes Continue

Ukraine’s military has recaptured more than 600 settlements from Russian forces over the past month, according to the country’s Ministry for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, as Russian forces continued to strike dozens of Ukraine’s cities, killing a number of civilians. Some 502 settlements have been liberated in the northeast Kharkiv region, where Ukrainian …

Brothers on Trial for Murder of Maltese Anti-Corruption Journalist

Two men went on trial Friday for the murder of Maltese anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia almost five years ago to the day she died in a car bomb attack. Brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio are accused of setting off the device, which killed the 53-year-old journalist outside her home on Oct. 16, 2017. They …

Russian, Turkish Leaders Meet Again as West Voices Concern

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, Thursday for the fourth time in as many months. The frequent meetings and close ties are fueling concerns among Turkey’s Western allies that Ankara is circumventing sanctions against Russia. The latest encounter was in Astana on the sidelines of the summit of the Conference …

Warmer-Than-Average Winter Ahead for Europe, Forecaster Says

Europe faces a higher-than-usual chance of a cold blast of weather before the end of the year, but the winter overall is likely to be warmer than average, the continent’s long-range weather forecaster said Thursday. Temperatures this winter will be crucial for homeowners worried about the record cost of heating their homes, and for European …

UN: Early Warning of Impending Disasters Saves Lives

A new report finds half of all countries globally lack early warning systems that could save lives by alerting communities of impending disasters, including typhoons, droughts, and heatwaves. The joint report by the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, or UNDRR, and the World Meteorological Organization is being released to mark the International Day for …

Estonian Volunteers Train for a Day They Hope Will Never Come

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, the other small ex-Soviet republics watch the advancing Ukrainian army with hope, but also with concern. The fear that Russia could one day fall on them is palpable and has led to the mobilization of civil society, such as – in Estonia – with volunteer groups like the …

UN General Assembly Rejects Russia’s ‘Referendums,’ ‘Annexation’ in Ukraine 

The international community sent a clear message to Moscow on Wednesday, declaring the country’s so-called referendums and attempted annexation of parts of Ukraine illegal and invalid under international law. In its strongest show of support for Ukraine since Moscow’s February 24 invasion, the U.N. General Assembly voted 143-5, adopting a resolution condemning and rejecting Russia’s …

‘Bucha Became the Turning Point,’ Says Russian Journalist

Ekaterina Fomina lived her whole life in Moscow. And although the investigative journalist studied for a year abroad, leaving Russia was never her plan. But when Moscow invaded Ukraine, the pressure on Fomina and her news outlet, iStories, ratcheted up. IStories, which is registered outside Russia, was designated a foreign agent in 2021. But in …

Turkey Slammed over Proposed Social Media Controls

Turkey’s government recently proposed legislation that would criminalize the spreading of misinformation on social media. The move is drawing national and international criticism. Turkey’s so-called disinformation bill drew condemnation from a European legal watchdog that warned the law would threaten freedom of expression and independent journalism ahead of next year’s elections.   The warning is …

Biden’s National Security Plan Aims at China, Russia

The White House rolled out a long-delayed national security strategy on Wednesday that seeks to contain China’s rise while reemphasizing the importance of working with allies to tackle challenges confronting democratic nations. The 48-page document, which was delayed by the Ukraine crisis, includes no major shifts in thinking and introduces no major new doctrines for …

EU Executive Recommends Bosnia Become Candidate Member

Bosnia-Herzegovina moved a small step closer to the European Union on Wednesday with the EU’s executive advising member states to grant it candidate member status despite continuing criticism of the way the Balkan nation is run. The advice had been hotly anticipated in ethnically-divided Bosnia, which is lagging several other Balkan nations in being granted …

Taiwan Says China Looking at Ukraine War to Develop ‘Hybrid’ Strategies

China is looking at the experience of the war in Ukraine to develop “hybrid warfare” strategies against Taiwan including using drones and psychological pressure, a senior Taiwanese security official said on Wednesday. Taiwan has been carefully studying the lessons of the Ukraine war to inform how it may react should China, which views the democratically …

US Not Ruling Out Russian Cyber Offensive

Top U.S. cyber officials are warning that now is no time for governments or private sector companies to let down their guard and assume Russia’s struggles on the battlefield in Ukraine will carry over into the Kremlin’s efforts in cyberspace.  Instead, they say the recent denial of service attacks targeting the public websites of major …

British Museum Hails Rosetta Stone’s Role in Cracking Hieroglyphs

The Rosetta Stone stars in a new exhibition opening Thursday at the British Museum marking one of the most significant dates in Egyptology — 200 years after a French scholar finally cracked its code and deciphered hieroglyphs. The exhibition comes at a time the British Museum is under pressure from some Egyptologists to hand the …

G-7 Vows Renewed Support for Ukraine; US Pledges Air Defense Systems

Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthiest nations, meeting Tuesday in a crisis video conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, pledged Tuesday they “will stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes” after Russia continued its barrage of missile attacks on Ukrainian cities. The G-7 leaders said in a statement after the virtual …

UK Spy Chief Says Rise of China World’s Top Security Issue

The head of Britain’s cyber intelligence agency on Tuesday accused China of trying to “rewrite the rules of international security,” saying Beijing is using its economic and technological clout to clamp down at home and exert control abroad.  Jeremy Fleming, director of GCHQ, said that despite war raging in Europe since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, …

Climate Extremes Pose as Big a Threat to Power System as Ukraine War, WMO Says

Energy infrastructure will become more vulnerable to extreme weather such as heatwaves and hurricanes, the World Meteorological Organization warned on Tuesday, with a senior official saying that climate change poses as big a threat to global energy security as the war in Ukraine. This year was illustrative of what the WMO says are the challenges …