Category: World

Jailed former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been on a hunger strike since October 1, needs to be hospitalized, as his condition is worsening, his doctor said Sunday in a television interview. Saakashvili declared a hunger strike after he was arrested on October 1 and incarcerated in the city of Rustavi, hours after he …

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Beekeepers Mustafa Alti and his son Fehmi were kept busy tending to their hives before wildfires tore through a bucolic region of Turkey that makes most of the world’s prized pine honey. Now the Altis and generations of other honey farmers in Turkey’s Aegean province of Mugla are scrambling to find additional work and wondering …

Read more “Turkish Fires Endanger World Pine Honey Supplies”

Paul McCartney has revisited the breakup of The Beatles, flatly disputing the suggestion that he was responsible for the group’s demise. Speaking on an episode of BBC Radio 4’s “This Cultural Life” that is scheduled to air on Oct. 23, McCartney said it was John Lennon who wanted to disband The Beatles. “I didn’t instigate …

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A performer of Russia’s legendary Bolshoi Theater was killed in an accident on stage during the performance of an opera, the Moscow company said.  The theater said the incident took place Saturday during a set change in Sadko, a 19th-century opera by Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. “The performance was immediately stopped, and the audience was …

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Austria’s president on Sunday welcomed Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s resignation and demanded that the country’s politicians work hard to restore voters’ trust after a several-day drama that brought the government to the brink of collapse. President Alexander Van der Bellen said he will swear in Alexander Schallenberg, currently Austria’s foreign minister, as chancellor on Monday. Kurz, …

Read more “Austrian President Demands That Government Restore Trust”

Pope Francis on Sunday met with Gloria Cecilia Narvaez, a Franciscan nun from Colombia, a day after she was freed by jihadists in Mali after more than four years of captivity, a Vatican spokesman said.    Sister Gloria was taken hostage on February 7, 2017 in southern Mali near the border with Burkina Faso where …

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Dressed as endangered fish or tigers or wearing toy polar bears on their heads, demonstrators marched through Brussels on Sunday to push world leaders to take bolder action to fight climate change at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow starting this month.  Thousands of people and 80 organizations took part in the protest, aiming for …

Read more “Thousands March in Brussels to Demand Tougher Climate Action “

Three weeks since its eruption upended the lives of thousands, the volcano on Spain’s La Palma island is still spewing out endless streams of lava with no signs of ceasing.  Authorities on Sunday monitored a new stream of molten rock that has added to the destruction of over 1,100 buildings. Anything in the path of …

Read more “La Palma’s Volcanic Eruption Is Going Strong 3 Weeks Later “

A Russian plane crashed over the Tatarstan region Sunday, killing 16 people and injuring seven, the emergencies ministry said. The L-410 Turbolet plane crashed with 23 people on board, including a group of parachute jumpers, around 9:23 a.m. local time near the town of Menzelinsk, the ministry said, adding that seven people had been rescued …

Read more “16 Killed in Russia Plane Crash”

When Russian regulators approved the country’s own coronavirus vaccine, it was a moment of national pride, and the Pavlov family was among those who rushed to take the injection. But international health authorities have not yet given their blessing to the Sputnik V shot. So when the family from Rostov-on-Don wanted to visit the West, …

Read more “Russians Travel to Serbia for Western-Made COVID-19 Vaccines”

Britain will tell the European Union again next week that “significant change” to the Northern Ireland protocol is vital for the restoration of genuinely good relations between London and Brussels. The protocol was part of the Brexit divorce settlement Prime Minister Boris Johnson negotiated with the EU, but London has said it must be rewritten …

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Austria’s conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz resigned Saturday to save his coalition government from collapse after the junior party demanded he step down while under investigation on suspicion of corruption. The move by Kurz, who denies wrongdoing, satisfied his coalition partner, the Greens, and came three days before a special session of parliament at which they …

Read more “Austria’s Kurz Steps Down Over Corruption Probe to Save Coalition”

United Nations monitors have found a significant rise in casualties in eastern Ukraine since Russia-backed separatists ended a cease-fire agreement with the government in Kyiv earlier this year. The findings are part of a report by the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council. The report covers human rights …

Read more “UN Monitors: Eastern Ukraine Casualties Rose After Cease-Fire Ended”

Red-hot lava Saturday engulfed the land Jose Roberto Sanchez inherited from his parents, and lightning flashed around the rim of the volcano that has been erupting on the Spanish island of La Palma for almost three weeks. There were 37 seismic movements Saturday, with the largest measuring 4.1, the Spanish National Geological Institute said, but …

Read more “Volcanic Lava in Spain’s La Palma Engulfs More Houses, Land “

Czech center-right opposition group Together overtook Prime Minister Andrej Babis’ ANO party in a parliamentary election on Saturday, according to nearly complete voting results. Together and another opposition group, the liberal Pirates/Mayors, were on track to win a combined 108 seats in the 200-seat lower house of parliament, a calculation by Czech Television showed. This gives the …

Read more “Czech Opposition Grabs Election Win From PM Babis”

French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that his country will return 26 African artworks — royal thrones, ceremonial altars, revered statues — to Benin later this month, part of France’s long-promised plans to give back artwork taken from Africa during the colonial era. Discussions have been under way for years on returning the artworks from …

Read more “France’s Macron Vows Return of African Art, Admitting ‘Colonial Pillage’”

Russia’s state statistics service reported nearly 50,000 coronavirus deaths in the country in August, taking the toll since the beginning of the pandemic to over 400,000, nearly double the official government figure. Rosstat released its figures late Friday, reporting that 49,389 people died from COVID-19 in August, a figure much higher than 24,661, the government …

Read more “Russian Agency: More than 49,000 Died From COVID-19 in August”

“It’s worse than a plague,” said Pedro Antonio Sanchez, fuming over the volcanic grit coating his bananas, the main source of wealth on the Canaries’ island of La Palma. “It’s worse than a pest or disease because it scratches [the fruit],” said Sanchez, gesturing at the black sandy deposits that have rained down since the …

Read more “Volcanic Grit, Water Shortage Threaten La Palma’s Banana Crop”

Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov of Novaya Gazeta and Philippine journalist Maria Ressa of Rappler have been named the recipients of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize — a move press freedom advocates hope will shine light on the threats to a global free press. Esha Sarai has more. Tommy Walker contributed. …

European ministers expressed concern Friday over the growing number of migrants illegally crossing from Belarus into several Baltic states, saying Minsk is intentionally facilitating their crossing to politically destabilize those countries and distract from human rights abuses at home by the Lukashenko regime.  “They have been luring thousands of third-country nationals to Belarus, issuing them …

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Surrounded by a group of men wielding axes, Romanian filmmaker Mihai Dragolea was sure he was going to die. The filmmaker, part of the independent Vagabond Film production company, was with his colleague Radu Mocanu as well as Tiberiu Bosutar, a former timber worker turned environmental activist, in a remote forested area in Romania last …

Read more “Attack on Romanian Film Crew Reveals Dangers of Environmental Beat”

French President Emmanuel Macron faced the frustration of young people from across Africa on Friday over a range of issues, including migration and the vestiges of colonialism, at a summit aiming to turn the page with the continent. Billed as a chance to prove France’s commitment in particular to young Africans, the Africa-France summit gathering …

Read more “Macron Faces Anger of Young Africans at Meeting”

Starting next week, all public and private workers in Italy will be required to have a digital COVID-19 health certificate or face being sent home on unpaid leave and fined up to $1,730. The measure making the so-called “green pass” compulsory, announced last month, comes into effect October 15, and will remain in force until …

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The Norwegian Nobel Committee Friday awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.” At a ceremony in Oslo, Norwegian Nobel Committee Chair Berit Reiss-Andersen announced the winners, saying, “Ms. …

Read more “Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Two Journalists Fighting for Freedom of Expression”