Month: February 2020

The Kremlin was scrambling Friday to reach a stopgap agreement with Ankara to halt fighting in northwest Syria amid growing fears that Russia and Turkey are on the brink of open warfare.  Clashes between the Turks and their Syrian rebel allies with troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in Idlib province have already killed two …

Read more “Kremlin Scrambles to Avoid Open Conflict With Turkey”

Scholars in Asia say Vietnam’s move this month to bolster defense ties with Russia will advance the Southeast Asian country’s pursuit of a multi-country foreign policy allowing it to depend on no single outside power.The country that has been challenged by France, the United States and China within the past decade welcomes Russian assistance, Vietnamese …

Read more “Vietnam Advancing Ties With Russia to Hedge Against China, US”

European leaders argued into the early hours of Friday about how to spend and share some 1 trillion euros ($1.1 trillion) over the next seven years. Their first summit since Britain quit the EU last month has been bruising, long — and so far inconclusive.Gaps and resentments between wealthy and poorer members quickly surfaced as …

Read more “1 Trillion Euros: EU Leaders Get Into Big Fight Over Budget”

Tensions between Turkey and Russia escalated Thursday with the killing of the two Turkish soldiers in a Syrian airstrike. Moscow, which backs the Damascus government, accused Ankara of supporting terrorists in Syria.  In a statement, the Turkish Defense Ministry said the airstrike in Syria’s Idlib province also injured five people. The report didn’t identify who was responsible for the attack, but it said …

Read more “Turkish Soldiers’ Deaths Ramp Up Tensions With Moscow “

Britain and the United States joined Georgia on Thursday in blaming Russia for a large-scale cyber attack last year that knocked thousands of Georgian websites offline and disrupted national television broadcasts. State, private and media websites were taken out by the attack on Oct. 28, including those belonging to the Georgian president’s office and two …

Read more “Georgia, Backed by US and Britain, Blames Russia for ‘Paralyzing’ Cyberattack”

More than 150 historians and researchers have signed up to access the soon-to-open Vatican archives of Pope Pius XII, evidence of the intense scholarly interest into the World War II-era pope and his record during the Holocaust.Cardinal Jose Tolentino Calaca de Mendonca, the Vatican’s chief librarian, said Thursday that all researchers — regardless of nationality, faith …

Read more “Vatican Sees Intense Interest in Opening of Pius XII Archive”

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has called on Russian authorities to reopen a criminal investigation into the murder of Boris Nemtsov, the former Russian opposition politician who was killed almost five years ago near the Kremlin.The OSCE said shortcomings in Russia’s original investigation left many questions unanswered.“His death was a tragedy …

Read more “OSCE Calls for Russia to Reopen Probe Into Nemtsov Murder”

Google is attempting to make sure people know exactly what they’re signing up for when they use its online services — though that will still mean reading a lengthy document.The company updated its terms of service on Thursday — its largest update to the general use contract since 2012 — in response to a pair …

Read more “Google Updates Terms in Plain Language After EU Scrutiny”

Federal prosecutors said Thursday they are taking charge of the investigating into a shooting in the German city of Hanau that left 11 people dead, including the suspect, amid reports that he may have had a far-right motive.The Federal Prosecutors Office in Karlsruhe, which handles serious crimes, said it planned to hold a news conference …

Read more “Far-right Motive Suspected in Deadly German Shooting Attack”

The European Union’s first post-Brexit summit Thursday in Brussels promises to be a contentious one. The subject is money — how to fill a nearly $65 billion budget gap left by Britain’s departure from the bloc. The EU’s 27 remaining members came together during Brexit negotiations, but that may not be the case in this new post-Brexit reality, with …

Read more “EU Holding First Post-Brexit Summit”

Across parts of southern England and Wales, families were watching anxiously midweek to see if major rivers break their flood barriers. Heavy rain is forecast for counties that have already been flooded thanks to torrential downpours brought on by two by massive storms in quick succession.A four-day deluge could turn already swollen rivers even more …

Read more “Britain’s Flooded Towns Ask, ‘Where’s Boris?’”

German police say several people were shot to death in the city of Hanau on Wednesday evening.The dpa news agency reported that police said people were killed but it was not clear exactly what was behind the incident. It also was not immediately clear how many people were dead.Hanau is near Frankfurt.Regional public broadcaster Hessischer …

Read more “Police Report Several People Shot to Death in German City”

A lawyer for Julian Assange said Wednesday that the WikiLeaks founder plans to claim during his extradition hearing that he was offered a pardon by the Trump administration if he agreed to say Russia was not involved in leaking Democratic National Committee emails during the 2016 U.S. election campaign.Assange is fighting extradition to the United …

Read more “Lawyer: Assange Was Offered US Pardon If He Cleared Russia”