Month: September 2020

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday the United States is deeply concerned about attempts by the government of Belarus to forcibly expel opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova. The top U.S. diplomat said the United States and other countries are considering bringing sanctions in response to recent events in Belarus. “We commend the courage of Ms. Kalesnikava and of the Belarusian people in …

Read more “US Considering Sanctions Against Belarus After ‘Unjustified Violence and Repression’ Pompeo Says”

British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was summoned by an Iranian Revolutionary Court on Tuesday and informed about a new charge, state television reported. “Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court summoned Nazanin Zaghari and her designated lawyer this morning and informed her of a new indictment,” state television cited an unnamed official as saying on its …

Read more “Iran State TV: British-Iranian Aid Worker Zaghari-Ratcliffe Faces New Charge”

Five years ago, a Belarusian teenager studying film in Poland set up a YouTube channel to show videos that he made and poke fun at his country’s longtime leader, Alexander Lukashenko.   After tangling with YouTube copyright laws, the student, Stsyapan Putsila, shifted his Nexta channel and his tactics in 2018 to Telegram, the messaging app. Its encryption technologies have made it …

Read more “Polish-Based Blogger Becomes Driving Force in Belarusian Protests”

A group of migrants being held at a dockside camp on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria chanted “freedom” on Tuesday as they tried to force open a police fence and the coast guard brought in more people rescued from boats on the Atlantic sea.Although sea-borne migration to Spain is down nearly 19% this year, …

Read more “Hundreds of Migrants Call for Freedom at Camp on Gran Canaria”

Deirdre Carney suspected she might have COVID-19 when her temperature began to fluctuate above the normal 37 degrees Celsius.  “It was a bit of a shock when I was diagnosed. I could not believe that I had got it. I had not mixed with that many people,” Carney, an English teacher from California living in …

Read more “Despite Strict Lockdown, Spain Sees Sharp COVID-19 Spike”

Exiled Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has called the situation in her country “absolutely unacceptable” and pleaded for international pressure to dislodge embattled President Alexander Lukashenko who she said no longer represents Belarus.In a virtual appearance before the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on September 8, Tsikhanouskaya urged international pressure including sanctions …

Read more “Exiled Belarus Opposition Leader Pleads for ‘Help Now’”

Prince Harry has repaid 2.4 million pounds ($3.2 million) in British taxpayers’ money that was used to renovate the home in Windsor intended for him and his wife Meghan before they gave up royal duties and moved to California.A spokesman for the couple said Monday that Harry had made a contribution to the Sovereign Grant, …

Read more “Prince Harry Repays Taxpayer Money for UK Home Renovation”

Negotiators on both sides of the English Channel say this week is the “moment of reckoning” for a post-Brexit trade deal between the European Union and Britain. But after six months of toxic wrangling the odds are mounting an agreement will not be struck, both British and European officials concede.That result that could poison relations …

Read more “Theater, Brinkmanship Mark Brexit Talks”

Amnesty International condemned Malta on Tuesday for using what it described as “illegal tactics” in the Mediterranean against immigrants making the dangerous crossing from North Africa. The approach taken by the Maltese government might have led to avoidable deaths, it argued, in a report that alleged a string of human rights abuses against illegal immigrants. Amnesty’s report …

Read more “Amnesty Says Malta Using ‘Illegal Tactics’ Against Migrants”

Maria Kolesnikova, a leading member of Belarus’ opposition, was reportedly seized Monday by unidentified men in Minsk, and Germany and Britain are demanding that President Alexander Lukashenko disclose where she is.   Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called for “clarity on the whereabouts and the release of all political prisoners in Belarus,” in comments tweeted by …

Read more “Belarus Opposition Figure Missing; Germany, Britain Demand Her Return”

Maria Kolesnikova, a leading member of Belarus’ opposition, was reportedly seized by unidentified men in Minsk on Monday as demonstrations against President Alexander Lukashenko entered their fifth straight week.A witness identified as Anastasia told Belarusian website Tut.by Monday that she saw Kolesnikova being forced by men in civilian clothing into a minibus and driven away.Kolesnikova …

Read more “Report: Leading Belarus Opposition Figure Abducted”

The health of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is improving, and he now has been taken out of an induced coma and is responsive, the German hospital treating him said Monday.Navalny, a sharp critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was flown to Berlin on August 22, two days after falling ill on a domestic flight …

Read more “Putin Critic Navalny’s Health Improving, German Hospital Says”

Lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the U.S. government squared off in a London court on Monday at a high-stakes extradition case delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Assange, who has spent almost a year and a half in a British prison, sat in the dock at the Old Bailey criminal court and formally refused …

Read more “Supporters Gather for Assange Court Extradition Showdown”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has apologized for a Facebook post in which she compared the photo of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic at a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump to a scene from the iconic thriller “Basic Instinct.”    Zakharova, however, did not miss the chance to hit at the United States. “UPD (update) …

Read more “Russian Spokeswoman Apologizes for Facebook Post About Serbian President”