A hardliner who favors even closer ties with Turkey and a tougher stance with rival Greek Cypriots in peace talks has defeated the leftist incumbent in the Turkish Cypriot leadership runoff Sunday.Turkish Cypriot broadcaster BRT says with 100% of the votes counted, Ersin Tatar secured 51.74% of the vote compared to 48.26% for Mustafa Akinci.Tatar …
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The UK had imposed a deadline of last week’s EU summit for a deal and Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was now ready to walk away and prepare for a no-deal exit, after five decades of EU membership. However, senior minister Michael Gove said on Sunday he was still hopeful there would be an agreement, …
Read more “UK Says Door Remains ‘Ajar’ for Post-Brexit Trade Deal “
France saw countrywide rallies defending free speech and secularism Sunday, while the government discussed a stronger response to Islamist extremism following the brutal killing of a French schoolteacher last week.Masks firmly on, per the capital’s coronavirus rules, tens of thousands assembled at the Place de la Republique in Paris and several other major cities following …
Read more “Latest Terror Attack in France Sparks Anger, Fear “
Turkish Cypriots began voting Sunday in a leadership runoff between an incumbent who pledges a course less bound by Turkey’s dictates and a challenger who favors even closer ties to Ankara. The stakes have soared as a battle over energy rights in the eastern Mediterranean has intensified.Veteran incumbent Mustafa Akinci, 72, is a champion of …
Read more “Turkish Cypriots Pick Leader as Stakes Soar in Mediterranean”
In a Twitter message early Sunday, Armenia’s Defense Ministry accused Azerbaijan of violating a new cease-fire in the Nagorno-Karabakh region by firing artillery shells and rockets.“Once again violating the humanitarian ceasefire, the enemy fired artillery shells in the northern direction from 00:04 to 02:45, and fired rockets in the southern direction from 02:20 to 02:45.”Once …
Read more “Armenia Accuses Azerbaijan of Violating Humanitarian Truce”
Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other Sunday of violating a new humanitarian cease-fire in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, just hours after it took effect.In a Twitter message early Sunday, Armenia’s Defense Ministry accused Azerbaijan of violating the new cease-fire in the Nagorno-Karabakh region by firing artillery shells and rockets.“Once again violating the humanitarian ceasefire, the enemy …
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The coronavirus pandemic has not deterred the Swiss from sending yodels echoing across their mountain valleys, but a concert attended by 600 people is believed to have made one canton a European virus hot spot.At the late September yodeling event in the rural Schwyz canton, people in the audience were asked to maintain social distancing, …
Read more “Finger Pointed at Swiss Yodeling Concert as COVID Superspreader Event”
France is reeling from its latest terrorist attack — the gruesome decapitation of Paris-area teacher Samuel Paty days after he showed his class controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Media identify the suspect as Abdoulakh A., an 18-year-old immigrant born in Moscow and of Chechen origin. Authorities say they shot him minutes after the attack.The …
The United States has condemned Turkey for testing a highly advanced Russian air defense system on Friday, disregarding U.S. warnings.A Haber television, which is close to Turkish government, reported that the Turkish army conducted the test firing of the S-400 system in the northern province of Sinop by the Black Sea.The U.S. State Department said …
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Authorities in Azerbaijan say a missile attack on the city of Ganja killed at least 12 people and wounded 40 others in early hours of Saturday.Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry claimed that the cities of Ganja and Mingachevir were hit with missiles fired from two different locations in Armenia.Armenian authorities have neither denied nor accepted the responsibility …
Read more “Azerbaijan says 12 Killed, 40 Wounded in Missile Attack on Ganja”
Turkey and Ukraine signed military cooperation agreements in Istanbul on Friday, deepening a defense partnership seen as an effort to counterbalance Russia’s dominance in the Black Sea region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan oversaw the signing of a “goodwill” agreement concerning the defense industry and a “military framework agreement,” officials said, although …
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A history teacher who opened a discussion with students on caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad was decapitated Friday in a French street and police have shot the suspected killer dead, a police official said. The French antiterrorism prosecutor has opened an investigation into the slaying as murder with a suspected terrorist motive, the prosecutor’s office …
Read more “French Teacher Decapitated, Suspect Shot Dead by Police”
Finland’s prime minister, Sanna Marin, was the latest official to prematurely leave the EU summit in Brussels due to coronavirus fears, as the bloc’s meeting wrapped Friday. She said it was a “precautionary measure,” the AP reported. Her departure come a day after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen left because a …
Read more “Overshadowed by COVID, EU Summit Ends in Brussels”
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday Turkey’s involvement in the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia has increased the risk in the region, reiterating his call for the issue to be resolved through diplomacy. Several hundred people have been killed in the deadliest flare-up of the decades-old conflict since a 1990s war over …
Read more “Pompeo Criticizes Turkey’s Involvement in Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict”
The Czech Republic’s health minister said Friday the country’s health system needs be ready for a “huge influx,” of COVID-19 patients over the next 10 days to two weeks, as the nation faces Europe’s fastest growing rate in new coronavirus cases.Health Minister Roman Prymula told reporters at a news briefing in Prague the nation is …
Read more “Czech Health Minister Warns of ‘Huge’ Spike in COVID-19 Patients”
It has been dubbed the summit of gloom.For the next two days, the European Union’s 27 national leaders will meet in Brussels and try to reach agreement on a series of thorny issues, from the bloc’s future trading relationship with post-Brexit Britain to an ambitious climate action plan to reduce carbon emissions and achieve “climate …
Dozens of European cities have been forced into lockdown amid a surge in coronavirus infections. Hospital intensive care units in the affected regions are filling up fast and doctors are warning that health systems could become overwhelmed as winter approaches.Europe is now reporting more daily infections than the three countries worst hit by the pandemic …
Read more “European Cities Locked Down Amid Coronavirus Surge”
The European Union on Thursday imposed sanctions on six Russian officials and one organization over the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny with a Soviet-era nerve agent. The move came a day after Russia’s foreign minister warned that Moscow might respond with similar measures. The decision was agreed upon among the 27 …
Read more “EU Imposes Sanctions on 6 Russians Over Navalny Poisoning”
The head of Britain’s domestic spy agency outlined Wednesday a cauldron of threats the country is facing, including from Islamist militancy to rising right-wing extremism, but he emphasized the biggest long-term challenge is presented by China. Russia currently poses the biggest state-based threat to Britain, but China will become more dangerous in the future, …
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A Paris court on Wednesday handed down a 28-year jail term to the Algerian man who attacked a police officer with a hammer in 2017 as officers guarded Notre Dame Cathedral. Farid Ikken, now 43, was convicted of attempted terrorist murder. Beginning with the 2015 terror attack in Paris on Charlie Hebdo magazine staff, in …
Read more “Man Who Attacked Paris Police Officer Sentenced to 28 Years”
The protests against the disputed electoral victory of longtime Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko have roused a sense of Belarusian nationalism, and with it, the desire to learn and use the Belarusian language, which had largely disappeared. In this story narrated by Jonathan Spier, Ricardo Marquina in Minsk reports on how the language – whose use …
Read more “In Belarus, a Cultural Uprising is Also Under Way”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Wednesday resisted a call from his political opposition for a nationwide, temporary “circuit breaker” lockdown to halt the spread of COVID-19, but said he rules out nothing. On Tuesday, Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labor Party, called for a three-week lockdown, based on advice from Britain’s Scientific Advisory Group …
Read more “British PM Resists Lockdown Idea, But Rules Out Nothing”
In 2016, many analysts saw parallels between the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president and Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, casting both as victories for populist politics. Four years on, Trump is up for re-election while Britain will leave the Brexit transition period at the end of the year. Those analysts now …
Read more “Is Trump or Biden Better for Post-Brexit Britain? “
In 2016, parallels were drawn between the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president and Britain’s vote to leave the European Union – they were seen as a victory for populist politics. Four years later, Trump is battling for re-election with polls showing him behind his Democrat rival Joe Biden, while Britain will mark the …
Read more “USA VOTES: Is Trump or Biden Better for Post-Brexit Britain?”