The European Union has imposed sanctions on four Russian officials following the jailing of opposition leader Alexey Navalny. As Henry Ridgwell reports, supporters of Navalny want the EU to go much further — and sanction close allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.Camera: Henry Ridgwell …
A European Union foreign ministers’ decision to impose fresh sanctions on Russia for jailing Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny has frustrated Russian political activists, who say the proposed punitive action is feeble and warn it will have little impact on Moscow.The EU agreed Monday to impose what it described as “landmark sanctions” against several senior Russian security …
Read more “Navalny Supporters: EU Sanctions on Russia Are Too Weak”
Less than a week after a key summit gathering of France and its five regional military partners in the Sahel conflict, fresh casualties in Niger offered a reality check to the high-level discourse on achievements. Killed in a landmine explosion Sunday were seven election officials — as Nigeriens voted for their next president — adding …
Read more “For France and Sahel Partners, Many Ideas Emerging But No Clear Strategy”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday he is very optimistic that all COVID-19 restrictions in England could end June 21. Johnson made the comment as he toured a south London school to talk about his hope to open all schools by March 8, part of the “road map” to lifting restrictions and ending …
Read more “British Leader Optimistic England’s COVID-19 Restrictions Could End June 21”
Georgian police raided the main opposition party’s headquarters Tuesday and arrested opposition leader Nika Melia. Authorities accuse Melia, head of the United National Movement party, of organizing “mass violence” during anti-government protests in 2019. Melia says the charges are politically motivated. The U.S. Embassy in Georgia expressed concern about Melia’s detention, saying in a statement Tuesday that Georgia …
Read more “Georgian Authorities Arrest Opposition Leader Melia”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced plans Monday to begin easing coronavirus lockdown measures, crediting the country’s rapid vaccination program for allowing Britain to begin reopening March 8. “Two weeks from today, students and pupils from all schools and further education settings can safely return to face-to-face teaching. From the 8th of March, people will also …
Read more “Britain Outlines Lockdown Exit as Vaccines Show ‘Spectacular’ Results”
British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says Boeing 777 aircraft with engines like the one that caught fire on a U.S. jet over the weekend will be temporarily banned from Britain.After issues this weekend, Boeing B777s with Pratt & Whitney 4000-112 series engines will be temporarily banned from entering the UK airspace. I will continue to …
Read more “Britain Bans Boeing Aircraft Model that Caught Fire in US”
Can Europe’s former central banker Mario Draghi, and now Italy’s new prime minister, do whatever it takes to save the country? Last week, the former European Central Bank governor Draghi was sworn in as Italy’s new prime minister as head of a unity government following the collapse of the previous governing coalition last month.Draghi, who has …
Read more “Italians Look to ‘Super Mario’ as Pandemic Patience Wears Thin”
European markets were in a slump Monday as impatience appeared to be growing among investors with the slow introduction of new COVID-19 vaccines and the slow pace of economic stimulus legislation in the United States.Britain’s benchmark FTSE index was down 0.7% at midday. The CAC 40 in France was 0.4% lower, and Germany’s DAX index …
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has denounced the military coup in Myanmar and demanded an immediate return to democratic rule. Guterres condemned Myanmar’s repressive actions in his opening address to the 46th session of the UN Human rights Council. Guterres departed from his lengthy speech on COVID-19 related violations to blast Myanmar’s military for its takeover of …
Read more “UN Chief Demands Immediate Return to Democratic Rule in Myanmar”
Leaders as far away as Canada and Western Europe are sending navy ships to the contested South China Sea this year as pushback against Beijing, which they feel has gone too far and begun alarming their citizens, analysts in the region say. French Defense Minister Florence Parly said in early February that France had dispatched an attack …
Read more “Why Countries as Far Away as France and UK Send Ships to the South China Sea”
Conservationists in Cyprus are urging authorities to expand a hunting ban throughout a coastal salt lake network amid concerns that migrating flamingos could potentially swallow lethal quantities of lead shotgun pellets.Martin Hellicar, director of Birdlife Cyprus, said flamingos are at risk of ingesting the tiny pellets lying on the lakebed as they feed. Like other …
Read more “Cyprus Activists: Hunters’ Lead Pellets Threaten Flamingos”
Britain’s departure from the European Union, following months of negotiations, has affected trade in many industries; but fishing has been hit particularly hard by the break known as “Brexit.” VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports that some in the business fear for their futures due to an EU ban on the export of live shellfish from Britain. …
Britain’s royal family is bracing for a March 7 airing of an American television interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, widely referred to as Harry and Meghan, amid reports that the content is explosive and will make for uncomfortable viewing for the British monarch and senior royals. The interview with talk show host …
Read more “Britain’s Royal Family Braces for ‘Harry and Meghan’ Interview “
COVID-19’s impact on efforts to combat gross human rights violations will be a major focus of the 46th regular session of the U.N. Human Rights Council. The four-week session, which starts Monday in Geneva, will be held virtually because of the pandemic. It will kick off with a three-day high-level segment when nine heads of state and …
Read more “COVID-19-Related Violations to Dominate UN Rights Council Agenda “
A 95-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard was deported from the United States and arrived Saturday in his native Germany, where he was being held by police for questioning, authorities said.The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said in a statement that Friedrich Karl Berger, a German citizen, was sent back to Germany for serving …
Read more “US Deports Former Nazi Concentration Camp Guard to Germany”
Protesters threw bottles at police, set fire to containers and smashed up shops in Barcelona on Saturday in the fifth night of clashes after a rapper was jailed for glorifying terrorism and insulting royalty in his songs.The nine-month sentence of Pablo Hasel, known for his virulently anti-establishment raps, has sparked a debate over freedom of …
Read more “Protests Over Jailing of Spanish Rapper Extend Into Fifth Night”
Russia said Saturday that its scientists had detected the world’s first case of transmission of the H5N8 strain of avian flu from birds to humans and had alerted the World Health Organization.In televised remarks, the head of Russia’s health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, said scientists at the Vektor laboratory had isolated the strain’s genetic material …
Read more “Russia Detects First Case of Avian Flu Strain in Humans, Alerts WHO “
Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, visited the hospital Saturday where his father Prince Philip is being kept as a precaution after feeling ill, a Reuters photographer at the hospital said. Charles arrived at the back of the London hospital where Philip, the 99-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth, has spent four nights. Charles …
Read more “Britain’s Prince Charles Visits Father Philip in Hospital”
Every Tuesday evening, Moroccan student Chaimae Irfaq hands out food parcels to dozens of hard-up students in the foyer of her Paris university residence and takes one home for herself. Irfaq arrived in France in October to complete her business studies degree and had expected to work part-time jobs to supplement the 700 euros …
Read more “Students in France Wait for Food Handouts as COVID Destroys Part-Time Jobs”
The 518-year-old Mona Lisa has seen many things in her life on a wall, but rarely this: Almost four months with no Louvre visitors. As she stares out through bulletproof glass into the silent Salle des Etats, in what was once the world’s most-visited museum, her celebrated smile could almost denote relief. …
Read more “With Louvre Mostly Closed to Public, Staff Gets Rare Chance to Catch Up on Chores”
The Kremlin’s most prominent opponent, Alexey Navalny, faces two court decisions Saturday that could seal a judge’s ruling to jail him for several years, after he returned to Russia following a poisoning attack.A Moscow court is due to rule on Navalny’s appeal of a decision this month to imprison him for nearly three years for …
Read more “Navalny Faces Decisive Rulings in Moscow Legal Marathon”
Group of Seven leaders, who control a little under half of the world’s economy, on Friday sought to look beyond the COVID-19 pandemic toward rebuilding their battered economies with free trade and to countering China’s “non-market oriented” policies. U.S. President Joe Biden and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi debuted at the G-7 virtual leaders’ …
Read more “At Biden’s G-7 Debut, Leaders Look Beyond COVID-19 to Trade and China”
Ahead of France’s 2022 presidential election, the government says it will seek to modify electoral laws to allow early voting on electronic machines. But the proposal is meeting backlash from the opposition. With the topic looming large among lawmakers, political parties in the Senate were clashing this week over the latest draft …
Read more “France Signals It May Try Out Early Electronic Voting”