British sprinter CJ Ujah, who won an Olympic silver medal in the 4x100m relay in Tokyo, was Thursday suspended for an alleged anti-doping breach, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced.If the case is proven, then 27-year-old Ujah and the British team will be stripped of the silver they won behind Italy in Japan.The AIU said …
Read more “British Olympic Silver Medalist Ujah Suspended for Alleged Doping”
Six people were killed in a mass shooting in the city of Plymouth in southwestern England on Thursday evening, in an incident described by the British Home Secretary as “shocking.” Two females and three males, including the suspect, died from gunshot wounds at the scene of the incident, the Devon and Cornwall Police said in a …
Read more “Six People Killed in Mass Shooting in Plymouth, England”
The extreme heat in the Mediterranean region continued to trigger wildfires, with dozens of people killed in Algeria, Greece, Italy and Turkey in recent days. The weather system, nicknamed “Lucifer,” has unleashed record temperatures, and on Thursday it was moving slowly west toward Spain and Portugal.A weather station near the town of Syracuse in southeast …
Read more “‘Lucifer’ Heat Wave Scorches Mediterranean; Dozens Die in Wildfires “
The extreme hot weather in the Mediterranean region is continuing to trigger wildfires, with dozens of people killed in Algeria, Greece, Italy and Turkey in recent days. Henry Ridgwell has more from London. Camera: Henry Ridgwell …
The European Union on Thursday warned the Taliban that it would face being cut off by the international community if it seized power through violence, as the insurgents sweep across Afghanistan.”If power is taken by force and an Islamic Emirate re-established, the Taliban would face non-recognition, isolation, lack of international support and the prospect of …
Read more “EU Threatens Taliban With ‘Isolation’ if They Seize Power”
North Macedonia’s bid for membership in the European Union was held up for two decades by a dispute with Greece over its name. One painful compromise later, the road forward is being blocked again — this time by Bulgaria in a dispute over language and historical grievances. And Albania, whose EU bid is to be considered …
Read more “North Macedonia, Albania Face New Obstacles on Path to EU”
Polish lawmakers have advanced a bill that the opposition says aims to silence a U.S.-owned news channel critical of the government, leading to a swift denunciation from the United States, one of Warsaw’s most important allies.Washington had warned that failure to renew the license of Discovery-owned news channel TVN24 could jeopardize future investments in Poland, …
Read more “Polish Parliament Advances Media Bill US Denounces”
The Turkish capital, Ankara, has been hit with a night of violence against Syrian refugees. Turkey currently hosts over four million refugees, and with more coming from Afghanistan and there are growing fears of rising social tensions.Hundreds of people attacked the homes of Syrians Wednesday in Altindag, a suburb of Ankara. Syrian shops were also …
Read more “Syrian Refugees Targeted in Ankara Night of Violence”
The French call it La Manche, or the sleeve, while the more proprietorial British refer to the narrow arm of the Atlantic separating England’s southern coast from the northern coast of France as the English Channel. At its narrowest point it is just 33 kilometers, but when it comes to the state of Anglo-French relations …
Read more “France, Britain Divided by Much More than La Manche “
A helicopter carrying tourists plunged into a deep volcanic crater lake on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s far east Thursday, and rescuers were searching in the lake for up to eight people missing, officials said. At least eight others reportedly survived.The helicopter crashed in the Kronotsky nature reserve, and the regional administration said workers were …
Read more “Tourist Helicopter Crashes in Russian Crater Lake; 8 Missing”
After all the turmoil of the last week, Krystsina Tsimanouskaya finally feels safe. The Belarusian Olympic sprinter who found refuge in Poland to avoid punishment at home after criticizing team officials at the Tokyo Games says she now hopes to focus on how to keep up a world-class running career. Speaking in an interview Wednesday with The Associated …
Poland’s parliament passed a law on Wednesday that would prevent former Polish property owners, including Holocaust survivors and their descendants, from regaining property expropriated by the country’s communist regime.Israel condemned the legislation, with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid saying it “damages both the memory of the Holocaust and the rights of its victims.”Meanwhile, Gideon Taylor, the …
Read more “Poland Passes Law That Would Cut Off Property Claims”
Afghan clothes and Iranian SIM cards litter fields under the mountains that stand between Turkey and the Iranian border. A wisp of smoke rises out of what was a small fire, abandoned many hours before. As the Taliban swept through villages and cities in Afghanistan over the past few months, families have fled in droves, many …
Read more “Reporter’s Notebook: Families Fleeing Afghanistan Struggle to Survive in Turkey”
German authorities said Wednesday that they had arrested a British citizen and accused him of spying for Russia while working at the British Embassy in Berlin.The man, identified only as David S., is suspected of passing documents to Russia for money since at least November. He reportedly worked as a local hire.The British government confirmed …
Read more “Germany Arrests British Embassy Worker Accused of Spying for Russia”
Imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny faces a new charge that a non-profit organization he created encouraged Russians to break the law.The charge, which was announced Wednesday by Russia’s Investigative Committee, is punishable by up to three years in prison.The committee says Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption group encouraged Russians to “perform unlawful acts” by encouraging …
Read more “Russian Opposition Leader Faces New Charge, More Jail”
The regime of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has responded to the latest round of U.S. sanctions by requesting Washington to reduce its embassy staff in Minsk to five people by September 1. Belarusian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Anatol Hlaz said in an interview that was placed on the ministry’s website on August 11 that Minsk also had …
Read more “Belarus Tells US to Reduce Embassy Staff, Rejects Ambassador”
The Austrian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday protested the detention of two journalists who were working in Belarus for Austria’s national broadcaster ORF.ORF correspondent Carola Schneider and her camera operator were detained Monday in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, and taken to a police station.The broadcaster cited a Belarusian human rights group as saying that plainclothes …
Read more “Austria Protests Detention of 2 Journalists in Belarus”
Half-a-dozen European Union countries have told Brussels they want to continue deporting Afghan migrants whose asylum-applications are denied — despite the Taliban’s recent military successes, including overrunning eight of Afghanistan’s provincial capitals in the past week. EU officials told reporters during a briefing Tuesday that they found it inconceivable any EU member states would want to …
Read more “Six EU Countries Want to Maintain Deportations of Afghan Asylum-Seekers “
Lionel Messi said he’s “in the right place” to win another Champions League trophy and cited a reunion with Neymar as a key factor in his decision to sign with Paris Saint-Germain.The 34-year-old Argentina star spoke at his introductory news conference at Parc des Princes stadium on Wednesday, the morning after signing a two-year deal …
Read more “Lionel Messi Eyes Champions League Trophy with PSG”
Massive forest fires have gripped Greece for more than a week. The government has come under fierce criticism for failing to heed warnings of wildfires amid a protracted heat wave affecting not just Greece but the Balkans and southern Europe.Some of the nearly 600 wildfires that have sparked across Greece, have been brought under control. But fresh ones flared on the island of Evia and in the Peloponnese, adding to the 62 evacuation orders authorities issued over the past week across the country. Several mayors …
Read more “Greece Gains on Wildfires, Faces Climate Change Criticism”
Firefighters in Greece continue to battle wildfires as officials defend their response amid unusually high temperatures and dry conditions. “We handled an operationally unique situation, with 586 fires in eight days during the worst weather conditions we’ve seen in 40 years,” Greece’s civil protection chief Nikos Hardalias said at a Tuesday news conference. “Never was there such a combination of adverse …
Virginia Giuffre, an alleged victim of late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has filed a lawsuit against Britain’s Prince Andrew, alleging he raped and sexually abused her several times when she was 17 years old.Andrew, who is Queen Elizabeth II’s second son and ninth in line to the British throne, has consistently denied …
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday Germany has fallen behind other European countries in its COVID-19 vaccination efforts, and with new infections on the rise, the government must take steps to speed up the program or run the risk of seeing its health care system overwhelmed.Merkel spoke to reporters Tuesday following a meeting with Germany’s …
Read more “Germany’s COVID-19 Vaccine Program Has Slowed Dramatically, Merkel Says”
Recent weeks have seen a spate of police raids on independent media companies and the homes of journalists in Russia, as part of an intensifying crackdown. Kremlin-critical media face fines, arrests, and violence. Some journalists are relocating to other countries to avoid an increasingly hostile environment. …