Month: September 2021

Britain’s Health Ministry announced Sunday that it would reverse its decision to require ‘vaccine passports’ for Britons entering nightclubs and bars.Health Minister Sajid Javid said Sunday that the idea, which faced pushback from conservative lawmakers, had been shelved but would be reconsidered if rates of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, increased substantially.Britain is …

Read more “Britain Reverses Course on ‘Vaccine Passports’ for Nightclubs”

The human rights records of more than 40 countries will come under scrutiny by the 47-member United Nations Human Rights Council during its upcoming four-week session.   The session promises to be extremely busy.  Nearly 90 reports on a wide range of thematic issues will be presented.  They include torture, enforced disappearances, the right to …

Read more “Country Violators to be Scrutinized by UN Human Rights Council “

The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Sunday that it has recorded 224.3 million global COVID-19 infections and 4.6 million global deaths.  The center also said 5.7 billion vaccines have been administered.    Britain is expected to announce this week its plans for inoculating 12- to 15-year-old youngsters in the battle against the coronavirus.   …

Read more “Britain Expected to Announce Plans to Inoculate 12-to-15-Year-Olds “

Pope Francis arrived in Hungary early Sunday at the start of his first big international outing since undergoing intestinal surgery in July. He will celebrate a Mass and meet with Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose right-wing, anti-immigrant policies clash with Francis’ call for countries to welcome refugees.Francis’ arrival at Budapest airport opened his four-day trip …

Read more “Pope in Orban’s Hungary at Start of 4-Day Europe Trip”

Pope Francis arrives in Budapest on Sunday morning to celebrate a Mass, with eyes focused on his meeting with the anti-migration Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.The head of 1.3 billion Catholics will have a half-hour meeting with Orban — accompanied by Hungarian President Janos Ader — in Budapest’s grand Fine Arts Museum, in what could …

Read more “Pope Francis Meets Viktor Orban in Worldview Clash”

Pope Francis travels to Hungary and Slovakia Sunday on his first foreign trip since undergoing surgery in July. He will meet Hungarian officials during a very short visit to Budapest, and preside over the closing mass of a eucharistic congress. Francis then travels to Slovakia, where he is expected to visit three cities before returning …

Read more “Pope Travels to Hungary, Slovakia in First Post-surgery Trip”

Spain’s state television on Friday condemned a racist comment made by a guest sports commentator during the presentation of Real Madrid player Eduardo Camavinga.   During Wednesday’s presentation of Camavinga, analyst Lorena González was heard off camera saying “this guy is blacker than his suit.”   The 18-year-old Camavinga, a French player born in Angola, …

Read more “Spanish TV Apologizes for Racist Comment About Black Madrid Player”

Britain’s Prince Andrew has been served with a lawsuit by a woman accusing him of sexually assaulting and battering her two decades ago, when she says she was also being abused by the financier Jeffrey Epstein, according to a Friday court filing. In an affidavit filed with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Cesar Sepulveda, identifying …

Read more “Prince Andrew Receives Lawsuit Accusing Him of Sexual Abuse “

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Friday that all-out war with neighboring Russia was a possibility, and that he wanted to have a substantive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Asked at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) summit if there could really be all out-war with Russia, which seized the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and …

Read more “Ukrainian President Says War With Russia Is Worst-case Possibility”

Russia has been treading carefully in its dealings with the Taliban, engaging with them but so far withholding formal recognition of Afghanistan’s new rulers.Russian President Vladimir Putin and his aides have been quick to cheer the U.S.-led NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan, presenting it as a strategic setback for Washington. But they fear Afghanistan falling apart …

Read more “With NATO Forces Gone, Russia Looks South to Afghanistan, Warily”

Russia has been treading carefully in its dealings with the Taliban, engaging with them but so far withholding formal recognition of Afghanistan’s new rulers.Russian President Vladimir Putin and his aides have been quick to cheer the U.S.-led NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan, presenting it as a strategic setback for Washington. But they fear Afghanistan falling apart …

Read more “Russia Looks South to Afghanistan, Warily”

Gazprom said Friday it had finished construction of the Nord Stream 2 subsea pipeline to Germany, completing Moscow’s project to increase its gas export capability and bypass Ukraine, but flows have yet to be cleared by regulators.The much-politicized pipeline will double Russia’s gas exporting capacity to Europe via the Baltic Sea and will allow Moscow …

Read more “Russia Completes Nord Stream 2 Construction, Gas Not Yet Flowing”

In an interview Thursday, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said there are questions about how the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan was handled, “but we need to first save the lives [of Afghans].”Rama, whose country is temporarily hosting 4,000 Afghan refugees, said that as a NATO member country, Albania has to take its “share of …

Read more “Afghan Withdrawal Raises Questions, But Saving Lives Comes First, Says Albanian Prime Minister”

With no masks in sight, buzzing offices and concerts drawing tens of thousands, Denmark on Friday ditches vaccine passports in nightclubs, ending its last COVID-19 curb.The vaccine passports were introduced in March 2021 when Copenhagen slowly started easing restrictions.They were abolished at all venues on Sept. 1, except in nightclubs, where they will be no …

Read more “Denmark Lifts All COVID Curbs”

Leaders of the BRICS nations discussed Afghanistan at a virtual summit Thursday, with participants underscoring the importance of preventing terrorists from using Afghan soil to stage attacks on other countries.  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the five-nation group that comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The talks come weeks after the Taliban …

Read more “BRICS Nations Say Afghan Territory Should Not Be Used by Terror Groups “

Teams working on two continents have marked similar milestones in their respective efforts to tap an energy source key to the fight against climate change: They’ve each produced very impressive magnets.  On Thursday, scientists at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in southern France took delivery of the first part of a massive magnet so …

Read more “Advances in Magnets Move Distant Nuclear Fusion Dream Closer”

Britain has approved plans to turn away boats illegally carrying migrants to its shores, deepening a rift with France over how to deal with a surge of people risking their lives by trying to cross the Channel in small dinghies.    Hundreds of small boats have attempted the journey from France to England this year, …

Read more “Britain Threatens to Send Migrant Boats Back to France “

The next nine months will determine the fate of 20 people on trial for the 2015 terror attacks in Paris. Of the ten-man team believed to have carried out the coordinated assault, just one is still alive. Salah Abdeslam was among the 14 suspects in court on Wednesday, the first day of the trial that …

Read more “2015 Paris Terror Attack Trial Expected to Last Nine Months”

Organized crime, a struggling economy, and repression continue to drive many Central Americans from their homelands with increasing numbers opting to head for Spain, rather than the United States.  More than 120,000 Hondurans make up the largest group of Central Americans in Spain. Alfonso Beato in the northeastern Spanish city of Girona filed this report, narrated by Jonathan Spier.Camera:  Alfonso Beato Produced by:  Rod …

Read more “Costs, Opportunity Prompt More Honduran Migrants to Choose Spain Over US”

Europe’s drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency, said Thursday it is reviewing four additional COVID-19 vaccines and could issue new authorizations before the end of the year.     During a news briefing from the agency’s headquarters in Amsterdam, EMA officials said they are awaiting additional data on Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine and China’s Sinovac …

Read more “Europe Medicines Agency Considering 4 Additional COVID Vaccines”

Fourteen people are dead and several more were injured after a fire ripped through a North Macedonia COVID-19 field hospital Wednesday night.   The hospital was set up in the western city of Tetovo to deal with a surge in COVID-19 cases in the area.   ”It is a tragedy that I can’t even explain,” …

Read more “14 Dead in North Macedonia After Fire Rips Through COVID Field Hospital”

Russia’s parliamentary elections in less than two weeks’ time are shaping up to be the least free since Vladimir Putin came to power 21 years ago, warn opposition leaders and independent election observers. Polling data suggests that just 26% of Russians are ready to vote for the ruling United Russia Party in parliamentary elections on September …

Read more “Russia Heading for ‘Least Free Elections’ in 20 Years, Say Opposition Leaders  “

Turkey is voicing caution over Afghanistan’s interim government as it continues talks with the Taliban on restarting air traffic at the Kabul airport.Turkey was among the first countries calling for talks and engagement with the Taliban after it swept to power last month. But the Taliban’s announcement of an interim government this week saw Turkish …

Read more “Turkey’s Erdogan Voices Caution Over New Afghan Government”

Twenty people linked to the November 2015 terrorist attacks in France went on trial in Paris Wednesday in proceedings expected to last nine months.Six defendants are being charged in absentia. Reports say five of the six are presumed dead in Iraq or Syria. Nine Islamic State terrorists, mostly from France and Belgium, left a trail of …

Read more “Paris Begins Trial of 2015 Terror Attackers”