Month: January 2022

Russia has conducted a special operation against ransomware crime group REvil at the request of the United States and has detained and charged the group’s members, the FSB domestic intelligence service said Friday.  The arrests were a rare apparent demonstration of collaboration between Russia and the United States, at a time of high tensions between …

Read more “Russia Takes Down Hacking Group at US Request, Intelligence Service Says”

Turkey and Armenia on Friday said a first round of talks in more than 10 years was “positive and constructive,” raising the prospect that ties could be restored and borders reopened after decades of animosity.  Turkey has had no diplomatic or commercial ties with its eastern neighbor since the 1990s. The talks in Moscow were …

Read more “Turkey, Armenia Hold First Talks in Years on Normalizing Ties”

Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, MI5, is coming under political pressure to explain why it did not alert lawmakers sooner about the activities of a suspected Chinese spy, who the security service now say was “knowingly engaged in political interference in the U.K.” The British security agencies have been warning in recent months about China increasing …

Read more “British Intelligence Shines Light on Chinese Spy ‘Hiding in Plain Sight’”

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned as “judicial harassment” a recent court ruling in Bulgaria where two journalists and a website were found guilty of defamation for articles they published in 2018. The Sofia City Court (SCC) found that Boris Mitov, now a journalist for RFE/RL’s Bulgarian Service, and Stoyana Georgieva, had caused physical and …

Read more “Watchdog Slams Bulgarian Court Ruling as ‘Judicial Harassment’ of Journalists”

The U.N. human rights office says at least 108 civilians have been killed and many more injured in several air strikes allegedly carried out by the Ethiopian air force in the country’s northern Tigray region since the start of the new year. In the past two weeks, air strikes have hit Tigray’s state-owned Technical Vocational Education and Training Institute, a …

Read more “Airstrikes in Ethiopia’s Tigray Kill Over 100 Civilians This Year”

Decades of world dependence on Asian textile manufacturing, especially in China, have been disrupted by delays and rising freight costs because of the pandemic. This is forcing some companies in Spain to rethink their production setups, and that means bringing jobs home for the first time in decades. Alfonso Beato in Barcelona filed this report …

Read more “Snarled Supply Chains in Spain Force Manufacturing Closer to Home”

European Union officials have condemned Friday’s cyberattack on Ukraine that shut down government and emergency services websites and pledged to use EU resources to assist the nation. Ukraine’s foreign ministry reported Friday the websites of the country’s cabinet — seven ministries, including the treasury, the national emergency service and the state services, where Ukrainians’ electronic …

Read more “EU Condemns Cyberattack on Ukraine, NATO Pledges ‘Enhanced Cyber Cooperation’”

To mask or not to mask is a question Italy settled early in the COVID-19 outbreak with a vigorous “yes.” Now the onetime epicenter of the pandemic in Europe hopes even stricter mask rules will help it beat the latest infection surge. Other countries are taking similar action as the more transmissible — yet, apparently, …

Read more “Masks Rules Get Tighter in Europe in Winter’s COVID-19 Wave”

The Dutch king ruled out Thursday using, for now at least, the royal family’s Golden Carriage, one side of which bears a painting that critics say glorifies the Netherlands’ colonial past, including its role in the global slave trade. The announcement was an acknowledgement of the heated debate about the carriage as the Netherlands reckons …

Read more “Dutch King Won’t Use Carriage Criticized for Colonial Image”

Negotiators say talks between Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna ended Thursday with no breakthrough toward defusing tensions regarding Russian troops massed at the border with Ukraine. The talks were the third diplomatic effort this week to resolve the impasse, all of which ended without any resolutions.   …

Read more “No Breakthrough as OSCE-Russia Talks on Ukraine Conclude”

Western diplomats fear the spread of extremist groups and persistent economic and social problems in Western Africa and the Sahel are nearing a tipping point that could have disastrous consequences for the region and beyond.  The officials from both Europe and the United States warned Thursday that international efforts have so far failed to counter …

Read more “Western Diplomats Warn of Impending Disaster in Sahel”

Autocratic leaders are facing a democratic backlash from their people in several countries around the world, according to the organization Human Rights Watch in its annual global report, which was published Thursday. The report said that in the past 12 months there have been a series of military coups and crackdowns on opposition figures.  In …

Read more “Dictators Face Democratic Backlash, Says Human Rights Watch”

Despite a series of military coups and opposition crackdowns in dozens of countries, there are encouraging signs of democratic uprisings around the world, according to the latest annual report from the organization Human Rights Watch, published Thursday. Henry Ridgwell reports from London. …

An ethnic Uyghur who escaped to Morocco is facing the possibility of being sent back to China while his wife fights for his freedom.  The story of Idris Hasan, whose Chinese name is Yidiresi Aishan, started 14 years ago. In 2008, when he was a 20-year-old student at the China University of Petroleum in eastern …

Read more “Uyghur Man’s Long Journey to Freedom May End With Return to China”

One of Russia’s top diplomats says he can see no reason to renew talks with the U.S. and NATO about Russian troops massed at the border with Ukraine anytime soon, and he accused Western powers Thursday of being concerned only about their own security needs while ignoring Moscow’s. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said military …

Read more “Russia Questions Whether Ukraine Talks Are Worth Renewing”

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth has stripped her son, Prince Andrew, of his military affiliations and royal patronages as the controversy over allegations he had sex with an underage girl continued to swirl. “The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen,” Buckingham Palace said …

Read more “Queen Elizabeth Strips Prince Andrew of Military Titles, Charities”

In a landmark ruling, a German Court Thursday convicted a former Syrian intelligence officer of crimes against humanity for his role in state-sponsored torture and murder under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government. The regional court in the western city of Koblenz found 58-year-old Anwar Raslan guilty of overseeing the murder of 27 people at the …

Read more “German Court Convicts Former Syrian Intelligence Officer of Crimes Against Humanity”

The European Union’s drug regulator is warning that too many doses of COVID-19 vaccines could eventually weaken the body’s immune system, rendering the extra shots ineffective. Marco Cavaleri, the head of vaccine strategy for the European Medicines Agency, said earlier this week that booster shots can be administered “once, or maybe twice, but it’s not …

Read more “EU Drug Regulator Warns Against Overuse of COVID Booster Shots”

When a gunfight erupted during clashes in Diyarbakir in October 2014, video journalist Rojhat Dogru was at the center of the action. At one point, a little too close. Hit by a bullet, Dogru was rushed to a hospital, where he uploaded footage to the Iraq-based Gali Kurdistan TV while being treated. The coverage won …

Read more “Turkish Court Hands Life Sentence to Award-Winning Journalist”

Efforts to de-escalate tensions along the Russia-Ukraine border shift Thursday to Vienna and a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Permanent Council. The session follows a bilateral meeting between Russia and the United States in Geneva on Monday and talks Wednesday in Brussels between Russia and NATO. U.S. State Department spokesperson …

Read more “Russia-Ukraine Tensions on Agenda for OSCE Talks”

As the United States and Russia met for talks in Geneva this week, the future security of Europe was at stake. But absent from the negotiating table was the European Union, to the clear frustration of the bloc’s officials. “On this dialogue, there are not two actors alone. It’s not just U.S. and Russia. If …

Read more “Europeans Feel Excluded From US-Russia Security Talks “

As the United States and Russia met for talks in Geneva this week, the future security of Europe was at stake. But the European Union was not present – and bloc officials have voiced growing frustration, as Henry Ridgwell reports from London. …

Kazakhstan’s political turmoil erupted at precisely the moment the U.S. and Russia began to negotiate deep disagreements over Ukraine, NATO and European security. The deployment of 2,500 “peacekeepers” by the Kremlin-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) struck many Washington experts as a shift in Kazakhstan’s foreign policy that strengthens Russia’s hand.  But on January 11, …

Read more “Kazakh Unrest Seen Boosting Russia at US Expense”

A civil lawsuit filed in a U.S. court by a woman who says she was sexually abused by Britain’s Prince Andrew when she was 17 will move forward, following a judge’s ruling Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said lawyers for Prince Andrew failed to challenge the constitutionality of the case brought by Virginia Giuffre …

Read more “Sex Abuse Case Against Prince Andrew to Move Forward “