Month: October 2022

Russian-installed authorities in Ukraine told all residents of the city of Kherson to leave “immediately” Saturday ahead of an expected advance by Ukrainian troops waging a counteroffensive to recapture one of the first urban areas Russia took after invading the country. In a post on the Telegram messaging service, the pro-Kremlin regional administration called on …

Read more “Russian-Installed Authorities Order Evacuation of Ukraine’s Kherson”

The Vatican said Saturday it and China had renewed a secret and contested agreement on the appointment of Roman Catholic bishops in the communist country. It was the second time the accord, which is still provisional, was extended for another two years since it was first reached in 2018. The latest extension had been widely …

Read more “Vatican Confirms Renewal of Contested Accord With China on Bishops’ Appointments”

Giorgia Meloni, whose political party with neo-fascist roots emerged victorious in recent elections, was sworn in on Saturday as Italy’s first far-right premier since the end of World War II. She is also the first woman to be premier. Meloni, 45, recited the oath of office before President Sergio Mattarella, who formally asked her to …

Read more “Far-Right Leader Giorgia Meloni Sworn In as Italian Premier”

Germany’s announcement that it will take in 1,000 at-risk Afghans with their families from Afghanistan will be challenging, an Afghan lawyer says, because it is becoming increasingly difficult for Afghans to leave Afghanistan. In a joint statement, the German Foreign and Interior ministries announced the new humanitarian admission program on Monday. “The plan is to …

Read more “Germany’s New Program to Take in At-Risk Afghans Challenging”

France, Germany and Britain called Friday for the United Nations to investigate allegations that Russia is using Iranian drones for attacks in Ukraine. A letter from the French, German and British missions to the U.N. cited “significant open-source evidence, including photographs and video, of Russia deploying Mohajer and Shahed series UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] in …

Read more “3 European Missions to UN Urge Probe of Drone Use in Ukraine”

EU leaders at a European Council summit in Brussels this week wrestled with how to respond to the rising economic and diplomatic power of China, even as Chinese leader Xi Jinping signaled his intention to sustain an aggressive foreign policy during a Communist Party congress in Beijing. While largely preoccupied by the war in Ukraine, …

Read more “EU Debates China Policy as German Chancellor Plans Beijing Visit “

Britain expects China to waive diplomatic immunity for officials if the U.K. police determine there are grounds to charge them for an attack on a Hong Kong protester, a British Foreign Office minister said on Thursday. A protest against the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Party Congress occurred last Sunday outside the Chinese Consulate General in …

Read more “UK Expects Waiver of Chinese Consul’s Diplomatic Immunity in Dragging Incident”

A Russian court has ordered the arrest of television journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, Interfax news agency said, more than six months after she flashed a sign on air saying the Kremlin was lying about the Ukraine war. Ovsyannikova already has fled Russia, her lawyer said this week, after refusing to observe house arrest measures to which …

Read more “Russian Court Orders Arrest of Dissident Journalist Ovsyannikova”

Britain’s Defense Ministry said Friday that Belarussian president Aleksandr Lukashenko’s assertion early this month that thousands of troops from his country and Russia would form a new Group of Forces is unlikely to come to fruition. Lukashenko had said 70,000 Belarussian troops and as many as 15,000 Russians would make up a new Russian-Belarussian Group …

Read more “Britain: Combined Belarus-Russian Troops Unlikely to Happen”

The British Defense Ministry says it is seeking to ensure retired members of the British Royal Air Force who were recruited via a South African company to train pilots in China’s People’s Liberation Army are fully aware of the risk of prosecution under the Official Secrets Act. China has been recruiting former British military pilots …

Read more “Retired RAF Pilots Warned About Training Chinese Military Pilots”

Iranian military personnel are “on the ground” in Ukraine, assisting the Russian military with drone operations that have been terrorizing the country and targeting power facilities, the Pentagon said Thursday. “Our understanding is that they [Iranian forces] are on the ground in Crimea, assisting Russian military personnel as they conduct these drone operations in Ukraine,” …

Read more “Pentagon: Iranian Military in Ukraine, Helping Russia Launch Drone Attacks”

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday called British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who is stepping down from office after just six weeks of her turbulent tenure, a “good partner” in supporting Ukraine to defend itself against Russian aggression. Biden declined to weigh in on her resignation. “That’s for her to decide,” he told reporters at …

Read more “Truss Was a Good Partner, Biden Says on British PM Resignation”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is conducting military exercises along the country’s border with Azerbaijan amid signs of tensions between the two countries. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency has reported that the maneuvers, which commenced Monday in the northwestern region, were being held in accordance with a pre-planned, annual activity calendar. The location of the …

Read more “Iran Holds Military Exercises on Border Amid Tensions With Azerbaijan “

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signed up to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plan to turn Turkey into a Russian natural gas hub. Erdogan, addressing his parliamentary deputies Wednesday, said Turkey had secured a vital opportunity by agreeing to Putin’s plan. “European countries are currently searching to find where to get natural gas supplies,” he …

Read more “Erdogan Agrees to Putin’s Plan for Turkey to Be Russian Gas Hub”

A man accused of helping find weapons for the jihadi gunmen who attacked the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket in France eight years ago was given a life sentence after his appeal trial, a judicial source said Thursday. Ali Riza Polat, 37, who contests the charges of complicity in a terrorist attack, was …

Read more “Suspect in Charlie Hebdo Attack Gets Life Sentence on Appeal”

The European Union agreed Thursday to impose new sanctions on entities supplying Iranian drones to Russia that were used to strike Ukraine. The Czech presidency of the European Union announced the agreement in a tweet Thursday, saying it came after three days of talks with EU ambassadors and would go into effect Thursday afternoon. It …

Read more “EU Sanctions Iranian Entities for Drone Deliveries”

Liz Truss said on Thursday she was resigning as British prime minister just six weeks after she was appointed, brought down by an economic program that sent shockwaves through financial markets last month and divided her Conservative Party. Speaking outside the door of her Number 10 Downing Street office, Truss accepted that she could not …

Read more “Liz Truss To Quit as UK Prime Minister Next Week”

Ukraine is restricting power use Thursday in response to Russian attacks that damaged parts of the country’s electrical infrastructure. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged people to conserve energy in an address late Wednesday. He said the government was working to create “mobile power supply points for critical infrastructure in cities and villages.” Ukraine’s power grid …

Read more “Ukraine Restricting Power Use After Russian Attacks”

Cattle farmers in Botswana, one of Africa’s top beef exporters to the European Union, have welcomed renewed beef exports to Europe. The move follows a two-month ban that followed an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and the culling of thousands of cows. Botswana officials on Monday said the August outbreak near the border with Zimbabwe has …

Read more “Botswana Farmers Welcome Lifting of EU Beef Export Ban”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pushed back against growing concerns that Republican lawmakers would not keep aid flowing to Ukraine should they retake control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the November midterm election. “The United States has provided Ukraine with robust bipartisan support,” she told reporters Wednesday. “We will continue to work …

Read more “White House Pushes Back Concerns That Ukraine Support Is Waning”

Some Republican lawmakers are questioning the amount of U.S. aid to Ukraine, citing the looming recession, the need for greater oversight and the competing security concerns from China. With polls predicting Republicans will win control of the House in the midterms, White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara looks at how that might affect U.S. support …

Read more “After $60 Billion Authorized, Is US Support for Aid to Ukraine Waning?”

The European Union on Wednesday readied new sanctions on Iran over its supply of drones to Russia as the U.N. Security Council met to discuss the unmanned attacks that have caused destruction in Ukraine.  The United States, France and Britain requested the closed-door Security Council discussion to voice alarm over the drone shipments, which Western …

Read more “EU Readies Sanctions on Iran for Supplying Drones to Russia”

The World Health Organization said Wednesday it is too early to lift the highest-level alert for the COVID-19 crisis, with the pandemic remaining a global health emergency despite recent progress. The WHO’s emergency committee on COVID-19 met last week and concluded that the pandemic still constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), a …

Read more “WHO: COVID-19 Still an International Emergency”

U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday charged five Russian nationals with sanctions evasion and other crimes for shipping military technologies bought from U.S. manufacturers to Russian buyers, some of which ended up on the battlefield in Ukraine.   Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said the electronic components purchased by Russian nationals Yury Orekhov and Svetlana Kuzurgasheva included semiconductors, radars …

Read more “US Charges 5 Russians With Shipping US Military Tech to Moscow, Evading Sanctions “