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 “
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy tweeted during a NATO summit he attended in June that Western leaders had confirmed his country “will become a member of the Alliance.” The Ukrainian leader’s tweet, seen by some Western diplomats as ill-timed and intended to goad Russia, drew a predictably furious response from Kremlin officials. They have long warned …
Read more “Aside from Kyiv, No One in Rush for Ukraine to Join NATO”
China’s expanding sphere of influence and economic reach in Europe is met with a mixture of praise and complaints in the Greek port of Piraeus. Athens reporter Laurent Laughlin has the details. …
Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologized Wednesday for attending a garden party during Britain’s coronavirus lockdown in 2020, saying there are things his government “did not get right.” Johnson is facing a tide of anger from public and politicians over claims he and his staff flouted pandemic restrictions by socializing when it was banned. Some members of his …
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Russia is contributing to an undersupply of natural gas to Europe, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol said on Wednesday, noting it comes amid a standoff between Moscow and the West over Ukraine. The Paris-based IEA, energy watchdog for developed countries, warned that the high energy prices and consumer pain wrought …
Read more “IAE: Russia Undermining European Gas Supply Amid Ukraine Standoff”
Pope Francis on Wednesday urged governments to combat child labor, saying it was terrible that children who should be playing are instead working as adults or scavenging in garbage dumps for something to sell. Speaking at his weekly general audience Francis also lamented that in many countries people were being exploited in the unofficial, underground …
Read more “‘Children Should Be Playing’: Pope Pleads For Fight Against Child Labor”
Russia and NATO are meeting Wednesday in Brussels with a focus on reducing tensions along the border between Russia and Ukraine. NATO objects to Russia troop buildups along the border, saying they undermine European security. For its part, Russia is seeking security guarantees such as limiting the expansion of the 30-member NATO alliance, arguing the …
Read more “Conflict Along Ukraine Border Focus of NATO-Russia Talks”
The Kremlin said Tuesday it has little optimism about a breakthrough on talks with the United States this week about its European security concerns, while Washington said Moscow’s massive troop buildup along the Ukraine border is at the root of current tensions. After a day of talks with U.S. diplomats Monday in Geneva, Moscow said …
Read more “Russia, US Spar Again Over Ukraine, Security Issues”
Turkey’s economy had a difficult year, with its currency depreciating and inflation skyrocketing. Experts warn that unless President Recep Tayyip Erdogan changes course and reverses his controversial monetary strategy, the situation could worsen. Last week, the country’s official Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) reported inflation increased to 36% last month, the highest figure in Turkey for …
Read more “Erdogan Sticks with Economic Policy as Turkey’s Inflation Rises, Currency Sinks”
Europe could see half of its population infected with the omicron variant over the coming weeks, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. “At this rate, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation forecasts that more than 50% of the population in the region will be infected with omicron in the next six to eight weeks,” …
Read more “WHO Warns Half of Europe Could Become Infected with Omicron in Coming Weeks”
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his senior aides have repeatedly claimed that Western powers broke promises they made not to expand NATO as the Soviet Union collapsed. In his annual end-of-year press conference in Moscow in December, Putin accused NATO of deceiving Russia by giving assurances in the 1990s that it would not expand “an …
Read more “Russia’s Putin Says Western Leaders Broke Promises, But Did They?”
With tensions high over the prospect of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, analysts say Turkey has a pivotal role as the enforcer of an international convention governing naval access to the Black Sea. As Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, Ankara is aware any conflict will bring pressure from both Moscow and Turkey’s NATO partners in …