Month: January 2023

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday she backed listing Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist organization to respond to the “trampling” of “fundamental human rights” in the country. Ties between the EU member states and Tehran have deteriorated in recent months as efforts to revive nuclear talks have stalled. Tehran …

Read more “EU’s Von der Leyen Backs Listing Iran’s Guards As Terrorist Group”

Belarus has opened the trial of a journalist and prominent member of the country’s sizable Polish minority, the latest in a series of court cases against critics of the authoritarian regime of President Alexander Lukashenko. Andrzej Poczobut, 49, faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted of the charges of harming national security and …

Read more “Belarus Opens Trial of Journalist for Prominent Polish Paper”

Ukraine’s first lady scolded world leaders and corporate executives at the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering in the snowy Swiss town of Davos for not all using their influence at a time when Russia’s invasion leaves children dying and a world struggling with food insecurity. As the anniversary of the war nears, Olena Zelenska said …

Read more “At Davos, Ukraine’s 1st Lady Urges Leaders to ‘Use Influence”

The World Economic Forum is back with its first winter meetup since 2020 in the Swiss Alpine town of Davos, where leaders are seeking to bridge political divisions in a polarized world, buttress a hobbling economy and address concerns about a climate change — among many other things. Sessions will take up issues as diverse …

Read more “Economic Woes, War, Climate Change on Tap for Davos Meeting”

The Czech coalition government on Tuesday faced a parliamentary no-confidence vote over opposition claims of incompetence. The main opposition centrist ANO (YES) movement led by populist billionaire Andrej Babis accused the government, among other issues, of not doing enough to help people cope with soaring inflation driven by high energy prices and of refusing to …

Read more “Czech Government Faces No-Confidence Vote in Parliament “

Alina Kapatsyna often dreams about getting a phone call from her mother. In those visions, her mother tells her that she’s coming home. Men in military uniforms took 45-year-old Vita Hannych away from her house in eastern Ukraine in April. She never returned. Her family later learned that Hannych, who has long suffered from seizures …

Read more “Ukrainian Civilians Vanish and Languish in Russian-Run Jails”

Belarus on Monday began the trial in absentia of opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the country’s state-run Belta news agency said.  Tsikhanouskaya fled Belarus after facing President Alexander Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential elections that drew mass protests over allegations of electoral fraud that gave Lukashenko a new term.  Speaking to news agencies in Switzerland, Tsikhanouskaya …

Read more “Belarus Begins Trial of Opposition Leader”

British Foreign Minister James Cleverly will seek to bolster support for Ukraine on a trip to the United States and Canada which begins on Tuesday, ahead of the first anniversary of the invasion by Russia. Britain has been a steadfast supporter of Kyiv since Russia’s invasion last February, and at the weekend pledged to send …

Read more “British Foreign Minister Seeks to Bolster Ukraine Support on North American Trip”

Sweden and Finland must deport or extradite up to 130 “terrorists” to Turkey before the Turkish parliament will approve their bids to join NATO, President Tayyip Erdogan said. The two Nordic states applied last year to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but their bids must be approved by all 30 NATO member states. …

Read more “Sweden, Finland Must Send ‘Terrorists’ to Turkey for NATO Bid”

Up to 12,000 people marched Monday to the EU Parliament in the eastern French city of Strasbourg in support of Iran’s anti-government protesters while the Eiffel Tower lit the night with the slogan “Woman. Life. Freedom,” which embodies the protest movement spilling beyond Iran. The Eiffel Tower display also beamed the message, “Stop executions in …

Read more “March in France, Eiffel Tower Display Back Iran’s Activists”

There is a certain bravura among war-wounded amputees at the St. Panteleimon Hospital in Lviv, Ukraine. We meet two men on their lunch break from demining roads and neighborhoods. Both are missing the lower half of one leg from mine explosions on the job, and six of their teammates have also recently lost limbs.  “We …

Read more “Reporter’s Notebook: Ukraine Amputees Prepare to Go Back to War”

Germany’s much-criticized defense minister announced her resignation Monday following a series of missteps while her department steers the massive project of modernizing the country’s military and oversees expanding weapons deliveries to Ukraine. Christine Lambrecht said in a written statement that she had submitted her resignation to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, adding that “months of media focus …

Read more “Germany’s Defense Minister Resigns Amid Ukraine Criticism”

Italian film star Gina Lollobrigida, who achieved international film stardom during the 1950s and was dubbed “the most beautiful woman in the world” after the title of one her movies, died in Rome on Monday, her agent said. She was 95. The agent, Paola Comin, didn’t provide details. But Lollobrigida had surgery in September to …

Read more “Italian Film Legend Gina Lollobrigida Dies at Age 95 “

European royalty from Britain to Spain have gathered in Athens for the funeral of Greece’s last monarch, Constantine the Second. Among the royals in attendance are Britain’s Princess Anne, the daughter of the late Queen Elizabeth the Second and a cousin of Constantine through her father, the late Prince Philip. King Felipe and Queen Letizia …

Read more “Funeral Held for Greece’s Former King Constantine”

One of Italy’s most wanted men, Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, has been arrested.   ANSA, the Italian news agency, reported Monday that the alleged boss of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra mafia, who had been on the run for 30 years, was arrested by police at a private clinic in Palermo.   Italian state television said Denaro was …

Read more “Fugitive Mafia Boss Arrested in Italy”

Ukrainian officials said Monday the death toll from a Russian missile strike on an apartment building in Dnipro had risen to 35, with rescue crews still searching the rubble for any survivors.  Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said on social media that the attack had injured 75 people and that the fate of 35 others …

Read more “At least 35 Dead After Russian Missile Hits Ukraine Apartment Building”

The U.S. military’s new, expanded combat training of Ukrainian forces began in Germany on Sunday, with a goal of getting a battalion of about 500 troops back on the battlefield to fight the Russians in the next five to eight weeks, said Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Milley, who plans …

Read more “Expanded US Training for Ukraine Forces Begins in Germany”

A village in western Germany that is due to be demolished to make way for a coal mine expansion has been cleared of activists, apart from a pair who remained holed up in a tunnel, police said Sunday. The operation to evict climate activists who flocked to the site in the hamlet of Luetzerath kicked …

Read more “Clearance of Protesters Opposing German Coal Mine Expansion Nearly Complete”

While there’s no knowing when the war in Ukraine will be over, one volunteer organization in western Ukraine – called Lviv Knights – has been working since 2014 trying to help restore old historical buildings while at the same time helping Ukrainian soldiers by collecting whatever equipment they can. Omelyan Oshchudlyak has the story from Lviv, in …

Read more “Preservationists in Ukraine’s Lviv Work to Save Historic Buildings Amid War”

More than 2700 world leaders will seek solutions for multiple global crises when they convene at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in the posh Swiss Alpine village of Davos this week. This auspicious gathering includes 52 heads of state, leaders in business, finance, and culture as well as humanitarians and members of civil society …

Read more “Global Leaders Will Tackle Multiple Crises at World Economic Forum   “

Greece says it will press ahead with plans to seal off its land frontiers with neighbor Turkey, tripling the size of a soaring fence already erected in the region. The effort comes as Greece faced a surge in refugee flows in 2022, and as threats of war sound from Turkey, which have aggravated already troubled …

Read more “Greece Presses Ahead With Plans to Fence Its Land Borders With Turkey “

Tens of thousands of people marched through central Madrid on Sunday to demand an end to the cutbacks and privatization affecting the region’s crisis-hit public health care services. Banging drums and chanting slogans, the protesters packed the main boulevard running past the city’s El Prado museum as part of a so-called Marea Blanca, or ‘white …

Read more “30,000 Marchers Demand End to Health Care Cuts in Madrid”

At least 20 people were killed and 73 wounded Saturday, including children, in the southeastern Ukraine city of Dnipro where a Russian missile strike destroyed a section of a nine-story apartment building, regional Governor Valentyn Reznichenko said. Infrastructure was also damaged in the Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Odesa regions, as well as in Kharkiv and Kyiv …

Read more “20 Dead, 73 Wounded in Dnipro After Missile Strike “

After COVID-19 restrictions had wiped out Vienna’s glamorous winter ball season for two years in a row, 50-year-old Wahyuni couldn’t wait any longer to get dolled up and put on her dazzling floral-patterned ballgown to once again waltz the night away. “We love to come here, because the very nice decorations are made out of …

Read more “Let’s Waltz! Vienna Ball Season Back in Full Swing”