Author: Worldman

Human rights advocates and European lawmakers are calling on Russia to drop criminal charges against Mykola Semena, an RFE/RL contributor who is accused of separatism in a case supporters say is aimed at silencing criticism of Moscow’s seizure of Crimea from Ukraine. …

The Russian-imposed authorities in Crimea said that security forces were conducting an operation targeting alleged members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamic group that is banned in Russia. …

Your daily roundup. …

A survivor of a Philippine police raid that killed four other drug suspects asked the Supreme Court Thursday to stop such operations and help him obtain police records to prove his innocence in a test case against the president’s bloody crackdown.   Lawyer Romel Bagares said his client Efren Morillo and other petitioners also asked …

Read more “Survivor Challenges Duterte’s Drug Crackdown in Court”

Spain’s unemployment rate edged down to a seven-year low of 18.6 percent at the end of 2016, the National Statistics Institute said Thursday.   The number of people out of work fell by 83,000 in the October-December period, to 4.2 million. Over the year, the unemployment rate dropped by 2.3 percentage points, the institute said.  …

Read more “Spain’s Jobless Rate Falls to 7-Year Low of 18.6 Percent”

The largest Russian cybersecurity company has confirmed that one of its top managers was arrested in December. The company confirmed a report published Wednesday by the newspaper Kommersant that the head of its computer incidents investigations unit, Ruslan Stoyanov, was arrested last month along with a senior official of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia’s …

Read more “Manager at Top Russian Cybersecurity Firm Arrested”

U.S. President Donald Trump is moving to review how America interrogates suspected terrorists and possibly reopen secret “black site” prisons outside the United States run by the Central Intelligence Agency that former President Barack Obama shut down. A draft Trump executive order on interrogation methods and the CIA was circulating Wednesday among high-level officials in …

Read more “Trump Reviewing US Terrorist Interrogation Rules”

The real winner of France’s left-wing presidential primary may be a man who demonstrably shunned it: Emmanuel Macron. The 39-year-old former investment banker and ex-economy minister with pro-free market, pro-European views has chosen not to take part in the Socialist primary. Instead, in recent days he has been drawing attention away from the campaign by …

Read more “France Presidential Hopeful Macron Gains Support”

Kazakhstan’s long-ruling President Nursultan Nazarbaev says he will delegate some of his sweeping powers to parliament and to government ministers as he transforms his own leadership into a role he described as “Supreme Arbiter.” …

Iraqi troops are preparing for the battle to liberate west Mosul from Islamic State militants after retaking the eastern part of the country’s second largest city. The Iraqi government said its forces now control all districts of Mosul east of the Tigris River after mopping up the last pockets of IS fighters. (RFE/RL’s Radio Farda) …

Read more “Iraqi Troops Liberate East Mosul, Prepare For Next Phase”

Russia’s consumer protection agency prolonged a ban on sales of alcoholic liquids not intended for internal consumption by another 60 days after dozens of people died from drinking lethal bath lotion. …

European Union countries were urged Tuesday to halve food waste by 2030, but lawmakers stopped short of making the target binding — to the disappointment of environmental activists. The European Parliament’s environment committee in Brussels voted in favor of new regulations calling on EU nations to aim to reduce food produced and never eaten to …

Read more “‘Halve Food Waste by 2030,’ EU Lawmakers Urge Member States”

Brazil’s top labor prosecutor said President Michel Temer’s proposals to modernize the country’s labor laws were illegal in a report published on Tuesday that provided ammunition to workers’ unions fighting the reforms. Updating outdated labor laws to allow outsourcing and more flexibility in contracts and work hours is part of Temer’s plan to reduce business …

Read more “Brazil Prosecutor: Temer Labor Reforms Illegal”

A Polish court ruled Tuesday in favor of the government in its standoff with a major new World War II museum fighting for its survival. The conflict revolves around the Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk, which has been under development since 2008 and was scheduled to open within weeks. The Supreme Administrative …

Read more “Court Allows Polish Government Takeover of WWII Museum”

France has given refugee status to 60 migrants who were among the thousands forced last October to leave the makeshift camp in Calais known as the “jungle.” …

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has rejected an appeal by Serbia’s soccer federation against Kosovo joining the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). …