Travels News
Britain has approved plans to turn away boats illegally carrying migrants to its shores, deepening a rift with France over how to deal with a surge of people risking their lives by trying to cross the Channel in small dinghies. Hundreds of small boats have attempted the journey from France to England this year, …
Read more “Britain Threatens to Send Migrant Boats Back to France “
The next nine months will determine the fate of 20 people on trial for the 2015 terror attacks in Paris. Of the ten-man team believed to have carried out the coordinated assault, just one is still alive. Salah Abdeslam was among the 14 suspects in court on Wednesday, the first day of the trial that …
Read more “2015 Paris Terror Attack Trial Expected to Last Nine Months”
Organized crime, a struggling economy, and repression continue to drive many Central Americans from their homelands with increasing numbers opting to head for Spain, rather than the United States. More than 120,000 Hondurans make up the largest group of Central Americans in Spain. Alfonso Beato in the northeastern Spanish city of Girona filed this report, narrated by Jonathan Spier.Camera: Alfonso Beato Produced by: Rod …
Read more “Costs, Opportunity Prompt More Honduran Migrants to Choose Spain Over US”
Europe’s drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency, said Thursday it is reviewing four additional COVID-19 vaccines and could issue new authorizations before the end of the year. During a news briefing from the agency’s headquarters in Amsterdam, EMA officials said they are awaiting additional data on Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine and China’s Sinovac …
Read more “Europe Medicines Agency Considering 4 Additional COVID Vaccines”
Fourteen people are dead and several more were injured after a fire ripped through a North Macedonia COVID-19 field hospital Wednesday night. The hospital was set up in the western city of Tetovo to deal with a surge in COVID-19 cases in the area. ”It is a tragedy that I can’t even explain,” …
Read more “14 Dead in North Macedonia After Fire Rips Through COVID Field Hospital”
Russia’s parliamentary elections in less than two weeks’ time are shaping up to be the least free since Vladimir Putin came to power 21 years ago, warn opposition leaders and independent election observers. Polling data suggests that just 26% of Russians are ready to vote for the ruling United Russia Party in parliamentary elections on September …
Read more “Russia Heading for ‘Least Free Elections’ in 20 Years, Say Opposition Leaders “
Turkey is voicing caution over Afghanistan’s interim government as it continues talks with the Taliban on restarting air traffic at the Kabul airport.Turkey was among the first countries calling for talks and engagement with the Taliban after it swept to power last month. But the Taliban’s announcement of an interim government this week saw Turkish …
Read more “Turkey’s Erdogan Voices Caution Over New Afghan Government”
Twenty people linked to the November 2015 terrorist attacks in France went on trial in Paris Wednesday in proceedings expected to last nine months.Six defendants are being charged in absentia. Reports say five of the six are presumed dead in Iraq or Syria. Nine Islamic State terrorists, mostly from France and Belgium, left a trail of …
Russian Emergencies Minister Yevgeny Zinichev died during a training exercise in the Arctic on Wednesday, RIA news agency cited the ministry as saying.The 55-year-old Zinichev, who had headed the high-profile emergencies ministry since 2018, died while saving someone’s life, RIA said, without providing further details.“…Zinichev died tragically while performing his official duties during inter-departmental drills …
Read more “RIA: Russia’s Emergencies Minister Dies During Arctic Training Exercise”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas are hosting talks Wednesday with a group of partners and allies to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, including efforts to continue the flow of humanitarian aid to the country after the Taliban’s takeover. A U.S. State Department official said ahead of the ministerial meeting that one theme of …
Four years ago, newly-elected French President Emmanuel Macron called for Europe to build “the capacity to act autonomously” in security matters so that the continent would be less dependent on the United States and could decide to act without U.S. backing. Most European leaders derided Macron’s idea as far-fetched. “Illusions of European strategic autonomy must come …
Read more “European Leaders Mull Strategic Autonomy but Doubts Persist”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson set out plans Tuesday to raise taxes on workers, employers and some investors to try to fix a health and social care funding crisis, angering some in his governing party by breaking an election promise.After spending huge amounts of money to fight the coronavirus pandemic, Johnson is returning to an …
Read more “British PM Johnson Raises Taxes to Tackle Health, Social Care Crisis”
Twenty people linked to the November 2015 terrorist attacks in France are going on trial in Paris Wednesday in proceedings expected to last nine months. Six defendants are being charged in absentia. Reports say five of the six are presumed dead in Iraq or Syria. Nine Islamic State terrorists, mostly from France and Belgium, left …
New research shows that coronavirus vaccines not only offer protection against infection and serious illness – but may also help prevent so-called ‘long COVID’, where symptoms can last for weeks or months. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.Camera: Henry Ridgwell …
Coronavirus vaccines offer protection not only against infection and serious illness but may also help prevent so-called “Long COVID,” where symptoms can last for several weeks or months, according to new research from scientists at Kings College London. There are no official figures, but it’s thought millions of people worldwide who contracted the coronavirus have …
Read more “Vaccines Offer Protection Against ‘Long COVID,’ Scientists Say “
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans Tuesday to fulfill a election promise to grapple with the rocketing cost of the long-term care needed by Britain’s growing older population. To do it, he appears set to break another election vow: not to raise taxes. Johnson is scheduled to tell Parliament how his Conservative government will raise billions to fund the …
Read more “UK Gov’t Eyes Tax Hike to Pay for Care for Older People”
Four alleged members of an Irish crime gang and five other defendants went on trial Monday in France accused of trafficking rhino horn and ivory to markets in east Asia. French prosecutors started a probe in 2015 after police discovered several elephant tusks and 32,800 euros ($38,900) in cash in a BMW during a random roadway …
Read more “Irish Gang on Trial in France, Accused of Rhino Horn Smuggling”
Swedish police said Monday they had arrested two women linked to Islamic State after they flew back from Syria, as media reported that one was being investigated for war crimes. Stockholm police spokesman Ola Osterling said the prosecutor leading the investigation into the two women had ordered their arrest. “We executed that decision when the plane arrived …
Britain said Monday it is postponing the start of post-Brexit border checks on goods going to Northern Ireland, as it seeks breathing space in its tense standoff with the European Union over trade rules. Brexit Minister David Frost said the government would continue to trade “on the current basis,” maintaining grace periods that the U.K. gave …
Read more “UK Delays Post-Brexit Border Checks, Seeks New Talks with EU”
Russian authorities on Monday blocked a website of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny that instructed supporters how to vote out candidates from the ruling party in polls later this month. In a statement to AFP, state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said that access to the website votesmart.appspot.com had been blocked in Russia “because it is being used …
Read more “Russia Blocks Navalny Voting Site Ahead of Polls “
Dozens of relatives of the 298 victims of Malaysian Airlines flight 17, shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine in 2014, will begin giving testimony on Monday at the murder trial of four fugitive suspects accused of carrying out the attack.The aircraft was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was hit by what international …
Read more “Families of MH17 Airline Crash Victims to Speak in Court”
Four years ago, European leaders chided then U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to build a wall on America’s southern border with Mexico. “We have a history and a tradition that we celebrate when walls are brought down and bridges are built,” admonished Federica Mogherini, then the EU’s foreign policy chief. But Europe now …
Read more “Fortress Europe Takes Shape as EU Countries Fear Bigger Migration Flows”
A court in Belarus on Monday sentenced two leading opposition activists to lengthy prison terms, the latest move in the relentless crackdown Belarusian authorities have unleashed on dissent in the wake of last year’s anti-government protests. Maria Kolesnikova, a top member of the opposition Coordination Council, has been in custody since her arrest last September. …
Read more “Belarus Court Gives Opposition Activists Lengthy Sentences “
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is traveling to Qatar on a trip that will also take him to Germany for talks with important U.S. allies on the situation in Afghanistan. “Departing for Doha, Qatar and Ramstein, Germany where I’ll have the opportunity to thank our Qatari and German friends in-person for the outstanding support they’ve given to safely transit …
Read more “Blinken to Visit Qatar, Germany for Afghanistan Diplomacy”