Ukrainians Honor Dead Fighter at Outdoor Funeral in Capital

Ukrainian soldiers, family and mourners gathered in frigid weather in Kyiv Sunday to pay tribute to a soldier killed fighting against Russian forces in Bakhmut, the strategic city under siege on the eastern front. An open casket, outdoor service was held in Kyiv’s Independence Square for Maj. Oleh Yurchenko who was killed in Bakhmut Jan. …

Amid Unrest, Iran’s Hardliners Turn Their Anger to France

Iranian hardliners Sunday burned French flags outside the French embassy in Tehran, protesting cartoons published by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that lampoon Iran’s ruling clerics. The caricatures were published at a time of persistent anti-government protests in Iran, now in their fourth month. Demonstrators are calling for the downfall of its Islamic Republic …

Marches in Europe Support Iran Protests, Assail Government

Hundreds of people marched Sunday in France to honor an Iranian Kurdish man who took his own life in a desperate act of anguish over the nationwide protests in Iran. French police estimated the size of the crowd that gathered for Mohammad Moradi at about 1,000 people. They marched in the city of Lyon, where …

Climate Activists to Defend Village From Demolition by Coal Mine 

Climate activists pledged Sunday to defend a tiny village in western Germany from being bulldozed for the expansion of a nearby coal mine that has become a battleground between the government and environmental campaigners. Hundreds of people from across Germany gathered for protest training and a subsequent demonstration in the hamlet of Luetzerath, which lies …

Police in Armenia Detains Protesters Near Russian Military Base

Police in Armenia Sunday detained 65 protesters near a Russian military base demanding Moscow intervene to dismantle what they say is a crippling blockade by Azerbaijan of an ethnic Armenian enclave, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported. It said around 200 protesters, gathered outside the base in the northern town of Gyumri, were demanding that Russian …

NATO Declines Serbia’s Request to Deploy Its Troops in Kosovo

NATO’s mission in Kosovo, KFOR, has declined a Serbian government request to send up to 1,000 police and army personnel to Kosovo after clashes between Serbs and the Kosovo authorities, President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday. Serbia’s former province of Kosovo declared independence in 2008 following the 1998-1999 war during which NATO bombed rump-Yugoslavia, comprising …

UK: Russia Facing Dilemma on Where to Focus in Ukraine

Briain’s defense ministry said Sunday in an intelligence update about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that Russia seems undecided about where the greatest threat from Ukraine lies. In the update, posted on Twitter, the ministry said, “The way Russia has worked on improving defenses suggests commanders are highly likely pre-occupied with the potential for major Ukrainian …

Public Now Can See Benedict’s Tomb at St. Peter’s Basilica

The public can now visit the tomb of Pope Benedict XVI in the grottoes under St. Peter’s Basilica. The pontiff was buried Jan. 5 immediately following a funeral in St. Peter’s Square. Benedict’s tomb lies in the grottoes under the basilica’s main floor. The Vatican announced Saturday that the public could visit the tomb starting …

German Police Arrest 2 to Head Off Suspected Chemical Attack

German police say they have arrested an Iranian man and one other person on suspicion that the two were about to conduct a deadly chemical attack, using cyanide and ricin. The alleged attack, officials said Sunday, was believed to be motivated by Islamic extremism. Police detained the two in the town of Castrop-Rauxel, which is …

Snow is a No-Show as Europe Feels the Winter Heat

Mild weather has left many regions of Europe that would normally be blanketed in snow at this time of year bare, and winter sports resorts are fearing for the future. Many are using snow machines to make artificial pistes or ‘snow runs’ leaving thin white lines snaking through otherwise green and brown landscapes. In the …

Christmas in a Bomb Shelter for Orthodox Ukrainians

As artillery boomed outside and fighter jets flew overhead, Orthodox Christians in a battered eastern Ukrainian town held a Christmas service in a basement shelter Saturday, vowing not to let war ruin the holiday. Nearly all the congregants and all but one choir singer had already fled Chasiv Yar for safer territory, leaving just nine …

Charlie Hebdo Attack Victims Honored as Iran Rages Over New Cartoons

French politicians paid tribute Saturday to Charlie Hebdo magazine staff and other victims of the January 2015 Islamist attacks, days after the satirical weekly’s latest edition sparked outrage in Iran. French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted the names of all 17 victims of a spate of attacks eight years ago in and around Paris, including the …

Ukrainian Startups Bring Tech Innovation to CES 2023

The past year has been difficult for startups everywhere, but running a company in Ukraine during the Russian invasion comes with a whole different set of challenges. Clinical psychologist Ivan Osadchyy brought his medical device, called Knopka, to this year’s consumer technology show known as CES in Las Vegas in hopes of getting it into …

Kurds from Around Europe Demonstrate Over Killings in Paris

Thousands of Kurds from around France and Europe marched through Paris Saturday to show their anger over the unresolved murders of three Kurdish female activists in the French capital 10 years ago. The marchers are also mourning three people killed outside a Kurdish cultural center in Paris two weeks ago in what prosecutors called a …

German State Lawmaker Demands Expulsion of Iranian Ambassadors

In response to the hanging of two Iranian protesters, a German lawmaker of Iranian descent has demanded that Germany expel the ambassadors of the Islamic Republic. Earlier Saturday, Iran executed Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini by hanging. They had been convicted of killing a member of the Basij, a volunteer paramilitary in Iran. …

Bakhmut in Russia’s Crosshairs on Orthodox Christmas Day

Shelling rocked the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Saturday, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s declaration of a 36-hour cease-fire to observe eastern Orthodox Christmas. Artillery fire could be heard on both sides of the front line in Bakhmut, where Russian forces have concentrated much of their firepower trying to push west toward Kramatorsk. What …

UN Calls On Belarus to Drop Charges Against Nobel Peace Laureate

The U.N. human rights office has called on the government of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to drop criminal charges against Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Ales Bialiatski and to immediately free him from detention.  Belarusian Laureate Ales Bialiatski went on trial Thursday in the capital, Minsk, on charges that human rights activists widely view as bogus.  …

US Delegation Heads to Balkans Following Rising Tensions

A senior State Department official is leading a U.S. delegation to three Western Balkan nations in the coming days following weeks of ethnic tensions in the region. Counselor of the United States Department of State Derek Chollet and the U.S. delegation will be traveling to Serbia, Kosovo and North Macedonia. The border between Kosovo and …

Taliban Denounce Prince Harry for Admitting to Afghan ‘War Crimes’

The Islamist Taliban joined British critics Friday to denounce Prince Harry for admitting to being responsible for the killing of 25 people in Afghanistan while serving as a military helicopter pilot there. The British prince made the disclosures in his upcoming memoir, Spare, claiming the army had trained him to view members of the then-insurgent …

UN Human Rights Chief Warns of ‘Backsliding’ on Women’s Rights

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Tuerk has warned about what he sees as the “systematic countering of women’s rights and gender equality” around the world. In an exclusive interview Wednesday with Agence France-Presse, the French news agency, Tuerk said he was very concerned about the “backsliding and the pushbacks” he has seen …

Families in Lviv Mourn Their Dead as War Drags On  

In early December, Ukrainian officials said they estimated 10,000 to 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. We visited Lviv to meet with some of the families that have lost loved ones in the war. Omelyan Oshchudlyak has the story. Camera: Yuriy Dankevych …

Germany to Send Ukraine 40 Armored Vehicles by Spring

Germany will supply Ukraine with around 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles within weeks as part of a new phase of support coordinated with the US, a government spokesman said on Friday. U.S. President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on Thursday that both their countries will send powerfully armed infantry fighting vehicles to …

UK: Luhansk and Donetsk Formally Integrated into Russian Armed Forces

“Militias from the Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) and Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) were formally integrated into the Russian armed forces on 31 December 2022,” Britain’s Defense Ministry said Friday in its update on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, posted on Twitter. Luhansk and Donetsk are both internationally recognized as being part of Ukraine. However, Russia …

Prince Harry’s Memoir Sheds Light on Bust-ups Among British Royals

Britain’s Prince Harry says his older brother and heir to the throne Prince William knocked him to the floor during a 2019 argument over Harry’s American wife, Meghan, in his much-awaited memoir, which went on sale days early in Spain on Thursday. In his book Spare, Harry also discloses how the brothers, the sons of …