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Protesters once again took to the streets of Belarus Sunday, the latest in nearly a month of demonstrations following disupted elections that left longtime president Alexander Lukashenko in power. Tens of thousands took to the streets of Minsk Sunday in numbers comparable to previous weekends, waving red and white opposition flags and chanting slogans. Human rights groups have said at least 70 protesters …
President Milos Zeman sought on Sunday to defuse a row with China over a visit by the head of the Czech Senate to Taiwan, calling the speaker’s trip a “boyish provocation”. Senate speaker Milos Vystrcil grabbed headlines last week when he told Taiwan’s parliament “I am a Taiwanese” in a speech that echoed …
Read more “Czech President Tries to Tamp Down China Anger After Speaker’s Taiwan Trip “
Bruges mayor Dirk De fauw first realized something was desperately wrong with European tourism when on a brisk March morning he crossed the Burg square in front of the Gothic city hall and there was nothing but silence.“There are always people. Always,” De fauw said. That morning?“Nothing. Nobody is on that large square” at the …
Read more “Pandemic Turns Summer into European Tourism’s Leanest Season”
In the pubs of Dunmore in the west of Ireland, the Guinness glasses gather dust and the kegs are stacked dormant. Among the locals, a sober mood has taken hold.The lengthy coronavirus shutdown of pubs in Ireland has hit the 3,000 or so people in the village and surrounding area particularly hard.Five out of its …
Read more “Record Pub Lockdown Leaves Rural Ireland High and Dry”
Facebook on Saturday blocked live broadcasts from a bedridden, chronically ill man who appealed to French President Emmanuel Macron for a medically assisted death and who wanted to show what he expects will be a painful end to his life after he announced that he was stopping all food and drink.Prostrate on his bed, Alain …
Read more “Facebook Blocks Ailing Man’s Planned End-of-Life Broadcasts”
Weekly rallies against the Kremlin in Russia’s Far East showed no sign of ending after nearly two months, with around 10,000 people taking to the streets on Saturday in one of the longest-lasting movements of provincial discontent of the Putin era.Though mainly focused on a provincial political crisis in the Khabarovsk region more than 6,000 …
Read more “No Sign of End to Far East Anti-Kremlin Rallies After Nearly Two Months”
Belarusian opposition activist Olga Kovalkova arrived in the Polish capital, Warsaw, on Saturday, saying she had been forced by authorities in her homeland to leave the country.Kovalkova, a senior figure in the Belarusian opposition Coordination Council, was sentenced to 10 days in jail on August 25.She said on Saturday that authorities had told her she …
Read more “Belarusian Opposition Activist Kovalkova Leaves Country After Arrest”
Six Belarusian journalists detained earlier this week while covering an anti-government protest in Minsk were sentenced to three days in jail, as authorities continued their crackdown on dissent and media freedom following a disputed election that gave President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth-straight term. The verdicts came just ahead of a scheduled address by Sviatlana …
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday warned Greece to enter talks over disputed eastern Mediterranean territorial claims or face the consequences. “They’re either going to understand the language of politics and diplomacy, or in the field with painful experiences,” he said at a hospital’s opening ceremony in Istanbul. Ankara is currently facing …
Read more “Erdogan Raises Rhetoric in Greece Standoff in Mediterranean”
Masked security agents dragged students off the streets and bundled them into vans as new protests broke out against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Saturday on the fourth weekend since his disputed re-election. Up to 30 people were detained for taking part in unsanctioned protests, Russian news agency TASS quoted the Minsk police as …
Read more “Masked Men Drag Protesting Belarusian Students Off the Streets”
Serbia and Kosovo signed a U.S.-brokered agreement in Washington Friday to normalize economic relations. Reached after two days of talks, the document also included plans for Israel and Kosovo to establish diplomatic relations and for Belgrade to move its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem. President Donald Trump who also signed the document at the …
Read more “US-Brokered Serbia-Kosovo Deal a ‘Step Forward’ But Challenges Remain”
A bitter dispute between China and the Czech Republic threatens to affect relations between Europe and Beijing. A delegation from the Czech senate visited Taiwan this week – which China claims as part of its territory. Strongly worded threats from Beijing against the delegation have prompted criticism from EU leaders. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the …
Read more “European Attitudes Harden as Czech Visit to Taiwan Triggers Chinese Fury”
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya appealed to the United Nations on Friday to stop human rights abuses in her country, a month after the results of a disputed presidential election have led to the arrests of thousands of peaceful protesters.“The demands of the nation are simple,” Tsikhanouskaya told an informal meeting of the U.N. Security …
Read more “Belarus Opposition Leader Appeals to UN to Stop Human Rights Abuses in Her Country”
China is warning of retaliation in response to a visit to Taiwan by a Czech Senate delegation, saying Senate President Milos Vystrcil crossed a “red-line” and violated the one-China principle under which Beijing asserts sovereignty over the island.As part of the business trip, which ended Friday, Vystrcil delivered a speech in Taiwan’s parliament and met …
Read more “China, Czech Republic at Odds After Czech Officials Visit Taiwan”
Serbia and Kosovo have agreed to normalize economic relations, following U.S.-brokered talks that include Serbia moving its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem and Kosovo formally recognizing Israel. U.S. President Donald Trump made the announcement Friday, after meeting with Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in the Oval Office earlier in the …
Read more “Serbia and Kosovo Agree to Normalize Economic Ties, Trump Announces”
U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in the Oval Office on Friday, the White House said in a statement.Trump will attend a signing ceremony and participate in a trilateral meeting afterward, the statement, issued late Thursday, said, but it did not specify what would …
U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in the Oval Office on Friday, the White House said in a statement.Trump will attend a signing ceremony and participate in a trilateral meeting afterward, the statement, issued late Thursday, said, but it did not specify what would …
Read more “White House: Trump Meets Leaders of Kosovo, Serbia on Friday”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is warning that Russia is trying to undermine Americans’ confidence in the security and validity of mail-in voting.In a bulletin labeled “For official use only” circulated Thursday, the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis said Russia was “likely to continue amplifying criticism of vote by mail and shifting …
Read more “Russia Is Trying to Undermine Confidence in Mail-in Voting, Homeland Security Warns”
The Turkish police said they have arrested Mahmut Ozden, a major Islamic State (IS) figure in Turkey suspected of planning an attack on the newly converted Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul.“Daesh’s so-called emir of Turkey had been caught and remanded in custody with important plans,” Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said in announcing the arrest …
Read more “Turkey: Top IS Militant Suspected of Planning Attack on Hagia Sophia Arrested”
As France revisits its deadly 2015 wave of jihadist strikes with a major terrorism trial that opened this week, the threat of future attacks remains a clear and present danger here and across the European Union, experts say, even as the region focuses on a very different crisis in COVID-19.On the eve of Wednesday’s opening …
Novichok, a deadly nerve agent that has left Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny in a coma and nearly killed a former Russian spy and his daughter in 2018, was the product of a highly secretive Soviet chemical weapons program. Here is a look at the agent and the history of its development. How lethal is Novichok? Novichok, …
Read more “AP Explains: Novichok That Sickened Navalny a Cold War Relic”
Two stars at the Venice Film Festival, Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton, have praised the decision by the Berlin festival to award gender-neutral prizes, with Swinton predicting other award ceremonies will follow suit. Organizers of the Berlin International Film Festival announced last month that they would stop awarding separate acting prizes to men and women …
Read more “Top Stars at Venice Film Fest Praise Gender-Neutral Prizes”
A Slovak court is expected to rule Thursday on whether an influential businessman ordered the murder of an investigative journalist, in a case that prompted mass street protests and led to the reshaping of the country’s political landscape.The killing of Jan Kuciak, 27, and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova forced then prime minister and longtime leader …
Read more “Verdict Expected in Case of Journalist Murder That Rocked Slovakia”
French President Emmanuel Macron voiced support on Wednesday for a sovereign Iraq and said its main challenges are Islamic State militants and foreign interference in its affairs.France also backs Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s efforts to “normalize” all armed forces, Macron said during a visit to Baghdad, referring to mostly Iran-backed Shi’ite militia groups.”We will remain …
Read more “France’s Macron Stresses Support for Iraqi Sovereignty in Baghdad Visit”