Month: September 2018

Kosovo has barred Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic from visiting a Serb-populated enclave after dozens of protesters blocked the road to the village he had planned to travel to. Kosovar Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said on Facebook on September 9 that the revocation of Vucic’s permission to visit the village of Banje was made in the interests of the safety of citizens. President Hashim Thaci said on Facebook that he supported the decision but called protests and roadblocks unhelpful as Kosovo and Serbia make efforts for “peace and reconciliation” after the 1998-99 war between the two sides. Thaci added that the …

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Turkey’s arrests of an American pastor and other Western citizens have thrust its troubled judicial system to the forefront of ties with allies, reinforcing suspicions that the Turkish government is using detainees as diplomatic leverage.   Turkey scoffs at the idea that it treats detained foreigners as foreign policy pawns, and points the finger at the U.S. for cases against Turks in American courts. Turkey’s top appeals court judge weighed in this week, saying only “independent” courts can free pastor Andrew Brunson. The reality is more complex in a nation where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has tightened his grip on …

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Former British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has compared Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan for Brexit to putting the country’s constitution in a “suicide vest” and handing the detonator to the European Union. The attack, and Johnson’s choice of language, widened the divide in the governing Conservative Party over Brexit. Johnson, a strong supporter of Brexit, quit May’s government in July after rejecting her proposal for close economic ties with the bloc after the U.K. leaves next year. His article in the Mail on Sunday ramped up speculation that he plans to challenge her leadership. But some Conservative colleagues condemned his …

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Supporters of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny are staging protests across Russia Sunday over plans to increase the nation’s pension age, as Russians go to the polls for regional elections. Navalny was scheduled to appear at the demonstration in Moscow Sunday, but last month he was convicted of breaking protests laws and was jailed for for 30 days. His detention, Navalny says, was designed to wreck his plans for the nationwide rallies against raising the age when workers can start receiving their pensions. Navalny’s supporters, however, went forward with the plans for the protests.  The demonstrations have not been sanctioned …

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Voters in Sweden went to the polls Sunday for a parliamentary election that could change the Scandinavian country’s reputation for being a liberal stronghold. The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, who want the country to leave the European Union and put a freeze on immigration, are hoping to become the country’s largest party. Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson told voters Saturday there needs to be “tight, responsible” immigration policies to help create “breathing space” in Sweden. At a rally Saturday, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven warned, “The haters are mobilizing in Sweden and are egging on people against people. … We will resist. …

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Combined support for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative alliance and its partners, the left-leaning Social Democrats (SPD), has hit a record low for any such “grand coalition” government, according to a survey published Sunday. Germany’s two biggest and most established parties have had a difficult summer, blighted by infighting over immigration that is flaring up again after violent right-wing protests in the eastern city of Chemnitz followed the fatal stabbing of a German man, for which two migrants were arrested. The survey by pollster Emnid for the weekly newspaper Bild am Sonntag had support for Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union (CSU), …

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Swedes vote on Sunday in a tight election dominated by fears about asylum and welfare, with the populist, anti-immigration Sweden Democrats vying to become the biggest party in a country long seen as a bastion of economic stability and liberal values. Far-right parties have made spectacular gains throughout Europe in recent years following a refugee crisis sparked by civil war in Syria and conflicts in Afghanistan and parts of Africa. In Sweden, the influx of 163,000 asylum seekers in 2015 has polarized voters, fractured the cozy political consensus and could give the Sweden Democrats, a party with roots in the neo-Nazi fringe, a veto over which parties form the next government. …

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British anti-terrorism officers were helping to investigate a knife attack in a northern English town Saturday in which one man was injured, although police said they were keeping an open mind. A 28-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, they said, after what officers earlier called a “serious incident” in Barnsley that resulted in the man suffering minor injuries. A kitchen knife had been recovered and was being forensically examined, South Yorkshire police said. “At this stage we are keeping an open mind as to the motivation … we are receiving support from detectives at Counter Terrorism Policing North East,” the police said in a statement. “The woman …

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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Saturday unveiled plans for tax cuts and pledged spending to heal years of painful austerity, less than a month after Greece emerged from a bailout program financed by its European Union partners and the International Monetary Fund. Tsipras, who faces elections in about a year, used a keynote policy speech in the northern city of Thessaloniki to announce a spending spree that he said would help fix the ills of years of belt-tightening and help boost growth. But he said Athens was also committed to sticking to the fiscal targets pledged to lenders. “We will not allow Greece to revert to the era …

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Three days of U.N.-mediated consultations aimed at restarting peace negotiations to end Yemen’s civil war have achieved no results because one of the main parties to the talks has failed to show up. U.N. Special envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths is putting a brave face on the failure of the talks by saying that fruitful discussions have begun.  This, even though those discussions only took place between him and the Yemeni government delegation. He expressed disappointment that the rebel Houthi delegation, known officially as Ansarullah, did not show up, but noted it was not unusual for negotiations involving conflict to …

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