Month: February 2019

Britain is assisting a British national arrested in the United Arab Emirates, the Foreign Office said Tuesday following reports that a man was being detained for having worn a Qatar football shirt there. The UAE, along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt, cut all ties with Qatar in June 2017 over allegations that the tiny, energy-rich state supports Islamic extremists. The Foreign Office warns in its advice for visitors to the UAE of subsequent new laws. “Showing sympathy for Qatar on social media or by any other means of communication is an offense,” it says. “Offenders could be imprisoned and …

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Pope Francis, whose papacy has been marked by efforts to quell a global crisis over sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy, said on Tuesday he was committed to stopping the abuse of nuns by priests and bishops, some of whom had used the women as sex slaves. Francis made his comments on the plane returning from Abu Dhabi in response to a reporter’s question about an article last week in a Vatican monthly magazine about the abuse of nuns in the Catholic Church. Recently more nuns, encouraged by the #MeToo movement, have been coming forward to describe abuse at …

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Russia will develop land-based intermediate range missiles within two years, the nation’s defense minister said Tuesday, a statement that comes in response to the U.S. decision to abandon a key nuclear arms pact. The U.S. has formally notified Russia over the weekend of its decision to suspend its obligations under the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty over alleged Russian violations. Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by saying Moscow would also abandon the pact. Russia has rejected the U.S. claim that it has built and deployed a cruise missile that violated the treaty’s ban on land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with …

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Pope Francis says the Vatican would help resume negotiations to end the crisis in Venezuela if certain conditions are met. Francis says the Vatican would help mediate talks if both sides submitted requests and if preliminary steps to end the crisis are taken first. The pope acknowledged receiving a letter from President Nicolas Maduro, who said he sent the letter seeking “help in the process of facilitating and reinforcing dialogue.” Francis, who spoke to reporters aboard his plane following his visit to Abu-Dhabi, said he had not yet read the letter, but would do so “and see what can be …

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday offered a way to break the deadlock over the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, calling for a “creative” compromise to allay concerns over the future of Irish border arrangements. The United Kingdom is due under British and European law to leave the EU in just 53 days yet Prime Minister Theresa May wants last-minute changes to a divorce deal agreed with the EU last November to win over lawmakers in the British parliament. May is seeking legally binding changes to the deal to replace the Northern Irish backstop, an insurance policy that …

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Long before she became just one of the financially destitute legions of street sweepers that dot Moscow’s bitterly cold winter landscape, Shaknoza Ishankulova had simply wanted to do the right thing. It was 2008, and the recent Uzbekistan National University graduate was ecstatic to secure a teaching post at a Tashkent high school, finally making good use of her diploma in secondary education. Twenty-two years old and eager to guide younger Uzbeks toward a better life, she was shaken when Uzbekistan’s notoriously vast culture of entrenched corruption revealed itself in the form of a personal mentor and supervisor — a …

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Catalan pro-independence parties said Monday they would file parliamentary amendments opposing the Spanish government’s 2019 budget proposal, potentially putting at risk the budget and the administration of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists. Sanchez’s minority Socialist government came to power last June and holds just a quarter of the seats in parliament, meaning it relies on the backing of anti-austerity Podemos, Catalan nationalists and other small parties to pass laws. The two Catalan parties, ERC and PDeCAT, said they would file full parliamentary amendments against the budget proposal, which faces its first vote next week, unless Sanchez is open to some …

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The European Union said on Monday it was gravely concerned by Iran’s ballistic missile launches and tests and called on Tehran to stop activity that deepened mistrust and destabilized the region. Iran has expanded its missile program, particularly its ballistic missiles, in defiance of opposition from the United States and expressions of concern by European countries. Tehran says the program is purely defensive. “The Council is … gravely concerned by Iran’s ballistic missile activity and calls upon Iran to refrain from these activities,” the EU said in a rare joint statement on Iran. “Iran continues to undertake efforts to increase …

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Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev says the entire Balkans will have prosperity and lasting peace when Macedonia joins NATO. Zaev spoke in Sofia, Bulgaria Monday — two days before Macedonia signs the accession protocol at NATO headquarters in Brussels. “Macedonia has been waiting for 27 years to become a member of NATO.  Zaev said. “Today, Macedonia has the hope of having open doors.” Greece had blocked Macedonia’s efforts to join NATO and the EU because of a long-running dispute over the use of the name Macedonia — shared both by a historic region of northern Greece and the former Yugoslav …

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