Month: May 2019

Britain’s former defense secretary ferociously denied allegations that he leaked details from private government discussions about the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, as opposition leaders called Thursday for a criminal investigation into the scandal. Gavin Williamson was fired from the government’s top defense job late Wednesday by Prime Minister Theresa May, who said she had seen “compelling evidence” that he was behind media reports that the government had agreed — against the advice of the United States — to let Huawei participate in some aspects of Britain’s new 5G wireless communications network. It was the first time in decades that a …

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Officials from 132 nations have been gathering in Paris to look at the state of biodiversity around the world. The meeting is the 7th session of the Intergovernmental Science and Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, which will culminate with the presentation of a huge report when the meeting concludes on May 4. The task is enormous. The challenges even more. About 150 scientists have worked to establish a detailed assessment of the current state of global biodiversity. The 1,800-page report, the first inventory in 15 years, is expected to become a scientific reference in biodiversity A quarter of …

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told a London court on Thursday that he would not agree to be extradited to the United States, where he is accused of conspiring to hack into a Pentagon computer. Assange, appearing by video link from a London prison, said he would not “surrender myself for extradition for doing journalism that has won many awards and protected many people.”   Wearing jeans and a sports jacket, Assange appeared calm during the brief hearing at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court.   Judge Michael Snow said it would likely be “many months” before a full hearing was held on …

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Britain’s prime minister fired her defense minister Wednesday after finding ‘compelling evidence’ that he leaked information to journalists about a secret decision to allow China’s tech giant Huawei to participate in some parts of the country’s 5G network. State Department correspondent Nike Ching reports his dismissal comes as the U.S. is renewing warnings on Huawei. …

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The U.K. should effectively eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 by rapidly adopting policies that will change everything from the way people heat their homes to what they eat, an independent committee that advises the British government on climate change recommended Thursday. A report from the Committee on Climate Change said the government must adopt ambitious goals if it wants to be a leader in the fight against global warming and limit the impact of climate change. While Britain has laid the groundwork to achieve net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, existing plans “must be urgently strengthened” because “current policy is …

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The unrest in Venezuela is turning into a battleground of rhetoric between the United States and Russia. After a telephone conversation between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday, the Russian warned of “the most drastic of consequences” if the U.S. continued what he called “aggressive steps.” The State Department was more muted, saying only that Russian and Cuban intervention was “destabilizing for Venezuela.” But White House national security adviser John Bolton said, “This is our hemisphere. It’s not where the Russians ought to be interfering. This is a mistake on their part. It’s not …

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The United States is installing new military leadership in Europe at a moment of heightened worries about Russian aggression, doubts about the future of arms control and rising tensions among NATO allies. These pressures are reflected in stepped-up U.S. military maneuvers in Europe, including the unusual simultaneous deployment last week of two U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups in the Mediterranean Sea. At the same time, the Russians are rattling nerves with talk of fielding new “doomsday” weapons such as a nuclear-armed undersea drone and making moves seen by some as risking escalation of the war in eastern Ukraine. In ceremonies …

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British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson has been fired after an investigation into leaks from a secret government meeting about Chinese telecoms firm Huawei. Prime Minister Theresa May’s office says May has “lost confidence” in Williamson. Downing St. says “the prime minister’s decision has been informed by his conduct surrounding an investigation into the circumstances of the unauthorized disclosure of information from a meeting of the National Security Council.”   An investigation was launched last week after newspapers reported that the security council, which meets in private, had agreed to let Huawei participate in some aspects of Britain’s new 5G wireless …

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Political parties across Europe are kicking off their campaigns for possibly the most consequential EU election since 1979, when voters began casting ballots for a European parliament.  Turnout is normally low in all 28 member states, averaging around 43%, but the continent’s new kind of populist and nationalist parties hope this year will be different. Voting is set to take place between May 23 and May 26.  Their leaders suspect high turnouts will be to their benefit as they seek to halt European integration and turn the clock back to a time, in their mind, when nation states didn’t pool …

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Nations that aren’t dominating headlines like the United States, Russia and China may require their diplomats to think outside the box to advance their interests in Washington — arguably the center of global politics — and around the world. For a country that has only 10 million people “and practically no big problems,” it can be a challenge to get Washington’s attention when “you’re not the priority on the table,” said Hynek Kmoníček, ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States. Along with defending his government’s policies and negotiating with diplomatic counterparts, making sure the country he represents is …

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Georgian President Salome Zourabishvili sat down with VOA’s Ia Meurmishvili for a wide-ranging interview about the caucasus nation’s prospects for EU and NATO membership, Russia’s military occupation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Georgia’s efforts to find its place in the ‘new European renaissance.’ Zourabishvili, 67, became Georgia’s first woman president in December 2018. …

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