Month: August 2019

High-ranking Polish politicians used a side door to get to the VIP section of Sowa & Przyjaciele, a posh Warsaw restaurant. Sealed off from other patrons, government ministers and lawmakers felt free to speak their minds while enjoying continental cuisine and wine at taxpayers’ expense. But the privacy was an illusion, the special dining room a trap. For about a year, waiters secretly recorded public officials at Sowa & Przyjaciele and another restaurant, Amber Room. When a newsmagazine published transcripts from some of the recordings, it spawned a scandal dubbed “Waitergate” that helped topple a pro-European Union government. Russian involvement Suspicions …

READ MORE

Tensions have soared along the volatile, highly militarized frontier between India and Pakistan in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, as India deployed more troops and ordered thousands of visitors out of the region.   Indian firing Sunday along the Line of Control that separates Kashmir between the rivals wounded a woman as the ongoing skirmishes spread fear in border villages, Pakistani police said. The frontier residents on the Pakistani side are either moving out to safer places or have begun construction of new bunkers, with some strengthening existing shelters near their homes.   Pakistan and India, who both claim …

READ MORE

The wife of Syria’s president says that a year after being diagnosed with breast cancer she is now “completely” free of the disease. Asma Assad, born in 1975, has gone public with her diagnosis – a rare declaration in the Arab world, where prominent figures often conceal their ailments. Assad appeared at a military hospital, at times with husband Bashar Assad by her side. She continued her public activities, appearing with covered hair. In a state TV interview aired late Saturday, Assad sported short blond hair and flashed a wide smile. She encouraged women to go for regular check-ups. The …

READ MORE

Sudan’s pro-democracy movement signed a power-sharing agreement with the ruling military council on Sunday aimed at paving the way for a transition to civilian rule following the overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir in April. Representatives signed a constitutional document that would establish a joint military and civilian council to rule for a little over three years until elections can be held. The agreement would also establish a Cabinet appointed by the activists, as well as a legislative body.   The military overthrew al-Bashir in April following months of protests against his three-decade-long rule. The protesters remained in the streets, demanding …

READ MORE

Iranian media say the Revolutionary Guard has seized an oil tanker carrying 700,000 liters of “smuggled fuel” in the Persian Gulf. The semi-official Fars news agency says seven crew members were detained when the ship was seized late Wednesday. It did not provide further details on the vessel or the nationality of the crew. This would mark the third commercial vessel seized by Iranian forces in recent weeks and the second accused of smuggling fuel. Tensions have soared in the Gulf in recent months as the U.S. has boosted its military presence and oil tankers have been seized by Iranian …

READ MORE

Police in El Paso, Texas, said Saturday that they were responding to an active- shooter situation at a shopping mall.    There was no immediate word on whether there had been injuries or fatalities in the reported shooting at a Walmart store in Cielo Vista Mall.  Police said multiple shooters were being reported and the area around the mall had been blocked off as authorities searched for suspects.    Stores in the area were locked down.     El Paso is a city in the far western part of southern state of Texas.  …

READ MORE

The Senate of Puerto Rico is set to hold public hearings Monday on the nomination of veteran politician Pedro Pierluisi to replace embattled former governor Ricardo Rossello, who resigned as promised Friday. Rossello handpicked Pierluisi to succeed him, thrusting the U.S. territory into a new period of uncertainty after weeks of protests over Rossello’s mismanagement and leaked communications in which Rossello and his advisors disparaged a range of Puerto Ricans. Pierluisi was sworn in Friday but said at a news conference after taking an oath, his term as governor might be short-lived because there are no guarantees the Senate will …

READ MORE

Thai authorities are casting suspicion on southern separatists while suggested broader political motives for a series of bombings that shook Bangkok Friday during a summit of top diplomats from the U.S., China and the region. A low-level insurgency has been simmering for years in Thailand’s far south — where Muslim militants want to break away from the Buddhist-majority country — but rarely spread as far north as the capital. Analysts say any insurgents involved in Friday’s attacks may have been acting as mercenaries for other groups, as they have before. The blasts hit five locations across Bangkok during the Friday …

READ MORE

More than 100 migrants from Togo, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Benin are stranded in Cameroon after they were rescued by the central African state’s military from their capsizing vessel in the Atlantic Ocean. The migrants, who are calling on their governments for help, say they do not have food or money.  One-hundred-seventeen men, women and children lie on the bare floor at the government school in Ebodje, a Cameroon village on the west coast of Africa near the Atlantic Ocean. Stranded migrants in Ebodje, Cameroon, Aug. 3, 2019. ( Moki Kindzeka, VOA) Christian Djongo, village chief of Ebodje, says officials …

READ MORE

A munitions blast killed 31 regime and allied fighters at a military airport in central Syria on Saturday, a war monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain and relies on a network of sources on the ground, said it was unclear what had caused the deadly explosion at the Shayrat airbase in Homs province. But state news agency SANA reported that a “technical fault during the transport of expired ammunition” had killed an unspecified number of victims. The Shayrat airbase is one of the regime’s most significant installations in the centre of the country. …

READ MORE

MEXICO CITY — A Mexican reporter in Guerrero state who also served as a municipal official was shot and killed Friday in a beachside resort, authorities said, the second journalist from the state slain in less than a week as Mexico’s endemic bloodletting reaches new heights.    Edgar Alberto Nava, who published news stories about the coastal resort city of Zihuatanejo on a Facebook page called La Verdad de Zihuatanejo, died after being shot several times, the Guerrero prosecutor’s office said.    Nava also worked as Zijuatanejo’s regulations director. It was not clear if the attack, in a Zihuatanejo restaurant, was related to Nava’s …

READ MORE