Month: September 2021

As Germany prepares to elect a new leader in elections scheduled for September 26, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s successor will face a series of immediate geopolitical challenges. Among the most pressing is the rise of China. Beijing’s economic push into Europe, part of its “Belt and Road” initiative, has seen Chinese state-owned firms invest in critical infrastructure including ports, railroads and highways. Hamburg is Germany’s biggest port, handling more than 8.5 million shipping containers every year, and a key artery for Europe’s largest economy and exporter. If current plans are approved, a large share of the port will soon be sold …

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The United States said Monday that starting in early November it will ease its coronavirus restrictions for foreign travelers arriving in the country.  Foreign travel to the U.S. had been largely curbed during the 18-month pandemic, even as European nations in recent months eased restrictions on American travelers ahead of the summertime vacation season.  Under the new U.S. policy, White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said foreign travelers will again be allowed into the country if they can demonstrate proof of being fully vaccinated before they board a flight and show proof of a negative COVID-19 test administered within three …

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The United States said Monday that laws against “extremism” in Russia prevented opposition parties from a fair shot in parliamentary elections.   “The Russian government’s use of laws on “extremist organizations,” “foreign agents,” and “undesirable organizations” severely restricted political pluralism and prevented the Russian people from exercising their civil and political rights,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement Monday.   “Furthermore, we do not recognize holding elections for the Russian Duma on sovereign Ukrainian territory and reaffirm our unwavering support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine,” Price added.   Longtime Russian President Vladimir Putin’s …

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Spain has led a rebellion over soaring energy prices across Europe which analysts fear could endanger the continent’s economic recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Madrid’s leftist coalition government last week approved a shock plan to divert $3.05 billion from utility companies to consumers over the next six months until gas prices are expected to stabilize. Across the continent, governments are offering or considering providing state help to ease the pain felt by rocketing wholesale gas prices which increased electricity bills and some utilities companies have been forced out of business or seen their share prices fall. Analysts …

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Russia’s Sunday election results came as no surprise to opponents of President Vladimir Putin — it was a foregone conclusion, they have been warning for months. The Kremlin barred most genuinely independent candidates – first and foremost supporters of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny – from running for the 450-seat Duma. The polls were held against the backdrop of a crackdown on dissent, leaving little doubt that Putin’s ruling United Russia Party would romp home to victory yet again and retain its parliamentary majority. The party claimed victory a few hours after the polls closed Sunday after three days of …

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Thousands marched in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Sunday for LGTBQ rights, an annual march that was canceled last year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Waving rainbow flags, roughly 7,000 people — down from the record of 8,000 in 2019 — marched through the capital city. Police flanked the marchers. Kateryna Lytvynenko, a Pride participant, told The Associated Press: “(We) are here at the Pride (march) to support the LGBTQ community in Ukraine. We are here to promote human rights because LGBTQ rights are human rights and, unfortunately, the community faces a lot of violence and discrimination in Ukraine …

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Four people were found dead Sunday on the Belarus-Polish border according to officials from both countries, a week after Warsaw imposed a state of emergency following an influx of migrants. Poland’s border guards added that they had also discovered eight exhausted migrants stuck in marshy terrain elsewhere along the border. Seven of them were hospitalized.   In recent months thousands of migrants, mainly from the Middle East, have crossed or tried to cross the border from Belarus into the neighboring European Union member states of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.   The EU suspects the influx is being orchestrated by Belarusian …

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France has canceled a meeting between Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly and her British counterpart planned for this week after Australia scrapped a submarine order with Paris in favor of a deal with Washington and London, two sources familiar with the matter said. Parly personally took the decision to drop the bilateral meeting with British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, the sources said. The French defense ministry could not be immediately reached. The British defense ministry declined comment. The sources confirmed an earlier report in the Guardian newspaper that the meeting had been canceled. The scrapping of the multibillion-dollar submarine contract, …

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France says U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron are planning to talk in the next few days about the diplomatic standoff that was triggered between the two old allies when Australia cancelled a submarine contract with Paris in favor of a new security alliance with the United States and Britain.  A French government spokesman said Sunday that the U.S. leader asked to speak with Macron and that a call would occur soon. Gabriel Attal told news channel BFM TV that France wants “clarification” over the cancellation of an order that it had with Australia.  Paris has expressed …

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A volcano erupted on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma on Sunday, sending fountains of lava and a plume of smoke and ash into the air from the Cumbre Vieja national park in the south of the island.  Authorities had already begun evacuating the infirm and some farm animals from the surrounding villages before the eruption, which took place on a wooded slope in the Cabeza de Vaca area at 3:15 p.m. (1415 GMT), according to the islands’ government.  Immediately after the eruption, the municipality urged residents in a statement to “exercise extreme caution,” and stay away from the …

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Greece has opened a new migrant holding camp to ease longstanding overcrowded conditions that authorities themselves have called a disgrace. The project has humanitarian organization and migration advocates fuming, calling the European Union-funded project an “audacious” example of Europe’s reluctance to effectively address illegal migration, especially in light of a new surge of Afghan migrants anticipated in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Speaking against the backdrop of the new camp, with its soaring fence and barbed wire, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis said the facility on the island of Samos would provide asylum seekers a safer, more humane …

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Mediterranean nations must lead the way in addressing climate change, the Greek prime minister said, warning that the cost of doing nothing was unimaginable, with mankind possibly struggling to survive beyond the turn of the next century. Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Spain were ravaged by wildfires and record high temperatures this summer, with scientists warning the region had turned into a “wildfire hotspot.” Germany, Turkey and China were pounded with devastating floods. “I no longer want to talk about climate change. I want to talk about the climate crisis, it’s already here,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told Reuters in an …

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