Month: October 2021

The United States and Britain warned their citizens on Monday to avoid hotels in Afghanistan, days after dozens were killed at a mosque in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group active in Afghanistan, Islamic State Khorasan.  The Taliban, which seized power in August and declared an Islamic emirate, are seeking international recognition and assistance to avoid a humanitarian disaster and ease Afghanistan’s economic crisis.  But, as the hard-line Islamist group transitions from a rebel army to a governing power, they are struggling to contain the threat from the Afghanistan chapter of IS.   “U.S. citizens who are at or near the Serena Hotel …

READ MORE

Jailed former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been on a hunger strike since October 1, needs to be hospitalized, as his condition is worsening, his doctor said Sunday in a television interview. Saakashvili declared a hunger strike after he was arrested on October 1 and incarcerated in the city of Rustavi, hours after he announced he had returned to Georgia following an eight-year absence. Saakashvili was convicted in absentia in 2018 for abuse of power during his presidency, charges he says were politically motivated. He had lived in Ukraine in recent years, but last month announced plans to fly …

READ MORE

Beekeepers Mustafa Alti and his son Fehmi were kept busy tending to their hives before wildfires tore through a bucolic region of Turkey that makes most of the world’s prized pine honey. Now the Altis and generations of other honey farmers in Turkey’s Aegean province of Mugla are scrambling to find additional work and wondering how many decades it might take to get their old lives back on track. “Our means of existence is from beekeeping, but when the forests burned, our source of income fell,” said Fehmi, 47, next to his mountainside beehives in the fire-ravaged village of Cokek. …

READ MORE

Paul McCartney has revisited the breakup of The Beatles, flatly disputing the suggestion that he was responsible for the group’s demise. Speaking on an episode of BBC Radio 4’s “This Cultural Life” that is scheduled to air on Oct. 23, McCartney said it was John Lennon who wanted to disband The Beatles. “I didn’t instigate the split,” McCartney said. “That was our Johnny.” The band’s fans have long debated who was responsible for the breakup, with many blaming McCartney. But McCartney said Lennon’s desire to “break loose” was the main driver behind the split. Confusion about the breakup was allowed …

READ MORE

Dressed as endangered fish or tigers or wearing toy polar bears on their heads, demonstrators marched through Brussels on Sunday to push world leaders to take bolder action to fight climate change at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow starting this month.  Thousands of people and 80 organizations took part in the protest, aiming for the biggest such event in the European Union’s capital since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which stopped the climate movement’s weekly marches in its tracks.  Cyclists, families with children and white-haired demonstrators filled city streets, chanting slogans demanding climate justice and waving banners in …

READ MORE

Three weeks since its eruption upended the lives of thousands, the volcano on Spain’s La Palma island is still spewing out endless streams of lava with no signs of ceasing.  Authorities on Sunday monitored a new stream of molten rock that has added to the destruction of over 1,100 buildings. Anything in the path of the lava — homes, farms, swimming pools and industrial buildings in the largely agricultural area — has been consumed. The collapse Saturday of part of the volcanic cone sent a flood of bright red lava pouring down from the Cumbre Vieja ridge that initially cracked …

READ MORE

A Russian plane crashed over the Tatarstan region Sunday, killing 16 people and injuring seven, the emergencies ministry said. The L-410 Turbolet plane crashed with 23 people on board, including a group of parachute jumpers, around 9:23 a.m. local time near the town of Menzelinsk, the ministry said, adding that seven people had been rescued from the debris.  All seven are hospitalized, with one “in very serious condition.” The L-410 is a twin-engine short-range transport aircraft. Although Russia has improved aviation safety standards in recent years, crashes, especially of aging planes, in remote regions, are not uncommon. One Antonov transport …

READ MORE

When Russian regulators approved the country’s own coronavirus vaccine, it was a moment of national pride, and the Pavlov family was among those who rushed to take the injection. But international health authorities have not yet given their blessing to the Sputnik V shot. So when the family from Rostov-on-Don wanted to visit the West, they looked for a vaccine that would allow them to travel freely, a quest that brought them to Serbia, where hundreds of Russian citizens have flocked in recent weeks to receive Western-approved COVID-19 shots. Serbia, which is not a member of the European Union, is …

READ MORE

Britain will tell the European Union again next week that “significant change” to the Northern Ireland protocol is vital for the restoration of genuinely good relations between London and Brussels. The protocol was part of the Brexit divorce settlement Prime Minister Boris Johnson negotiated with the EU, but London has said it must be rewritten less than a year after it took effect because of the barriers businesses face when importing British goods into the province. European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic, who oversees post-Brexit relations with Britain, said Thursday that the EU’s executive would finalize measures next week aimed …

READ MORE

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Saturday that he planned to step down in an effort to defuse a government crisis triggered by prosecutors’ announcement that he is a target of a corruption investigation. Kurz, 35, said he had proposed that Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg replace him. But Kurz himself will remain in politics: He said he would become the head of his conservative Austrian People’s Party’s parliamentary group. Kurz’s party had closed ranks behind him after the prosecutors’ announcement on Wednesday. But its junior coalition partner, the Greens, said Friday that Kurz couldn’t remain as chancellor and demanded that his …

READ MORE

Red-hot lava Saturday engulfed the land Jose Roberto Sanchez inherited from his parents, and lightning flashed around the rim of the volcano that has been erupting on the Spanish island of La Palma for almost three weeks. There were 37 seismic movements Saturday, with the largest measuring 4.1, the Spanish National Geological Institute said, but La Palma’s airport reopened after being closed since Thursday because of ash, Spanish air traffic operator Aena said. All other Canary Islands airports were open. The magma streaming down the hillside from the Cumbre Vieja volcano destroyed at least four village buildings, some of nearly …

READ MORE

United Nations monitors have found a significant rise in casualties in eastern Ukraine since Russia-backed separatists ended a cease-fire agreement with the government in Kyiv earlier this year. The findings are part of a report by the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council. The report covers human rights developments in Ukraine from February to the end of July of this year. It found 15 civilians have been killed and 47 injured since fighting escalated in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.  It noted that the number constituted a 51% increase over the previous …

READ MORE

French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that his country will return 26 African artworks — royal thrones, ceremonial altars, revered statues — to Benin later this month, part of France’s long-promised plans to give back artwork taken from Africa during the colonial era. Discussions have been under way for years on returning the artworks from the 19th century Dahomey Kingdom. Called the “Abomey Treasures,” they currently are held in the Quai Branly Museum in Paris. The museum, near the Eiffel Tower, holds thousands of works from former French colonies. Macron said the 26 pieces will be given back at the …

READ MORE

Russia’s state statistics service reported nearly 50,000 coronavirus deaths in the country in August, taking the toll since the beginning of the pandemic to over 400,000, nearly double the official government figure. Rosstat released its figures late Friday, reporting that 49,389 people died from COVID-19 in August, a figure much higher than 24,661, the government tally for the same month. Overall, Rosstat says around 418,000 people have died in Russia since the pandemic began. This nearly doubles the official total death toll of 214,000 published by the Russian coronavirus task force earlier Friday. Russian officials explained the discrepancy, saying COVID-19 …

READ MORE