Month: November 2021

Poland has warned of a possible armed escalation on its border with Belarus. Europe accuses Belarus of directing the migrants towards the border as part of a campaign of ‘hybrid warfare’. Henry Ridgwell reports from London. Producer: Henry Ridgwell, Barry Unger …

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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris began a four-day visit to France Tuesday aimed at improving soured relations with America’s oldest ally. Relations between the two countries plunged to a historic low in September when Australia scrapped a $65 billion deal to buy traditional submarines from France in favor of an agreement in which Australia will build nuclear subs with the help of the United States and Britain. Harris will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron after U.S. President Joe Biden told Macron in Rome last month the U.S. had been “clumsy” in its handling of the matter. Harris will first visit the renowned Institut Pasteur to underscore what U.S. officials said were longstanding scientific exchanges between the U.S. and France. She will meet with French and American …

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Some of Britain’s prestigious colleges — including the ancient universities of Cambridge and Oxford — are being accused of losing their moral compass by accepting donations from what critics say are dubious sources. The University of Oxford, London School of Economics and University College, London, have prompted a firestorm of criticism for accepting millions of pounds from the charitable trust of the late motor-racing tycoon Max Mosley, whose fortune was largely inherited from his father Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists during the 1930s and 1940s. Oxford was given $8 million from a charitable trust set up …

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Poland and Belarus traded accusations Tuesday as a group of migrants remained on the Belarus side of the border between the two countries.  Poland says the migrants, mostly from the Middle East, are being encouraged to push their way into European Union member Poland by the government of Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko.  Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on Twitter that it is in Poland’s interest to seal its border, and that with Belarus’ actions “the stability and security of the entire EU is at stake.”  Belarus denies the accusations, with its defense ministry saying in a statement Tuesday they are “unfounded and unsubstantiated.”  The Belarussian foreign …

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A European human rights group alleged Monday that Israeli-made Pegasus spyware was used to hack the phones of staff members of six Palestinian civil society groups that Israel’s defense ministry has designated as terrorist organizations. Dublin-based Front Line Defenders said its allegation was confirmed independently by researchers for Amnesty International and the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab. Front Line Defenders stopped short of blaming the Israeli government for installation of the spyware on the phones of the Palestinian human rights workers. But it condemned Israel’s designation of their organizations as linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, …

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U.S. prosecutors on Monday said they had charged a Ukrainian man with launching a July ransomware attack on an American firm that had infected 1,500 businesses throughout the world. Authorities also announced they had seized $6 million in ransom payments made to a Russian national accused of launching more than 3,000 other attacks targeting American companies. An indictment filed in the southwestern state of Texas by the Justice Department accused Yaroslav Vasinskyi, a Ukrainian national arrested in Poland last month, of unleashing the ransomware attack known as REvil on Florida-based firm Kaseya, a global information technology software infrastructure supplier, which …

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Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed regional conflicts and a crisis in ties with the head of the US Central Intelligence Agency who paid a rare trip to Moscow last week, the Kremlin said Monday. CIA chief William Burns was in Russia for two days of meetings with top officials at the request of President Joe Biden, the US embassy has said. CNN reported last week that Burns had been sent to Moscow to warn the Kremlin about the alleged build-up of troops near Ukraine’s border. It said that after his meetings in Russia, Burns spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky …

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The eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma entered its eighth week Monday, powerful as ever and showing no signs of stopping.  From its official Twitter account, INVOLCAN, the Canary Islands Volcanology Center, reported lava and huge plumes of smoke and ash have been spouting from the crater all day. Citing a report from Italy’s volcano department, INVOLCAN said the minimum height of the volcano’s plume Monday was 1,600 meters.  The eruption has alternately surged and ebbed since September 19 and scientists say the eruption could last for up to three months.  But experts …

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Former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, convicted by Russia of spying, will continue to fight for his transfer to the United States despite losing a court appeal on Monday, Interfax news agency quoted his lawyer as saying. Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports, was sentenced last year to 16 years in jail. He denies espionage and has said he was set up in a sting operation. Washington has demanded his release.  Whelan had challenged the refusal of a regional court to hear his case for being sent home, but an appeals court in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, around …

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