Month: April 2022

‘Detest Me With Moderation,’ Paris Attacks Defendant Pleads

The only surviving member of the Islamic State attack team that terrorized Paris in 2015 asked Friday for forgiveness and expressed condolences for the victims, wiping away tears during court testimony as he pleaded with survivors to “detest me with moderation.” For years, Salah Abdeslam was silent about what happened November 13, 2015, in the Bataclan theater, Paris cafes and the national stadium, and the 130 people who were killed. After his trial opened last year, he had a few outbursts of extremist bravado, but for months he refused to answer most questions. Then this week, his words started flowing, …

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Reporter’s Notebook: Amid Laughter and Tears, Ukrainians Wait at Mexico-US Border

It is more than 10,000 kilometers from Medyka, the Polish border city that is a first stop for many Ukrainian refugees, to Tijuana, Mexico, where more than 1,700 Ukrainians are waiting for a chance to cross into the United States. “They’re arriving as tourists,” says Enrique Lucero Vásquez, the municipal director of migrant care in Tijuana, with whom I spoke in a sports complex that has been repurposed to receive the Ukrainian families. About 400 people are already housed at the center, where they spend one to two nights before being escorted to the border crossing and admitted by the …

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Russian Authorities Arrest Journalist for Reports on Ukraine

A criminal case has been opened against a Siberian journalist whose news website had published content critical of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, Russian media reported on Thursday. Mikhail Afanasyev, chief editor of Novy Fokus in the Russian region of Khakassia, was arrested by security forces Wednesday over the website’s reporting on 11 riot police who allegedly refused deployment to Ukraine as part of Russia’s military action there. Afanasyev was accused Thursday of disseminating “deliberately false information” about the Russian armed forces, an offense which carries a maximum 10-year jail sentence under a law passed last month. Afanasyev has published …

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United Nations Weekly Roundup: April 9-16

Editor’s note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch. Impacts of Ukraine war reverberate globally U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Wednesday that because of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the developing world is facing a “perfect storm” threatening to devastate many of its economies. He said 1.7 billion people could be affected by disruptions in food, energy and finance systems. UN Chief: Ukraine War Fallout Threatens Economic Crisis in Developing World   Sexual violence, trafficking growing in Ukrainian conflict The United Nations said Monday …

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Russia Says It Struck Kyiv Missile Factory After Its Flagship Sinks in Black Sea

The flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet has sunk after what Kyiv said was a Ukrainian missile strike, dealing one of the heaviest blows yet to Moscow’s war effort and providing a stunning symbol of Kyiv’s resistance against a better-armed foe. Kyiv says it hit the cruiser Moskva with missiles fired from the coast. Russia did not confirm the attack but said the ship sank while being towed in stormy seas after a fire caused by an explosion of ammunition. Moscow said more than 500 sailors had been evacuated. There was no independent confirmation of the fate of the crew. …

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How France’s Presidential Election Could Impact Ukraine War 

The capital of France may be thousands of miles from the battlefields of eastern Ukraine, but what happens in French voting stations this month could have repercussions there.  Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has close ties to Russia and wants to weaken the European Union and NATO, which could undercut Western efforts to stop Russia’s war on Ukraine. Le Pen is trying to unseat centrist President Emmanuel Macron, who has a slim lead in polls ahead of France’s April 24 presidential runoff election.  Here are some of the ways the French election could impact the war in Ukraine:  Arming …

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