Month: July 2022

Azerbaijan Denies Parole Appeal of Jailed Journalist

An Azerbaijani journalist imprisoned on what rights groups believe are trumped-up charges has had his appeal for parole rejected. The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan on Wednesday rejected the appeal of human rights defender and journalist Elchin Mammad to be freed after serving one-third of his sentence. Mammad, editor of the news website Yukselish Namine and head of the nongovernmental organization Legal Education of Sumgayit Youth, was arrested in the city of Sumgayit in 2020. Police at the time said they’d found stolen jewelry in his office. A court in October 2020 convicted Mammad of theft and illegal possession of weapons, …

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Yellen Pushes Plan to Cap Price of Russian Oil on Global Markets 

The United States is pressing to implement a plan meant to force Russia to sell oil at artificially low prices on the global market, in order to deprive the Kremlin of funding for its war in Ukraine. Speaking at a news conference in Bali, Indonesia, before the start of a meeting of the finance ministers of the G-20 large economies, Yellen restated the Biden administration’s condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. She said that cutting its profits from crude oil sales “would deny [Russian President Vladimir] Putin the revenue his war machine needs.”    She also argued that capping the …

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Ex-Iranian Official Imprisoned in Sweden for Executions

Stockholm’s District Court sentenced a former Iranian official to life in prison on Thursday for war crimes and the murder of political prisoners during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. At the time of the killings, Hamid Noury was a 27-year-old assistant to the deputy prosecutor at Gohardasht prison in Karaj, Iran. According to prosecutors, the killings were ordered by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s leader at the time. The executed prisoners were loyal to an Iranian opposition group, Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. Noury, now 61, was arrested upon arrival at the Stockholm airport in 2019. He has denied the accusations. The Swedish court …

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Name of Russian Arms Dealer Surfaces in Possible Prisoner Swap

A Russian arms dealer labeled the “Merchant of Death” who once inspired a Hollywood movie is back in the headlines with speculation around a return to Moscow in a prisoner exchange. If Viktor Bout, 55, is indeed eventually freed in return for WNBA star Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, as some published reports suggest, it would add to the lore around a charismatic arms dealer the U.S. has imprisoned for more than a decade. Depending on the source, Bout is a swashbuckling businessman unjustly imprisoned after an overly aggressive U.S. sting operation, or a peddler of weapons …

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Arson Damages Athens Building Housing Greek Media Outlets

An arson attack on a suburban Athens building that houses the offices of a Greek radio station and newspaper caused significant damage early Wednesday and drew condemnation from political leaders in Greece and elsewhere in the European Union.  Explosions were heard before a fire broke out shortly after 3 a.m. at the building that houses radio station Real FM and the Real News newspaper in Maroussi, a northern Athens suburb.  Firefighters extinguished the blaze. Fire Service investigators found the remnants of three gas canisters tied together on an external stairwell between the ground and first floors, as well as a …

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Turkey Notes Progress in Talks on Stalled Ukrainian Wheat Exports

Turkish officials say there is a potential breakthrough in efforts to release Ukrainian grain to world markets as global food prices soar amid Russia’s war with Ukraine. Turkey’s defense minister, Hulusi Akar, said an agreement is likely to be announced soon following four-way talks Wednesday among Russian, Ukrainian, United Nations, and Turkish officials in Istanbul. Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said in a statement after Wednesday’s talks that a deal to allow the release of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain could come as early as next week. Akar said Turkey would play a pivotal role in checking shipments in …

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Війська РФ ризикують втратити наступальний імпульс на Донбасі – британська розвідка

У відомстві кажуть, що застаріла техніка, зброя і радянська тактика, яку застосовують російські війська, не дозволяють їм швидко відновити чи набрати темп, якщо не переважати масою, чого Росія наразі не може застосувати …

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US Accuses Russia of Forcibly Deporting Ukrainians

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accused Russia of forcibly deporting hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians from areas it controls in the east and south of the country to Russia. Blinken said an estimated 900,000 to 1.6 million Ukrainian citizens, including 260,000 children, have been interrogated, detained, and deported from their homes to Russia, including to isolated areas in the Far East, through filtration operations. In a statement on July 13, Blinken called on Russia to stop these operations, which he said violate the Geneva Conventions. “The unlawful transfer and deportation of protected persons is a grave breach of …

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