Month: October 2022

NATO will push ahead with long-planned nuclear exercises next week despite rising tensions over the war in Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin’s insistence that he is not bluffing about using all available means to defend Russian territory, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday. The exercise, dubbed “Steadfast Noon,” is held annually and usually runs for about one week. It involves fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear warheads but without the use any live bombs. Conventional jets, and surveillance and refueling aircraft also routinely take part. Fourteen of the 30 NATO member countries will be involved in the exercise, which was …

READ MORE

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to address the leaders of the Group of Seven nations during a virtual meeting Tuesday that follows a series of deadly Russian missile strikes on Ukraine’s capital and other cities located across the country. Zelenskyy said Monday that Ukraine “cannot be intimidated,” and rather than instill fear, Russia’s attacks made “the whole world take notice.” “We will do everything to strengthen our armed forces,” Zelenskyy said. “We will make the battlefield more painful for the enemy.” The Ukrainian leader tweeted after a phone call with U.S. President Joe Biden that air defense was his …

READ MORE

A third cruise ship was hired by World Cup organizers in Qatar on Monday to operate as a soccer fan hotel docked in Doha Port to add much-needed rooms for the tournament. Geneva-based MSC Cruises announced the agreement only six weeks before the World Cup is scheduled to start on Nov. 20. The 1,075-cabin MSC Opera will be available from Nov. 19 to Dec. 19. Prices for the Opera were listed Monday on MSC’s website starting from $470 per person per night during the group stage, with a minimum two-night stay. Qatar does not have the hotel capacity for all …

READ MORE

The Austrian government said Monday it has filed a legal complaint with the European Union’s top court over plans by the bloc’s executive branch to label natural gas and nuclear power generation as sustainable energies. Austria’s environment minister, Leonore Gewessler, warned that the measure could “greenwash” nuclear power and gas despite the environmental damage they cause. Another EU member, Luxembourg, announced later that it would stand by Austria in the legal case, adding more political weight to the move. The EU’s executive Commission plans to add certain nuclear and gas plants next year to a list that helps investors determine …

READ MORE

Ukrainian psychologist Tatyana Bogkova was on a birthday trip in Poland with her mother and 4-year-old daughter when Russian troops invaded her homeland earlier this year. With shells raining on Kharkiv city and her policeman husband staying to fight, the 32-year-old chose to take refuge in Spain, where she quickly translated her CV and took language lessons in hopes of a job. She is still searching. “I am not afraid of any job, but I would like to do what I learned,” Bogkova said in a Madrid cafe near a Catholic Church aid center, which together with a family offered …

READ MORE

The United Nations and other aid organizations in Ukraine said on Monday that Russia firing missiles at cities across the country had disrupted their humanitarian work on the ground. Russia hit sites across Ukraine, striking Kyiv with an intensity not seen since Russian forces sought to capture the capital early in the more than seven-month war. Moscow says the strikes were against energy, command and communication targets in retaliation for what it describes as terrorist attacks. “The wave of attacks, claimed by Russia has … impacted humanitarian operations across Ukraine, particularly hampering the movement of aid workers and delivery of …

READ MORE

Jailed Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza has won the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize awarded annually by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to honor “outstanding” civil society action in the defense of human rights. The prize was presented by PACE President Tiny Kox to Kara-Murza’s wife, Yevgenia Kara-Muza at a special ceremony on Monday, the opening day of PACE’s autumn plenary session in Strasbourg. The prize is named after the late Czech dissident and playwright who became president of Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic after the fall of communism. The award comes after the Russian …

READ MORE

In an opening speech to the UNHCR’s Executive Committee, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi appealed to member states to provide protection to people fleeing conflict and persecution, regardless of ethnicity and nationality. The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) reports the number of people forcibly displaced by armed conflict, violence, discrimination, persecution, and climate shocks has hit an all-time high of 100 million. High Commissioner Filippo Grandi says the climate emergency increasingly drives displacement, making life harder for those already uprooted. He says the link between climate change and displacement is clear and growing. “We see it in the Horn …

READ MORE