Month: January 2023

The foreign ministers of France and Germany have voiced support for Africa to receive two permanent seats on the powerful U.N. Security Council. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she and French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna added their support to an African push for permanent seats on the Security Council. Baerbock spoke after she and Colonna met with African Union Chairperson Moussa Faki at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa. “As European partners and I, as a German foreign minister, we see that the world in 2023 is not the same than that after World War Two, and therefore we are …

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Police in Hungary said Friday one police officer was killed and two others injured when they were stabbed while responding to a disturbance at a Budapest apartment complex. A Budapest police department statement said the officers responded to a call late Thursday at the building in the city’s Ujbuda district and discovered a man trying to break down a door into an apartment. Police said the suspect attacked the officers with a knife as they tried to detain him and ran into the street where a fourth officer fired at him, striking him in the leg. The wounded officers and …

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The Czech presidential election is to kick off Friday with a billionaire, a general and an academic leading a likely two-round vote seen as too close to call. The winner will replace Milos Zeman, an outspoken political veteran, following a period marked by the country’s 2022 EU presidency as the war in Ukraine raged. The victor will face record inflation in the central European country of 10.5 million people, as well as bulging public finance deficits related to the war in Ukraine. Unless a candidate wins more than 50%  outright, which is considered unlikely, the two top contenders will go …

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Russia said Friday it has taken control of the Ukrainian salt mine town of Soledar. The Russian Defense Ministry said that Soledar was taken late Thursday. Ukraine has not commented on Russia’s latest claim. The battle for Soledar has been raging for months and both sides have laid claim to control at various times. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Thursday there was fierce fighting in Soledar but that Ukraine’s forces were holding on. Maliar spoke a day after conflicting claims about who controlled the town in eastern Ukraine. The area is one of the most active in the …

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A senior U.S. envoy expressed strong concern Thursday about the activities of the Russian private military contractor Wagner Group and its alleged attempts to recruit soldiers in Serbia and elsewhere in the world. U.S. State Department Counselor Derek Chollet said he voiced these concerns during talks in Belgrade with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. “We have seen that the Wagner Group is seeking to recruit soldiers from Serbia and elsewhere, and that’s something we think cannot stand,” he told reporters after the meeting. “I don’t know if there are concerns [in Serbia], we talked about our concerns and we are looking …

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Iranian state media published a video on Thursday that they said showed British Iranian national Alireza Akbari, who is facing the death penalty for spying, played a role in the 2020 assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist. The video was aired a day after state media said a death sentence had been given to Akbari, who previously served as Iran’s deputy defense minister, on charges of spying for Britain, which has demanded he be released. Iran has not said when Akbari’s sentence will be carried out. One hard-line news website said Akbari had been executed on Thursday, but there has …

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Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister said Thursday that Kyiv will pursue adoption of a resolution in the U.N. General Assembly that would enshrine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace formula. “The Ukrainian leadership decided that the priority number one that will be considered in February is the resolution dedicated to the peace formula,” Emine Dzhaparova told reporters at the United Nations, where she attended a Security Council meeting on the rule of law. February 24 marks one year since President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At the Group of 20 Summit in November, Zelenskyy addressed the meeting by video …

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China criticized a defense pact signed Wednesday between Britain and Japan that could see troops deployed on each other’s territory. Both London and Tokyo have described China as a “challenge” in the Asia-Pacific region. “The Asia-Pacific is a pacesetter for peace and development, not a wrestling ground for geopolitical games. China is a partner for cooperation for all countries instead of a challenge,” Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told reporters in Beijing. “Defense cooperation between the relevant countries should be conducive to enhancing mutual understanding, trust and cooperation among countries and should not create imaginary enemies …

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