Month: May 2023

Turkey’s Presidential Candidates Eye Nationalist Support to Win

Ahead of Turkey’s presidential runoff election on Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his main contender Kemal Kilicdaroglu are both eyeing voters who back the country’s various nationalist parties. Nationalist parties like Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Good Party (IYIP), Victory Party (ZP) and Great Unity Party (BBP) received more than 23% of the votes in the parliamentary election on May 14, which made Turkish nationalists “the winner of the election,” according to some experts. “Political parties and candidates that define themselves [as] nationalist achieved an outstanding number of votes that no one could foresee,” Ismet Akca, a political scientist …

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Pro-Government Rally Planned in Serbia Amid Growing Discontent After Mass Shootings

Tens of thousands of people converged on the Serbian capital on Friday for a major rally in support of President Aleksandar Vucic, who is facing an unprecedented revolt against his autocratic rule amid the crisis triggered by two mass shootings that stunned the nation.  The event was somewhat overshadowed by a new crisis in Serbia’s former province of Kosovo, where ethnic Serbs clashed with Kosovo police on Friday and Vucic ordered Serbian troops to be put on a “higher state of alert.” Vucic also said he ordered an “urgent” movement of Serbian troops to the border with Kosovo, which declared …

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Pope Runs Fever, Skips Meetings, Vatican Says

Pope Francis skipped meetings Friday because he was running a fever, the Vatican said. There were no details about how sick Francis was. The last time he spiked a serious fever, in March, the 86-year-old pontiff was rushed to the hospital where he was diagnosed with acute bronchitis. He received intravenous antibiotics and was released three days later. A Vatican official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak about the pope’s health, said Francis didn’t receive anyone in audience Friday “because of a feverish state.” There were no formal audiences scheduled Friday, but Francis keeps a …

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Latest in Ukraine: Missile Strike on Ukraine Clinic Kills 1, Wounds 15

New developments: Russian returns 106 Ukranian prisoners of war Russian town of Graivoron under Ukrainian artillery fire for several hours Russia accuses Ukrainian militia of using U.S.-made armored vehicles in a cross-border incursion on Monday   U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin emphasized Thursday that U.S. is not at war with Russia   JCS Chief Mark Milley says Washington asked Kyiv not to use U.S.-supplied equipment for direct attacks into Russia Officials in Ukraine say a missile strike Friday morning on a clinic in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro has killed one person and wounded at least 15 others, including two …

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Belgian Aid Worker, Iranian Diplomat Freed in Prisoner Swap

A Belgian aid worker jailed in Iran and an Iranian diplomat imprisoned in Belgium were freed on Friday in a swap agreement mediated by Oman, both sides said. Aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele had been arrested on a visit to Iran in February 2022 and sentenced in January to 40 years in prison and 74 lashes on charges including spying. Iranian diplomat Asadollah Assadi was convicted in Belgium in 2021 in connection with a foiled bomb plot in France and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Belgian and Iranian authorities had rejected the charges against Vandecasteele and Assadi respectively as fabricated. …

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Humanitarian Group Blasts Greece Over Treatment of Asylum-Seekers on Island

A prominent humanitarian group on Thursday blasted Greece over its treatment of asylum-seekers on the island of Lesbos, repeating allegations of illegal deportations back to Turkey and claiming authorities are using hunger as a weapon against some migrants.  Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, said in a statement that the situation for asylum-seekers on the eastern Aegean Sea island is “continuously deteriorating.”  “Many people there have been exposed to violence and have alleged abductions by unidentified masked people, pushbacks that forced them out of Greece, arbitrary detentions, and deprivation of food and shelter,” it said.  The Greek …

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Донецька ОВА повідомила про евакуацію 26 людей після пошкодження військами РФ греблі водосховища

«У річці піднявся рівень води та існує загроза підтоплень приватних будинків у шести населених пунктах Покровського району, в яких загалом проживає 981 людина» …

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Ukrainian Language More Popular Since War Started

More than 1 million people have started learning Ukrainian since February of last year, according to data from language learning app Duolingo. They say interest in Ukrainian remains high, and the top three countries with the most learners of the language are the United States, Britain and Poland. Correspondent Lesia Bakalets reports from Warsaw …

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Man Drives Into Gates of Downing Street; Police Say Not Terror Related

A car crashed Thursday into the gates of Downing Street in central London, where the British prime minister’s home and offices are located, setting off a rapid, intense security response at one of London’s most-fortified sites.  No one was injured, and police said they were not treating the incident as terror related. Police arrested a man on suspicion of criminal damage and dangerous driving, and local officers, rather than counterterrorism detectives, were handling the investigation.  Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was in his office at the time of the crash.  It was not immediately clear whether the crash was deliberate. Video …

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Turkey’s Erdogan Faces Unprecedented Presidential Runoff

Turkish voters will cast ballots in the country’s presidential runoff election on May 28. Incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the front-runner after narrowly scoring an outright win in the first round and securing a majority in parliament. But analysts say challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu has an outside chance if he can galvanize his voting base. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. …

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