Month: June 2023

Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny went on trial Monday on new charges of extremism that could keep him behind bars for decades. The trial opened at a maximum security penal colony in Melekhovo, 250 kilometers (150 miles) east of Moscow, where Navalny, 47, is serving a nine-year sentence for fraud and contempt of court — charges he says are politically motivated. Navalny, who exposed official corruption and organized major anti-Kremlin protests, was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. Navalny, wearing his prison garb, …

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Military and civilian aircraft streaked across the sky as the Paris Air Show returned Monday after a four-year COVID-induced hiatus, with a big crowd including Ukrainian military officials and the French president. Organizers have billed the biennial event as the “recovery airshow” after the coronavirus ravaged the sector and the event was cancelled in 2021. This year’s airshow has a new focus on defense following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, along with the industry’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, with French President Emmanuel Macron arriving in a helicopter partly using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Huge traffic jams around Le Bourget …

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The Dutch government is soon to join the United States and Japan in rolling out new semiconductor export control measures aimed at keeping sensitive technology away from China due to concern for potential misuse, the country’s economic affairs minister told reporters on a visit to Washington. The measures are likely to further restrict sales to China by Netherlands-based ASML, maker of the world’s most advanced chip-printing machines, which last year disclosed the “unauthorized misappropriation of data” by a now former employee in China. The United States in October 2022 announced its own export control measures affecting advanced computing integrated circuits …

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A Belgium regional official for Brussels, Pascal Smet, resigned on Sunday after sparking a furor by hosting an Iranian delegation led by the mayor of Tehran.   Smet’s exit came three days after Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib accused him of “sullying the image” of the capital by allowing the Iranians and a Russian delegation to attend the Brussels Urban Summit, a congress of mayors from major cities around the world.   Smet, Brussels’ state secretary for urbanism, announced in a news conference that he was stepping down.   He said he felt obliged to do so after an email …

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California photographer Jason Perry has been volunteering for Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion, collecting donations and clothes for civilians and medications for combat teams. During one trip, he brought more than $200,000 in humanitarian aid. Anna Kosstutschenko spoke with Perry. Camera – Pavel Suhodolskiy. …

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Two days after being discharged from the hospital, Pope Francis resumed his cherished Sunday custom of greeting the public in St. Peter’s Square, expressing thanks for the comfort he received after surgery and thanking the crowd shouting “Long live the pope!” Before launching into prepared remarks, Francis expressed gratitude for “affection, attention and friendship” and the assurance of “the support of prayer” during his hospitalization for June 7 abdominal surgery at a Rome hospital to repair a hernia and remove increasingly painful scarring around his intestines. “This human and spiritual closeness for me was a great help and comfort,” Francis …

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A Swedish parliament defense committee report said a Russian military attack against Sweden cannot be ruled out, Swedish public service broadcaster SVT said on Sunday, citing sources. Sweden has been scrambling to bolster its defenses and applied to join NATO last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Sweden was invited to apply but Turkey and Hungary are yet to ratify the application. The parliamentary report, due to be published on Monday, said that although Russian ground forces were tied up in Ukraine, other types of military attacks against Sweden could not be ruled out, SVT said, citing sources who worked …

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The British defense ministry said Sunday in its daily intelligence report about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that both sides are experiencing “high casualties” in the south, “with Russian losses likely the highest since the peak of the battle for Bakhmut in March.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Saturday there seems to be “no chance” of extending the United Nations-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative that allows Ukraine to export grain safely through Russian-controlled waters. The European Union is stepping up efforts to deliver arms and ammunition to Ukraine EU industry chief Thierry Breton said Sunday in an interview with French daily …

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A package of social media tools designed to protect players from online abuse will be offered to all teams at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, soccer’s world governing body FIFA said on Sunday. The Social Media Protection Service (SMPS), developed by FIFA and the players’ union FIFPRO, monitors and moderates hate speech on social media, hiding harmful content from the players. “Discrimination is a criminal act,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. “With the help of this tool, we are identifying the perpetrators and we are reporting them to the authorities so that they are punished for their actions.” Several teams …

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