Month: June 2023

Latest Developments: Australia is sending $74 million in new military assistance to Ukraine. The package includes armored vehicles, special operations vehicles and trucks. Britain’s defense ministry says allies have trained more than 17,000 Ukrainian troops, and that the number could reach 30,000 by 2024. Ukraine’s military said Monday its forces downed two of three cruise missiles that Russia fired from the Black Sea as well as seven of eight Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia. Such aerial attacks have been a common part of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Ukrainian officials hailing the work of air defenses in countering the …

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The far-right Alternative for Germany party saw its first head of a county administration elected Sunday in a rural eastern region, a win that comes as national polls show its support at record levels.  A runoff election in Sonneberg county pitted Alternative for Germany’s candidate, Robert Sesselmann, against center-right rival Jürgen Köpper. Official figures showed Sesselmann, who had been well ahead in the first round two weeks ago, winning by 52.8% to 47.2%.  Sonneberg has a relatively small population of 56,800, but the win is a symbolic milestone for Alternative for Germany, or AfD. The 10-year-old party has been polling …

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Lithuania’s president warned Sunday that if Belarus is to host Wagner mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin then NATO will need to strengthen its eastern flank. The head of state, whose Baltic country neighbors both Belarus and Russia and will host next month’s NATO summit, spoke after a state security council meeting to discuss Wagner’s aborted revolt against the Kremlin.   After Prigozhin called off his troops’ advance on Saturday, Moscow said the Wagner chief would leave Russia for Belarus and would not face charges. “If Prigozhin or part of the Wagner group ends up in Belarus with unclear plans and unclear …

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Knackered after covering a stunning march on Moscow by a small army of mercenaries? Take a day off after a “tense” weekend, Russian authorities told journalists Sunday. An armed rebellion by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who had vowed Friday to topple the Russian military leadership and began a march on Moscow, sparked the country’s largest political crisis in decades and prompted many newsrooms to work around the clock. Moscow authorities introduced “anti-terror” measures and said residents will have a day off Monday, even though Wagner chief Prigozhin suddenly aborted his revolt Saturday evening. On Sunday, the Russian ministry of digital …

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One person was killed, and several others injured when a roller coaster derailed in Stockholm Sunday, Swedish TV reported. Park officials told public broadcaster SVT that that one of the carriages on the Jetline rollercoaster derailed and people fell to the ground at the Grona Lund amusement park. “It is incredibly tragic and shocking,” park spokeswoman Annika Troselius told SVT. “Unfortunately, we have been informed that one person is killed, and many are injured.” Police said seven people, both children and adults, were hospitalized. The amusement park was evacuated to facilitate the work of rescue crews. SVT reporter Jenny Lagerstedt, …

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The United States said Sunday that the brief rebellion of mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin against Russia’s military leadership shows “very serious cracks” in the two-decade rule of President Vladimir Putin and “questions the very premise” of his 16-month war against Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC’s “This Week” show, that the war “has been a devastating strategic failure for Putin across virtually every front – economic, military, geopolitical standing.” “We see cracks emerging,” Blinken said of Prigozhin’s protest targeting Putin. “Where they go – if anywhere – when they get there, very hard to say. I don’t …

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Pope Francis offered prayers Sunday for the family of a teenager who went missing 40 years ago this week, an intervention her brother hailed as a sign the Vatican was finally engaging seriously with its most famous cold case. Emanuela Orlandi, the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee, was last seen leaving a music class in Rome on June 22, 1983. Decades of speculation followed over what happened to her, with suggestions that mobsters, the secret services or a Vatican conspiracy were to blame — theories which sparked a hit Netflix series. After his weekly Angelus prayer at the Vatican, …

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Voters in Greece are going to the polls Sunday. It is the second time in less than two months voters are casting their ballots for a new Parliament. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ conservative New Democracy party is expected to remain in power. Sunday’s vote is being held under a new electoral law that will make it easier for the winning party to form a parliamentary majority. New Democracy won in May but did not garner enough seats to form a government. New Democracy’s main rival is the left-wing Syriza party led by former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. Sunday’s election is …

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The confessionals where generations of Belgians admitted their sins stood stacked in a corner of what was once Sacred Heart Church, proof the stalls — as well as the Roman Catholic house of worship — had outlived their purpose. The building is to close for two years while a cafe and concert stage are added as part of the plans to turn it into “a new cultural hot spot in the heart of Mechelen,” almost within earshot of where Belgium’s archbishop lives. Around the corner, a former Franciscan church is now a luxury hotel where music star Stromae spent his …

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The United States and its allies held close consultations but publicly stayed on the sidelines Saturday as officials waited to see how the armed revolt by longtime Kremlin insider Yevgeny Prigozhin and his private Wagner army would play out. As the rebel force threatened to march on Moscow — then announced a stunning pull-back — U.S. officials carefully avoided direct comment on what some stressed was an internal situation in Russia, while Moscow warned them to stay out of the fray. U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with the leaders of France, Germany and Britain amid concerns that Russian President Vladimir …

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A pod of killer whales bumped one of the boats in an endurance sailing race as it approached the Strait of Gibraltar, the latest encounter in what researchers say is a growing trend of sometimes-aggressive interactions with Iberian orcas. The 15-minute run-in with at least three of the giant mammals forced the crew competing in The Ocean Race on Thursday to drop its sails and raise a clatter in an attempt to scare off the approaching orcas. No one was injured, but Team JAJO skipper Jelmer van Beek said in a video posted on The Ocean Race website that it …

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