Month: June 2024

‘In seventh heaven,’ says Swede freed in Iran prisoner swap 

Stockholm — A Swede freed in a prisoner swap with Iran, 33-year-old EU diplomat Johan Floderus, said in his first words since his release that he was “in seventh heaven”, in a video published Sunday. In the video obtained by AFP from the Swedish government, Floderus can be heard speaking to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson by satellite phone while on a flight home from Iran on Saturday. “I’m in the sky and I feel emotionally like I’m in seventh heaven. I’ve been waiting for this for almost 800 days,” an audibly exhilarated Floderus told a smiling Kristersson. “I’ve dreamt of this …

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«Права людини завжди на часі» – у Києві відбувся Марш рівності на підтримку ЛГБТК+

Головна мета маршу, за словами організаторів, – боротьба за рівні права для громадян України, незалежно від гендерної ідентифікації та ухвалення законодавства для можливості цивільного партнерства одностатевих пар …

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UK ‘guinea pig’ for election security before landmark votes

London — The UK general election is being watched closely after stark warnings that rapid advancements in cyber-tech, particularly AI, and increasing friction between major nations threaten the integrity of 2024’s landmark votes. “These rogue and unregulated technological advances pose an enormous threat to us all. They can be weaponized to discriminate, disinform and divide,” the head of Amnesty International Agnes Callamard said in April. The UK election on July 4 — four months before the United States — will be seen as the “guinea pig” for election security, said Bruce Snell, cyber-security strategist at US firm Qwiet AI, which uses …

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Former French President Sarkozy flags chaos risk as election looms

Paris — Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned on Sunday that President Emmanuel Macron’s unexpected decision to dissolve the National Assembly and call for snap legislative elections could backfire and plunge the country into chaos. Macron called the snap vote, to be held in two rounds on June 30 and July 7, after his centrist alliance was trounced by the far-right National Rally (RN) in last Sunday’s European Parliament ballot. Sarkozy, the conservative former president who was in office from 2007 to 2012 and remains an important political figure, said possible chaos triggered by the dissolution of the assembly might be …

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Even legal African visitors to Europe face hurdles

ALGIERS, Algeria — France has twice rejected visa applications from Nabil Tabarout, a 29-year-old web developer from Algeria who hopes this year to visit his sister there. He’s among the many people navigating the often-arduous visa process throughout Africa, which faces higher visa rejection rates than anywhere else in the world when it comes to visiting Europe’s Schengen Area. Appointments are often difficult to secure. Applicants often must prove a minimum bank balance, substantiate the purpose of their visit and prove they plan to return home. “That’s how it is. Every pleasure deserves pain,” said Tabarout, who has succeeded just once …

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Study: Men all over world tend to eat more meat than women

chicago, illinois — Vacationing in Chicago this week from Europe, Jelle den Burger and Nirusa Naguleswaran grabbed a bite at the Dog House Grill: a classic Italian beef sandwich for him, grilled cheese for her.  Both think the way their genders lined up with their food choices was no coincidence. Women, said Naguleswaran, are simply more likely to ditch meat, and to care about how their diet affects the environment and other people.  “I don’t want to put it in the wrong way, that male people feel attacked,” said Naguleswaran, of Netherlands, laughing. She said she used to love eating meat, …

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Dutch visitor dies on Greek island, 4 foreign missing

athens, greece — A missing Dutch tourist was found dead early Saturday on the eastern Greek island of Samos, local media reported, the latest in a string of recent cases in which tourists in the Greek islands have died or gone missing. Some, if not all, had set out on hikes in blistering hot temperatures.  Dr. Michael Mosley, a noted British television anchor and author, was found dead last Sunday on the island of Symi. A coroner concluded Mosley had died the previous Wednesday, shortly after going for a hike over difficult, rocky terrain.  Samos, like Symi, lies very close to …

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Princess of Wales returns to public view at king’s birthday celebration

LONDON — Britain put on a display of birthday pageantry Saturday for King Charles III, a military parade that marked the Princess of Wales’ first public appearance since her cancer diagnosis early this year. The annual event was also a show of stability by the monarchy after months in which the king and Kate, wife of heir to the throne Prince William, have been sidelined by cancer treatment. In a symbolic display of unity, Charles, Queen Camilla, William, Kate and their children were joined by other members of the royal family on a Buckingham Palace balcony at the end of the …

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Сійярто пояснив, чому Угорщина більше не блокує старт переговорів про вступ України до ЄС

Напередодні стало відомо, що Угорщина припинила блокувати погодження так званої рамки для переговорів щодо вступу України в Європейський союз, і Україна й Молдова мають офіційно почати переговори про вступ до ЄС 25 червня …

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Iran, Sweden swap prisoners, freeing man convicted of war crimes

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran and Sweden agreed Saturday to a prisoner swap, freeing Hamid Nouri, convicted of war crimes by Sweden over mass 1988 executions in the Islamic Republic, in exchange for two men held by Tehran. Iran released Johan Floderus, a Swede who had been working for the European Union’s diplomatic corps, as well as a man identified as Saeed Azizi by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. They “are now on a plane home to Sweden, and will soon be reunited with their families,” Kristersson wrote on the social platform X. Oman mediated the swap, the state-run Oman …

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