Month: September 2024

Thousands protest in France as high-profile rape cases rock country

Paris — Thousands of people protested sexual violence across France this past weekend, as two high-profile cases rock the country: one involving a woman who was allegedly drugged and raped by dozens of men for years; the other targeting a once-beloved French clergyman, who fought for the rights of the homeless.   In French cities like Marseille and Nantes, both men and women took part in demonstrations calling for an end to sexual violence.   They carried signs with messages like “No, to the culture of rape,” and “Gisele, we believe you” — in support of 72-year-old Gisele Pelicot.   Pelicot’s former husband is …

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US imposes sanctions on 4 Georgians over protest crackdowns

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Treasury Department imposed on Monday sanctions on two Georgian government officials and two members of the country’s pro-Russian far-right movement who it said were involved in violent crackdowns on protests.   Large street protests erupted in Georgia over a “foreign agent” law, which the South Caucasus country’s parliament passed in May despite criticism, including from U.S. officials, that it was Kremlin-inspired and authoritarian.  A Treasury statement said the financial sanctions on Monday targeted Georgia’s Chief of the Special Task Department Zviad Kharazishvili and his deputy, Mileri Lagazauri, who oversaw security forces who violently suppressed the spring protests.  “The …

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Germany expands border controls to curb migrant arrivals

Frankfurt-Oder, Germany — Germany on Monday expanded border controls to the frontiers with all its nine neighbors in hopes of curbing the flow of irregular migrants, a move that has sparked protests from other EU members. Federal police in high-visibility vests braved rains at road and highway crossings for spot checks of passenger cars, buses and other vehicles, asking to see people’s identity papers and checking the trunks of some cars. Germany lies at the heart of Europe and of the visa-free Schengen zone, which is designed to allow the free movement of people and goods, long a core idea of …

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UK PM Starmer meets Italy’s Meloni for illegal immigration talks 

Rome — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Monday to discuss tackling illegal immigration, a day after another Channel migrant shipwreck claimed eight lives.   Starmer, whose center-left Labour Party was elected with a crushing parliamentary majority in July, has vowed to fight illegal immigration, a hot-button topic in British politics for years.   “Here, there’s been some quite dramatic reduction [in migrant arrival numbers] so I want to understand how that came about,” Starmer said in Rome ahead of his meeting with Meloni.   He was speaking while touring a national immigration …

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Zelenskyy again urges West to allow strikes deep inside Russia

Kyiv, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again Sunday urged Western allies to permit Kyiv to strike military targets deep inside Russia, especially air bases, after a deadly attack on Kharkiv.   “Only a systemic solution makes it possible to oppose this terror: the long-range solution to destroy Russian military aviation where it is based,” Zelenskyy said in his daily address.   “We are waiting for appropriate decisions coming primarily from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy.”   Earlier, a guided Russian bomb struck a residential building in Kharkiv, the latest of a series of attacks on the …

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Italian army to guard hospital after attacks on medical staff 

Rome — The Italian army will start guarding medical staff at a hospital in the southern Calabria region from Monday, after a string of violent attacks on doctors and nurses by enraged patients and relatives across Italy, according to local media reports.  Prefect Paolo Giovanni Grieco has approved a plan to reinforce the surveillance services already operated by soldiers on sensitive targets in the Calabrian town of Vibo Valentia, including the hospital, the reports added.  Recent attacks on health workers have been particularly frequent in southern Italy, prompting the doctors’ national guild to ask for the army to be deployed to …

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Hundreds rally in Paris for Iranian women’s rights 

Paris — Hundreds of people marched through Paris on Sunday in support of women’s rights and the opposition in Iran, two years after the death of Mahsa Amini sparked protests against the country’s religious authorities.    A 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, Amini died in custody after being arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women.    The march, organized by around 20 human rights associations, took place as 34 women began a hunger strike in a Tehran prison to mark the two-year anniversary of her death.    Chirinne Ardakani, a Franco-Iranian lawyer and member of the “Iran Justice” …

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