Month: November 2024

ROME — The ancient Roman Colosseum will be the venue of gladiator fights — albeit staged — for the first time in two millennia under a $1.5 million sponsorship deal with Airbnb that aims to promote “a more conscious tourism.” But some visitors to the monument Thursday, as well as housing activists, were skeptical about the value of the arrangement, citing ongoing controversies in many cities over the role of short-term rental platforms in fueling overtourism and limiting affordable housing for residents and students. Under the deal announced by Airbnb and the Colosseum on Wednesday, the sponsorship by the short-term rental …

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Italy’s flagship policy of holding migrants in detention centers in Albania for processing has hit a legal roadblock – as judges in Rome referred the case to the European Union’s Court of Justice, which could take months or years to make a ruling. Henry Ridgwell reports. …

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washington — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was among the first foreign leaders to congratulate U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on his early November election victory. President Joe Biden has not hosted Erdogan at the White House though the two have met on sidelines of international summits and spoken by phone. Speaking to journalists accompanying his return from visits to Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan, Erdogan expressed his hope for improved U.S. ties, adding, however, that in-person meetings would be needed to achieve that end, and that Ankara needs to wait to see what kind of a Cabinet Trump forms. The two leaders …

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Amnesty International reported that French-manufactured military technology incorporated into armored personnel carriers (APCs) made by the United Arab Emirates is being used in Sudan’s civil war, a likely violation of a United Nations arms embargo.  In a report posted online Thursday, the human rights organization said it first became aware of the armored vehicles’ presence in Sudan in July, when another study revealed what the group described as “a constant flow of weapons into the country” from several nations, including China, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, the UAE and Yemen.  The APCs were part of the flow of weapons that in some …

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Washington — The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders on Thursday announced that it is suing the social media company X, accusing it of spreading disinformation.   After Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, discovered that it was the target of a disinformation campaign this past summer, the Paris-based group filed 10 reports of policy violations with X, formerly known as Twitter.   Since none of the posts in question have been removed, RSF opted to sue the company in French courts “for its complicity in disseminating false information, misrepresentation and identity theft,” the group said in a statement. “Is X’s deliberate unwillingness to …

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MOSCOW — A Russian man went on trial Thursday on charges of high treason for a video he allegedly sent to Ukraine’s security services, the latest in a growing series of espionage cases involving the conflict. The Volgograd District Court began hearing a new case against Nikita Zhuravel, who is currently serving a 3½-year sentence for burning a Quran in front of a mosque. The new charges are based on allegations that Zhuravel filmed a trainload of military equipment and warplanes in 2023 and sent the video to a representative of Ukraine’s security agency. He could be sentenced to life in …

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On the first day of 2025, Ukraine’s contract with Russian state-owned Gazprom will expire, shutting down a major Russian natural gas pathway to Europe. Although the Kremlin says it is ready to continue the transit deal, urging Europeans to persuade Ukraine to extend the contract, Kyiv has said it won’t budge. Russian natural gas supplies were a cornerstone of European energy security before Moscow’s February 2022 invasion, when it temporarily cut off 80 billion cubic meters of gas supplies to the continent in response to sanctions and a payment dispute. The cut-off dealt a major blow to Europe’s economy that …

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Russia’s military reported capturing a village in east Ukraine on Thursday, with forces closing in on the town of Kurakhove. The Russian Defense Ministry said the army captured the village of Voznesenka in the Donetsk region. The town had a population of about 20,000 before the war began in 2022, Agence France-Presse reported. Russia also reported damaging Ukrainian airfields and energy facilities and shooting down 78 drones, according to state news agency RIA. Ukraine’s military said it shot down 21 of 59 Russian drones launched in an overnight attack. The fighting followed a massive aerial attack on Kyiv and other …

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The European Parliament on Thursday approved a one-year delay on implementing the bloc’s landmark anti-deforestation rules, while also voting to loosen some requirements of the controversial law.  The move triggered an outcry from environmental groups, which had hailed the law as an unprecedented breakthrough in the fight to protect nature and combat climate change.  Parliament was called to sign off on a delay requested by the European Commission following pressure from trading partners such as Brazil and the United States, and some member states including Germany.  But lawmakers on the right used the vote to bring new amendments, passed with …

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ANKARA, turkey — Turkey was offered partner country status by the BRICS group of nations, Trade Minister Omer Bolat said, as Ankara continues what it calls its efforts to balance its Eastern and Western ties. Turkey, a NATO member, has in recent months voiced interest in joining the BRICS group of emerging economies, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attended a BRICS leaders’ summit hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kazan last month, after Ankara said it had taken formal steps to become a member of the …

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