NATO allies are preparing for their annual two-day summit July 11 and 12 in Vilnius, Lithuania — as Ukraine urges the alliance to fast-track its proposed membership. Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed Tuesday that he will extend his term for another year, as the West seeks to maintain unity amid Russia’s aggression. Henry Ridgwell reports. …
Dozens of people with flowers, many unable to hold back tears, bid farewell Tuesday to an award-winning Ukrainian writer who was among those killed by a Russian missile attack on a popular restaurant in eastern Ukraine. The memorial service for Victoria Amelina, 37, was held in the crowded main hall of Saint Michael’s Cathedral in Kyiv, where ceremonies are usually held for soldiers who were killed on the battlefield. Amelina died in a hospital from injuries sustained in the June 27 strike on a popular restaurant frequently visited by journalists and aid workers in the city of Kramatorsk. Twelve other …
Deeply loved but wracked by crisis, Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) on Wednesday marks 75 years since it was founded as the Western world’s first universal, free health care system. In a secular age, the NHS is the closest thing Britain has to a national religion — devoutly cherished, with levels of public support higher than the royal family or any other British institution. It was founded three years after World War II by a pioneering Labour government on the principle that everyone should access top-quality health care funded by general taxation, free at the point of care. Prime Minister …
Turkey’s foreign minister said Tuesday that Swedish authorities’ failure to prevent Quran-burning protests in the country is raising security concerns and questions about Sweden’s credentials for possible NATO membership. But Hakan Fidan said Turkey would still approve Sweden’s membership in the military alliance if Stockholm “completes its homework” and presses ahead with efforts to address Turkey’s concerns. “The fact that the Swedish security system is incapable of preventing provocations and is presenting an image of a [country] that brings problems to NATO — instead of more power — is making us think in terms of the strategic and security aspects,” …
Latest developments: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for the extension of an agreement allowing for the export of grain from Ukrainian ports. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sweden has more work to do before Turkey can support a Swedish bid to join NATO. “Everyone must accept that Turkey’s friendship cannot be won by supporting terrorism or by making space for terrorists,” Erdogan said. Russia said Tuesday it downed five Ukrainian drones that attacked Moscow and the surrounding region. The Russian defense ministry said air defenses shot down four of the drones, while the fifth …
Kyiv and its Western allies have opened a new center in The Hague that will investigate Russia’s leaders for the crime of aggression, following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Henry Ridgwell reports from London. …
Iran has hanged at least 354 people in the first six months of 2023, a rights group said Monday, adding that the pace of executions was much higher than in 2022. Rights groups have accused Tehran of increasing the use of the death penalty to spread fear across society in the wake of the protest movement that erupted last September over the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who had been arrested for allegedly violating strict dress rules for women. Executions up 36% Norway-based Iran Human Rights said the 354 people figure for the first six months up to …
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN — Sweden on Monday ordered four companies to stop using a Google tool that measures and analyzes web traffic, as doing so transfers personal data to the United States. One company was fined the equivalent of more than $1.1 million. Sweden’s privacy protection agency, the IMY, said it had examined the use of Google Analytics by the firms following a complaint by the Austrian data privacy group NOYB (none of your business), which has filed dozens of complaints against Google across Europe. NOYB asserted that the use of Google Analytics for web statistics by the companies resulted in the transfer …
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signaled Monday that his country is not ready to ratify Sweden’s membership in NATO, saying Stockholm had to work harder on the “homework” it needs to complete. Speaking after a Cabinet meeting, Erdogan also renewed his condemnation of a Quran-burning protest that took place in Sweden last week, describing the action as a hate crime against Muslims. “We have made it clear that the determined fight against terrorist organizations and Islamophobia are our red line,” Erdogan said. “Everyone must accept that Turkey’s friendship cannot be won by supporting terrorism or by making space for terrorists.” …
Germany’s government accused Poland on Monday of failing to stop the dumping of pollutants that contributed to the deaths of hundreds of tons of fish in the Oder River, which runs along the border between the two countries. The mass fish die-off last summer caused friction between Warsaw and Berlin, which both blamed chemical discharges on the Polish stretch of the river for promoting the growth of deadly golden algae. The environmental group Greenpeace said wastewater from Poland’s coal mines was most likely responsible. “We see increasing signs that salts continue to be discharged (into the Oder),” German Environment Ministry …
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday it was imperative for the European Union to address the issue of its enlargement as soon as possible to include countries such as Ukraine and Moldova to guarantee they do not fall under the influence of Russia or China. Speaking in Madrid, von der Leyen said the bloc must look forward four years and imagine what the union should be like. “Can we imagine the European Union will be without Ukraine, without Moldova, without the Western Balkans? And those parts of Europe are under the influence of Russia or China? Impossible,” …
Latest developments: U.S. President Joe Biden will visit Europe for a three-country trip to strengthen the international coalition against Russian aggression as the war in Ukraine continues into its second year. The focus of Biden’s five-day visit next week, will be the annual NATO summit, held this year in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11-12. Poland will send 500 police officers to strengthen security along its border with Belarus, the Polish interior minister said Sunday. “Due to the tense situation on the border with Belarus, I have decided to bolster our forces with 500 Polish police officers from riot control and …
A 24-year-old French firefighter died Sunday night while trying to douse burning cars in an underground car garage north of Paris, as riots in France’s capital continued for a sixth night over the police killing of a teenager of Algerian and Moroccan parents. Referring to the incident, French Transport Minister Clement Beaune said: “My thoughts go out to the public servants mobilized day and night for a return to calm.” Authorities said that police arrested over 150 people nationwide in the overnight rioting, many fewer than on previous days. Three members of the police were injured, also a sharply lower …
A survey released Monday found that people in the United States and United Kingdom had the lowest level of confidence in their governments among leading industrial nations. Gallup said in 2022, 31% of adults in the United States had confidence in their government, while the figure stood at 33% for the United Kingdom. Germany was at the top of the list among the Group of Seven nations with 61% confidence. The positions of the United States and the United Kingdom were far different in 2022 than they were in 2006, Gallup said. In the same survey in 2006, the United …
Nick Kyrgios pulled out of Wimbledon the night before the tournament’s start, citing a wrist injury, a year after he reached his first Grand Slam final at the All England Club. His withdrawal was announced by Wimbledon Sunday night and Kyrgios wrote about it on social media. He was seeded 30th in the men’s bracket and was scheduled to face David Goffin on Monday. Kyrgios will be replaced in the field by a player who lost during qualifying. “I’m really sad to say that I have to withdraw from Wimbledon this year. During my comeback, I experienced some pain in …
It took a late breakaway by Victor Lafay for French team Cofidis to end its 15-year winless streak at the Tour de France. Cofidis won the second stage Sunday after Lafay moved to the front and held off a late charge by the favorites to clinch the victory, with Adam Yates keeping the overall lead after the opening two stages in northern Spain. Cofidis hadn’t won in the Tour since Sylvain Chavanel triumphed in the 19th stage of the 2008 edition. “It’s a relief for Cofidis to finally get a stage win,” Lafay said. “I’ve been hearing about this for …
A Ukrainian writer and war crimes investigator wounded in a Russian missile strike on a restaurant last week has died, the freedom of expression group PEN said on Sunday. Victoria Amelina, 37, was wounded when a Russian missile destroyed the Ria Pizza restaurant in the eastern city of Kramatorsk on Tuesday, killing 12 people, including children, and wounding dozens. “With our greatest pain, we inform you that Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina passed away on July 1st in Mechnikov Hospital in Dnipro,” PEN Ukraine said in a statement on its Facebook page. Amelina had been in the city with a delegation …
Iran will refrain from sending a new ambassador to Sweden in protest over the burning of a Koran outside a mosque in Stockholm, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said Sunday. A man tore up and burned a Quran outside Stockholm’s central mosque Wednesday, the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holidays. Swedish police charged the man who burned the holy book with agitation against an ethnic or national group. In a newspaper interview, he described himself as an Iraqi refugee seeking to ban it. Iran’s foreign ministry summoned Sweden’s charge d’affaires Thursday to condemn what it said was an …
The European Union’s ambassador to China expressed regret on Sunday over the lack of “substantial progress” with Beijing on trade talks, as EU countries seek to reduce their economic dependence on the Asian giant. The European Commission has suspended its efforts to get member states and parliament to ratify an investment agreement reached with China at the end of 2020, after seven years of talks, following differences over human rights in the Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang. With relations cooling, the EU also decided in May to “readjust” its position towards China to reduce its economic dependence at a time when …
U.S. President Joe Biden is leaving in a week on a five-day, three-nation trip to Europe, the White House said Sunday, with the key stop at the annual NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, where Western leaders plan to discuss their latest efforts to bolster Ukraine’s fight against Russia. Biden is heading first to London next Sunday on the July 9-13 trip, where over two days he is planning to meet with King Charles and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “to further strengthen the close relationship between our nations,” the White House said. The U.S. leader then heads to Lithuania for two …