новини

Dispute over Spain’s past domination of Mexico reveals domestic divisions

Madrid — Among those not present at Tuesday’s inauguration of Mexico’s first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, was the Spanish monarch.  Sheinbaum did not invite King Felipe VI of Spain to the ceremony after the monarch did not respond to a letter demanding that he apologize for Spain’s 16th century defeat of Mexico’s powerful Aztec rulers.  Today, a diplomatic dispute between Mexico and Spain over the event half a millennium ago is motivated more by domestic political tensions in both countries, analysts said.  The issue of Spain’s colonial past has also revealed political splits within Spain’s own left-wing coalition government, observers noted.  …

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Влада: з 90 населених пунктів Сумщини примусово евакуюють родини з дітьми

У місцевій раді уточнили, що до організації примусової евакуації залучені соціальні служби органів місцевого самоврядування та державної влади, поліція, рятувальники та військові …

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Europe hardens cease-fire calls as October 7 anniversary of Hamas attack nears

London — As the anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel approaches, many European countries are strengthening their calls for Israel to end its assault on Hamas targets in Gaza amid growing horror at the civilian death toll.   The militant attack killed 1,200 people, including Israelis and people of several other nationalities. Around 250 people were taken hostage by Hamas. The assault prompted outrage from Israel’s allies in Europe. “This Hamas attack is terrible, and it is barbaric. In these dark hours for the Jewish state, we … stand firmly by Israel’s side,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz …

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NATO’s new chief makes Ukraine support a top priority, says he’ll work with any US president

Brussels — The new head of NATO vowed on Tuesday to help shore up Western support for war-ravaged Ukraine and expressed confidence that he can work with whoever is elected president of the United States, the alliance’s most powerful member, in November. “There can be no lasting security in Europe without a strong, independent Ukraine,” new NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in his first speech on taking office, and he affirmed a commitment made by the organization’s leaders in 2008 that “Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO.” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces are making advances in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s army has …

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Chinese woman arrested in Germany on suspicion of espionage, prosecutor says 

Berlin — A Chinese woman has been arrested in the German city of Leipzig on suspicion of foreign agent activities and passing on information regarding arms deliveries, the prosecutor general said in a statement on Tuesday.  The suspect, named only as Yaqi X, is accused of passing on information obtained while working for a logistics company at Leipzig/Halle airport to a member of the Chinese secret service, who is being prosecuted separately, the statement said.  The second Chinese national, named as Jian G, was working as an aide to Maximilian Krah, a member of the European Parliament for the far-right Alternative …

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Man gets life in Russian prison for car bombing that wounded writer 

moscow — A Russian court Monday gave a life sentence to a man convicted in a car bombing that seriously wounded nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin. Prosecutors said the May 2023 bombing in the Nizhny Novogorod region was conducted at the direction of Ukraine’s security services. Prilepin was seriously injured, and his driver died in the bombing. The convicted defendant, Alexander Permyakov, is from Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region and once fought with the Russian-backed separatists there, news reports said.  Prilepin was known for his vehement defense of both the Russia-backed eastern Ukraine rebels who rose up in 2014, and of Russia’s fighting …

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Russian journalism archive aims to protect independent voices from media suppression

Washington — On a quiet May morning, two months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the homepage of Kremlin-owned news website Lenta.ru was flooded with anti-war and anti-government articles. The articles disappeared from the webpage within the hour, but because of the effort of internet archivists, they can still be viewed separately today.  This is one of many examples of the Russian government’s attacks on free media, one that activists and archivists hope to counter. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, almost all independent media has been banned or blocked, and journalists are frequently …

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