Section: KXAN (USA)
Pressure grows for Germany to rethink pipeline with Russia
BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel faced pressure on Thursday to use a joint German-Russian pipeline project as leverage in getting Russia to provide answers about the poisoning of the Kremlin’s most determined critic. After German authorities said Wednesday that tests showed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned...
Belarus leader reshuffles lieutenants to tighten control
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarus’ authoritarian leader on Thursday reshuffled his top lieutenants in an apparent attempt to strengthen his rule amid weeks of protests pushing for his resignation. President Alexander Lukashenko promoted Valery Vakulchik, who led the state security agency that still goes under the Soviet-era name of KGB, to be...
Belarusian journalists face charges for covering protests
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Dozens of journalists gathered Wednesday outside a police station in the capital of Belarus to protest the detention of colleagues covering a demonstration against the nation’s authoritarian president and an election the opposition sees as rigged. Police detained eight journalists from Belarusian news outlets Tuesday on...
Lawyer: Families of MH17 victims want reparation for damages
SCHIPHOL, Netherlands (AP) — A lawyer for relatives of victims killed when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014 told trial judges Monday that the families want damages as a recognition of the injustice they suffered and told judges that Russian “disinformation” compounds their grief. Lawyer Arlette Schijns was...
Huge protest on Belarus leader’s birthday demands he resign
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered Sunday in the capital of Belarus, beginning the fourth week of daily protests demanding the resignation of the country’s authoritarian president after an election they call rigged gave him a sixth term in office. The protest at the “hero city” monument honoring Minsk’s...
Germany’s Merkel: Don’t link Navalny case to pipeline plan
BERLIN (AP) — Germany has a duty to do what it can to help get to the bottom of the apparent poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday, but she argued that the issue shouldn’t be linked to the fate of a German-Russian gas pipeline project whose completion the U.S. wants to prevent. Navalny,...
Serbia surprisingly joins EU in condemnation of Belarus vote
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — In a surprise move, Serbia has joined the European Union in its rejection of the election results in Belarus and criticism of a crackdown against those protesting against the country’s longtime autocratic leader. Serbia’s prime minister, Ana Brnabic, said Thursday that Belgrade signed up with the EU resolution...
Cyprus denies new allegations in “golden passport” scheme
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus on Sunday denied fresh allegations that it was granting citizenship to foreigners accused of crimes in exchange for millions in investments, insisting that all those who received a passport met all criteria in place at the time. The Cypriot parliament last month beefed up the eligibility criteria for the so-called...
Iran retrieves data, cockpit talk from downed Ukraine plane
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has retrieved some data, including a portion of cockpit conversations, from the Ukrainian jetliner accidentally downed by the Revolutionary Guard forces in January, killing all 176 people on board, an Iranian official said Sunday. That’s according to a report on the website of Iran’s Civil Aviation...
AP Interview: Ex-official urges transition talks in Belarus
MINSK, Belarus (AP) — As a former culture minister and ambassador to France, Pavel Latushko is the most well-connected member of a new council established by the political opposition in Belarus to facilitate a transition of power amid massive protests challenging the continued rule of the country’s authoritarian five-term president....
