Section: KXAN (USA)
500 reported arrested in Belarus protests
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A human rights group in Belarus said more than 500 people were arrested in protests around the country calling for authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko to step down. The Sunday demonstrations continued the wave of near-daily protests that have gripped Belarus since early August. In the capital Minsk, police wielded...
Moldova’s presidential runoff sees big Russia-West divide
CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Moldovans returned to the polls Sunday for a presidential runoff, facing a stark choice between the staunchly pro-Russian incumbent and his popular challenger, a pro-Western former World Bank economist. The challenger, former Prime Minister Maia Sandu, beat the odds to win the first round on Nov. 1, which narrowed the...
Belarus nuclear plant stops power output soon after opening
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarus’ first nuclear power plant stopped generating electricity the day after it was formally opened by President Alexander Lukashenko and some of its equipment needs to be replaced, a Belarusian official told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Lukashenko inaugurated the Russian-built and -financed Astravyets plant on...
Club-wielding police in Belarus arrest nearly 400 protesters
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Club-swinging police went after demonstrators in Belarus’ capital who were demanding the resignation of the country’s authoritarian president on Sunday, the 90th consecutive day of protests. Human rights activists said nearly 400 people were arrested. Thousands of demonstrators tried to enter the center of Minsk...
Belarus opens nuclear plant opposed by neighboring Lithuania
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Saturday formally opened the country’s first nuclear power plant, a project sharply criticized by neighboring Lithuania. Lukashenko said the launch of the Russian-built and -financed Astravyets plant “will serve as an impetus for attracting the most advanced technologies to...
Disabled hold rally in Belarus to demand president step down
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — About 200 disabled people rallied in Belarus’ capital Thursday, continuing a nearly three-month wave of protests triggered by the disputed reelection of the country’s authoritarian leader. More than 15,000 people have been arrested since the protests erupted after President Alexander Lukashenko’s reelection...
Police fire warning shots as thousands protest in Belarus
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Thousands of protesters in Belarus swarmed the streets of the capital to demand the resignation of the country’s longtime president for the 12th straight Sunday and encountered police firing warning shots in the air and using stun grenades to break up the crowds. As many as 20,000 people took part in the rally, the...
Georgia’s ruling party wins vote; opposition urges protests
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia’s ruling party won the country’s highly contested parliamentary election, according to preliminary results announced Sunday that the opposition refused to recognize as valid and used to call for protests, saying they were manipulated. Georgia’s Central election commission said that with 95% of...
Nearly 3 months after vote, Belarus protests still go strong
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Nearly three months after Belarus’ authoritarian president’s re-election to a sixth term in a vote widely seen as rigged, demonstrators keep swarming the streets of Belarusian cities to demand his resignation in the most massive and sustained wave of protests the ex-Soviet nation has ever seen. While President...
Georgians vote in hotly contested parliamentary elections
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Voters in Georgia will cast ballots Saturday in a parliamentary election hotly contested between the governing party, founded by a billionaire, and an alliance around the country’s ex-president who’s in self-imposed exile in Ukraine — another former Soviet republic on the Black Sea. The Georgian Dream party,...
