Section: Newsweek (USA)
Sweden Cuts Defense Ties to Saudi Arabia Over Human Rights Row
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden said on Tuesday it will cancel a defense agreement with Saudi Arabia worth billions of crowns to its industry after criticism of Riyadh’s human rights record sparked a diplomatic row. Sweden’s Social Democrat-led government, which came to power in October last year, has focused its foreign policy on...
Pro-Russian Rebels Preparing Advance ‘On All Fronts’, Warn Ukraine Fighters
Pro-Russian rebels are preparing an advance “on all fronts” in Ukraine’s eastern territories by the end of this week, according to purported conversations between rebels, intercepted by Kiev-loyal forces. A statement on Facebook by the pro-Ukrainian Azov volunteer battalion, said that rebels are planning a possible attack on the town of...
NATO Naval Drills Start in Black Sea After One-Day Delay
NATO’s Black Sea members Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey joined four other alliance states in a multinational naval exercise on Tuesday just across the water from the Crimean Peninsula annexed by Russia last year. The naval rapid reaction force in the Black Sea drills consists of a United States flagship, the guided missile cruiser USS...
U.N. Weapons Approval For Libya Put on Hold: Report
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – At least eight United Nations Security Council members delayed approval on Monday of a request by Libya to import weapons, tanks, jets and helicopters to take on Islamic State militants and monitor its borders, diplomats said. Spain – supported by Lithuania, Chile, New Zealand, Britain, France, Angola and...
Five Held in Nemtsov Murder in Moscow
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian authorities said on Sunday they were holding five men over the killing of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, one of whom served in a police unit in the Russian region of Chechnya, according to a law enforcement official. The five men were frogmarched into a Moscow courtroom on Sunday, forced by masked security officers...
Official Calls for a European Union Army
BERLIN (Reuters) – The European Union needs its own army to face up to Russia and other threats as well as restore the bloc’s foreign policy standing around the world, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told a German newspaper on Sunday. Arguing that NATO was not enough because not all members of the transatlantic...
Report: Senator Menendez to Face Charges
Senator Robert Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat who is the ranking member on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, may soon face corruption charges, according to a report on CNN. The report, which hasn’t been confirmed, claims that Attorney General Eric Holder has given Justice Department lawyers the green light to charge...
Lithuania to Vote on Conscription to Combat Russian Threat
The prospect of military conscription in Lithuania will spark a fierce debate in the country’s parliament when it is put to a vote next week, analysts say. Conscription in the Baltic state was technically suspended in 2008, although the law stayed in force and is still valid. However, there has recently been increasing talk of lifting the...
Kremlin Critic Navalny, Out of Jail, Vows to Fight On
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny walked out of a Moscow detention center on Friday and promised that Russia’s opposition will continue to challenge President Vladimir Putin, uncowed by last week’s killing of prominent opposition figure Boris Nemtsov. But Navalny and other opposition leaders face a tough task getting their message out...
EU to Prepare Possible New Sanctions on Russia Over Ukraine
Britain’s foreign minister said on Friday the European Union would prepare possible new sanctions on Russia for its involvement in the Ukraine conflict that could be imposed quickly if the Minsk ceasefire agreement is broken. Both Kiev and pro-Russia separatists have accused each other of violence since last month’s peace deal that...
