Section: Time (USA)
Belarus Strike Leader Jailed and Opposition Activist Detained
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarus’ authorities on Monday handed a jail sentence to a factory strike organizer and detained a leading opposition activist, part of a methodical effort to stifle weeks of protests against the country’s authoritarian leader after an election the opposition says was rigged. President Alexander Lukashenko, who...
Huge Protest on Belarus Leader’s Birthday Demands He Resign
KYIV, Ukraine — 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...
Iran Retrieves Data, Cockpit Conversations From Downed Ukraine Plane That Left 176 People Dead
(TEHRAN, Iran) — Iran has retrieved some data, including a portion of the cockpit conversations, from the Ukrainian jetliner that was 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...
How Small Acts of Defiance Turned Into a Massive Movement Against Europe’s Last Dictator
Sviatlana Haluza broke down on June 9. As an employee of Belarus’s state-controlled media outlet SB.by, she’d grown used to rewriting boilerplate propaganda mined from other state-controlled media outlets. But now her boss instructed her to recycle an item about the imprisoned opposition leader Siarhei Tsikhanousky. Haluza had a...
Why Putin Is Unlikely to Come to Belarusian President Lukashenko’s Rescue
Another government friendly to Moscow is in trouble. As Belarus continues to be gripped by protests following rigged presidential elections on Aug. 9, many expect to see Russia’s Vladimir Putin intervene. Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus’ President for the past 26 years, certainly hopes Putin steps in to bail him out. He would be better...
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko Rejects Possibility of Election Redo Amid Calls for Resignation
(MINSK, Belarus) — The embattled president of Belarus tried to put on a show of strength Sunday, holding a rally with tens of thousands of supporters and rejecting any possibility of repeating the vote that gave him a sixth term. But opponents countered with a far larger demonstration that attracted as many as 200,000 people. Alexander...
The Leader of Europe’s ‘Last Dictatorship’ Is Facing an Unprecedented Challenge. Here’s What It Could Mean for Belarus
Europe’s longest serving leader Alexander Lukashenko has long worked hard to seem invincible. He has dominated past elections that the U.S. has deemed neither free nor fair and brokered no dissent and suppressed protests. Now, he is facing an unprecedented challenge as he runs for a sixth term as president of Belarus in elections on August...
Gunman Carrying Explosives Holds 10 People Hostage After Seizing Bus in Ukraine
(LUTSK, Ukraine) — An armed man seized a long-distance bus and took people in it hostage in northwestern Ukraine on Tuesday launching an hours-long standoff with police, Ukrainian authorities said. About 10 people are currently being held hostage, Ukraine’s Security Service said in a Facebook statement. Police earlier had put the number at...
Coronavirus Surge in Eastern European Countries Leads to Travel Bans, Face Mask Mandates
(BUDAPEST, Hungary) — Countries in Eastern Europe are facing rising waves of coronavirus infections, leading to new restrictive measures such as the mandatory use of face masks in Croatia and travel bans or quarantines to be imposed by Hungary. Hungarian authorities said Sunday that they would put countries in three categories — red, yellow and...
Russian Orthodox Church Defrocks Coronavirus-Denying Monk
(MOSCOW) — The Russian Orthodox Church on Friday defrocked a coronavirus-denying monk who has defied Kremlin lockdown orders and taken control of a monastery. A church panel in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg ruled to defrock 65-year-old Father Sergiy, who has attracted nationwide attention by urging believers to disobey church...
