As the crisis in Ukraine entered its 12th week, Europe offered another half billion dollars in military aid to Kyiv, and Sweden moved closer to joining NATO. At a meeting of the world’s most powerful democracies, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell promised Ukraine an extra 500 million euros ($520 million), bringing the bloc’s … Read more
According to recent data, the number of employers in the United Kingdom who voluntarily disclose ethnicity pay gap data has dropped dramatically, bolstering arguments for a forced method similar to that used for gender pay data. The UK government had a consultation on this in 2018, and the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee … Read more
The belief that Friday the 13th is a bad day dates back centuries — thankfully, it will only happen once in 2022. One of the most well-known superstitions that still exists in modern society is the old adage that Friday the 13th is unlucky. The date can sneak up on us once, twice, or even … Read more
A trail derailed outside of Vienna on Monday, killing one person and injuring more than a dozen others, according to Austrian news agency APA. Rescuers rushed to the accident at Muenchendorf, just south of Vienna, with one dead, two seriously injured and 11 lightly injured, APA cited Andreas Zenker of the Red Cross of Lower Austria … Read more
An AFP correspondent reported shots were fired from inside the Sri Lankan prime minister’s official mansion on Monday as thousands of protestors broke through the main gate and set fire to a parked truck. Police also fired tear gas to push back protesters retaliating against an attack on them earlier in the day by those … Read more
In a wave of violence between government supporters and demonstrators demanding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation in Sri Lanka on Monday, at least five people were murdered and almost 200 were injured. As clashes spread, the authorities imposed an indefinite curfew across the nation of 22 million people and called in the military to help contain … Read more
China’s Covid lockdowns contributed to persisting anxieties about the impact of rising US interest rates and growing inflation on world financial markets and oil prices on Monday. Frankfurt, London and Paris all fell more than two percent, as did Tokyo. On Wall Street, the Dow was down nearly two percent in late morning trading, with … Read more
Copper-rich President Hakainde Hichilema stated on Monday that Zambia wants to more than increase mineral production to three million tones per year within a decade. Hichilema took office last year with ambitious plans to review mining policies and turn around the economy of the Africa’s second largest copper producer. He told an annual Africa mining … Read more
Hundreds of protesters marched in Sarajevo, Bosnia’s capital, on Monday, urging Russia to cease the Ukraine conflict. Sarajevo was besieged during a devastating civil war in the 1990s. Bosnia’s inter-ethnic war killed nearly 100,000 people, of whom more than 11,000 died during the Sarajevo siege by Serb forces. The march was organized by associations gathering … Read more
As Lera Nelyub walked with her grandfather Nikolai, she said it was difficult to find a topic to discuss with the 97-year-old World War II veteran about the ongoing Russian invasion. At Kyiv’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Monday, she held on to him as he bent to lay a bouquet of flowers to … Read more
On Monday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz praised French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal for a larger European club of countries outside the EU, which could include Ukraine or the United Kingdom. “I want to say explicitly that this is a very interesting suggestion,” Scholz told journalists, adding that he was “very pleased about the suggestion that … Read more
The United States lifted duties on Ukrainian steel imports for a year on Monday, in a move aimed at assisting the country’s economy. In the wake of the dramatic evacuation of civilians sheltering in a steel plant in Mariupol after Russian forces bombarded the port city, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo heralded the importance of the … Read more
The UN Human Rights Council has announced that a special session will be held on Thursday to examine alleged Russian abuses in Ukraine. More than 50 countries on Monday backed Kyiv’s request for an extraordinary meeting of the UN’s top rights body to examine “the deteriorating human rights situation in Ukraine stemming from the Russian … Read more
On Tuesday, the son of late Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos won a historic landslide victory in the country’s presidential election, defying fears that he would erode the country’s already shaky democracy. Nearly 40 years after his namesake father was deposed by a popular revolt and his family chased into exile, Ferdinand Marcos Jr had garnered … Read more
As climate change wreaks havoc on the continent, UN talks to combat desertification and land degradation that have destroyed broad swaths of Africa began Monday in Ivory Coast. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), involving 196 countries plus the European Union, is meeting for the first time in three years, in Abidjan. Decades … Read more
Prosecutor Per Fiig said on Monday that a suspected Nigerian pirate caught during a deadly shootout in the Gulf of Guinea has been charged with endangering the lives of Danish sailors. The 39-year-old who lost a leg in the clash with the Danish navy last November faces up to eight years in jail. Danish authorities … Read more
The Turkish consul in Haiti reported Monday that eight Turkish people were kidnapped while travelling by bus in the Caribbean island, which is grappling with a spike of attacks by increasingly powerful gangs. The group were taken hostage Sunday as they drove to the capital Port-au-Prince from the neighboring Dominican Republic, consul Hugues Josue told … Read more
When the Russian ambassador to Poland attempted to lay a wreath to commemorate Victory Day in Warsaw on Monday, he was sprayed with a crimson substance by pro-Ukraine protestors. Victory Day is celebrated annually on May 9 to commemorate the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. This year’s events are taking place … Read more
