Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. HIROSHIMA, Japan — China on Saturday faced a strong pushback from the Group of Seven countries over its stances on Russia, Taiwan, trade bullying, economic monopoly and domestic interference, with the G7 leaders’ statement reflecting a broad convergence of the U.S., Europe and Japan … Read more
ISTANBUL — To President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s LGBTQ+ community represents “deviant structures” and a “virus of heresy.” In the run-up to Sunday’s too-close-to-call election, he has ramped up his poisonous invective against homosexuality, as he seeks to shore up his conservative Islamist base. Almost every other speech from the campaign trail accuses the opposition … Read more
BRUSSELS — Just when you thought Europe’s China policy could not be more disunited, the two most powerful countries of the European Union are now also at odds over whether to revive a moribund investment agreement with the authoritarian superpower. For France, resuscitating the so-called EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) is “less urgent” and “just not … Read more
Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. For Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, next month’s election is of massive historical significance. It falls 100 years after the foundation of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s secular republic and, if Erdoğan wins, he will be empowered to put even more of his stamp on the … Read more
BERLIN — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is heading to China to represent Berlin, but she’ll likely have more explaining to do about Paris in the wake of French President Emmanuel Macron’s explosive comments on Taiwan. As Baerbock embarked on her two-day visit Wednesday evening, officials in Berlin were eager to stress that Germany and … Read more
Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. Mikheil Saakashvili served as president of the Republic of Georgia from 2004 to 2007 and from to 2008 to 2013. Since February marked the one-year anniversary of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s maniacal and unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine, Georgia and other countries in the … Read more
Russian security services detained Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal correspondent, in Yekaterinburg on suspicion of spying for the U.S., sparking a stinging rebuke from the White House. Gershkovich, who is a U.S. citizen, is “suspected of espionage in the interests of the American government” and accused of “trying to obtain secret information,” Russia’s Federal … Read more
Afghanistan’s Taliban regime arrested a well-known education campaigner this week for his work and for holding “meetings with Westerners,” as the Islamic hardliners continue their efforts to stamp out dissent and keep girls out of school. The United Nations mission in Afghanistan said Matiullah Wesa, the founder of the Pen Path organization which has spent … Read more
Islamabad — As the world marks International Women’s Day on Wednesday, the women of Afghanistan have little to celebrate. The Taliban regime has methodically stripped them of their basic rights since reclaiming power over the country in the summer of 2021. Forced from most workplaces and higher education, many women with the means to do so … Read more
Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. BRUSSELS — The European Parliament’s Socialists are warily eyeing their colleagues and assistants, wondering which putative ally might turn out to be a liar as new details emerge in a growing cash-for-favors scandal. Long-simmering geographic divisions within the group, Parliament’s second largest, are fueling … Read more