Migrant Boat Accidents: At least 30 killed in Greece

Greek coast guards scoured for survivors in the Aegean Sea yesterday after the latest in a series of migrant boat accidents that have killed at least 30 people in just days.
25 December 2021

Russia blocks rights monitor website

Russia has blocked the website of a rights monitor tracking political persecution, saying it promoted terrorism and extremism, amid an unprecedented official crackdown on dissent.
25 December 2021

‘Putin wants to destroy Ukraine’

Russian President Vladimir Putin is bent on destroying Ukraine but there is no major risk of an imminent invasion, a senior Ukrainian security official said on Friday.
25 December 2021

‘Value the little things in life’

Pope Francis yesterday urged dialogue on both personal and political levels as he celebrated a second Christmas under the shadow of a coronavirus pandemic that was pushing people into isolation.
25 December 2021

Libya urged to reschedule presidential polls ‘swiftly’

The US and four European powers on Friday urged war-torn Libya to quickly set a new date for delayed presidential elections.
25 December 2021

16 migrants dead in Greece shipwreck, 3rd maritime disaster in a week

At least 16 people died when their boat overturned off the Greek island of Paros in the central Aegean Sea on Friday, in the third maritime disaster involving migrants this week, the country's coastguard said.
25 December 2021

Putin hails multiple launch test of hypersonic missile

President Vladimir Putin yesterday said the Russian military successfully fired a simultaneous salvo of its Zircon hypersonic missiles, calling it “a big event” for the country.
24 December 2021

Assange lawyers launch appeal against extradition

Lawyers for Julian Assange have launched an appeal before Britain’s Supreme Court against a High Court ruling that he may be extradited to the United States, the WikiLeaks founder’s fiancee said Thursday.
24 December 2021

Inaction may kill thousands

Germany’s new foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, has pledged to work with international partners to help avert in Afghanistan what she called “the worst humanitarian catastrophe of our time”.
24 December 2021

Putin sees ‘positive’ US reaction

President Vladimir Putin said that Washington’s willingness to discuss Russia’s security proposals to curb Nato’s eastward expansion was “positive”, as fears mount in the West over a major military escalation in Ukraine.
24 December 2021

US became ‘arrogant’ after fall of Soviet Union: Gorbachev

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev yesterday said that Washington grew “arrogant and self-confident” after the collapse of the Soviet Union, leading to the expansion of the Nato military alliance.
24 December 2021

Poland says Germany wants to turn EU into ‘Fourth Reich’

The head of Poland’s ruling party Jaroslaw Kaczynski yesterday said that Germany was trying to turn the European Union into a federal “German Fourth Reich”.
24 December 2021

Russia fines Google $98m over banned content

A Moscow court slapped Google with an unprecedented hefty fine of nearly $100 million yesterday as Russia ramps up its pressure on foreign tech giants.
24 December 2021

Two killed in Russia hospital fire

Two patients died yesterday after a fire broke out in an intensive care unit of an infectious diseases hospital, typically used to treat Covid patients, in Astrakhan in southern Russia.
24 December 2021

West condemns ‘deployment’ of Russian mercenaries in Mali

More than a dozen Western powers on Thursday expressed anger that Russian mercenaries working for the controversial Wagner group have started to deploy in Mali, accusing Moscow of providing material backing for the fighters.
24 December 2021

High temperatures hit Greenland

Temperatures have soared in Greenland recently, the Danish Meteorological Institute said on Wednesday, in line with warming trends experts have linked to global warming.
23 December 2021

Russia doesn’t want conflict: Putin

Russia wants to avoid conflict with Ukraine and the West, President Vladimir Putin said yesterday, demanding an “immediate” response from the US and its allies to Moscow’s demand for security guarantees.
23 December 2021

AstraZeneca, Oxford to produce Omicron-targeted vaccine

AstraZeneca Plc said on Tuesday it is working with Oxford University to produce a vaccine for the Omicron coronavirus variant, joining other
22 December 2021

Dozens missing as migrant boat sinks off Greece

A massive search and rescue operation was underway off the Greek island of Folegandros yesterday, after a dinghy carrying migrants sank, killing at least one person, Greek authorities said.
22 December 2021

Russia expels two German diplomats in tit-for-tat move

Russia on Monday expelled two German diplomats in response to a spat with Berlin over a German court’s ruling that Moscow had ordered the 2019 assassination of an ex-Chechen commander in a Berlin park.
21 December 2021