Belarus accuses the United States and several of its allies of organizing a coup and says it has closed its border with Ukraine from where weapons allegedly arrive. The autocratic president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, said the illegal arms deliveries were coordinated by Washington and some European nations.
The European Union has formally launched its digital COVID-19 certificate, designed to make travel safe and easy for the fully vaccinated within its member nations — but at least one airline says the app has run into issues on its first day of use.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appealed to the U.S. administration to “lift or waive” all sanctions on Iran as agreed under the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.
Most European troops have already pulled out of Afghanistan, quietly withdrawing months before the U.S.-led mission was officially expected to end — part of an anticlimactic close to the “forever war” that risks leaving the country on the brink of civil war.
Russia’s capital is imposing new restrictions amid the surge of new coronavirus infections. The measures in Moscow come as elsewhere in Eastern Europe and the Balkans countries race to vaccinate their populations.
Russia and China extended a 20-year-old friendship treaty, the latest in a series of moves that have drawn Moscow and Beijing closer together.
The Czech Republic struggles with the aftermath of one of the most devastating and deadliest tornadoes in the nation’s modern history. Authorities said at least five people were killed and hundreds injured after buildings, including a church, suffered damage.
Hungary‘s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has vowed not to withdraw a law that bans sharing with minors content portraying homosexuality or sex reassignment.
Russia’s government has blamed a surge in COVID-19 cases on reluctance among Russians to have vaccinations amid concerns about side effects. Critics also point out that it usually takes years to develop vaccines, while Russia was the first country to announce a coronavirus jab.
Hungary’s embattled prime minister condemns mounting European Union criticism over a new homosexual and transgender law that he says protects children against pedophilia.
Hungary’s conservative government says a new law prohibiting sharing with minors any content portraying homosexuality or sex reassignment is linked to its fight against pedophilia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he and U.S. President Joe Biden have agreed to return their ambassadors to their posts in a bid to lower tensions.
Islamic extremists in Pakistan are publicly calling for the beheading of a Christian couple and their attorney after the Lahore High Court quashed the couple’s 2014 conviction for alleged blasphemy and ordered their release from prison, Morning Star News.
Germany last week Thursday began rolling out a digital COVID-19 vaccination pass that travelers can use to travel across Europe, the Associated Press reports. The “CovPass” is expected to be available by the end of the month to everyone in Germany who has been fully vaccinated.
The United States and the European Union have resolved their near 17-year conflict over aircraft subsidies, Worthy News learned Tuesday.
Several journalists and diplomats left a news conference in Belarus after authorities unexpectedly paraded the detained opposition journalist Roman Protasevich at the briefing. With Protasevich appearing under duress, the uniformed officials gave their version of the Ryanair passenger plane diversion of May 23.
Leaders of the NATO military alliance warned Monday that the military threat posed by China and its cooperation with Russia is a “systemic challenge.”
The Group of Seven (G7) nations have agreed to participate in a worldwide vaccination plan “to halt the coronavirus pandemic.” It comes amid concerns among G7 leaders that impoverished countries are being left out in the global jab drive. They also want a global tax as they seek to raise their contributions to meet an overdue spending pledge of 100 billion dollars a year by rich countries to help poorer ones cut carbon emissions. And, the leaders made clear they will be seeking to rival China in reaching out to lower and middle-income countries.
Countries should also avoid giving the Astrazeneca coronavirus vaccine to people over 60, the head of the EU drug regulator’s COVID-19 task force was quoted on Sunday as saying, amid fears over rare blood clotting and as more vaccines become available.
European Union negotiators said international talks that resumed Saturday on the Iran nuclear agreement were on track to revive the deal, which crumbled after the United States withdrew in 2018.