This Sunday’s parliamentary election is the eighth which I have witnessed or reported on in Russia since 1989. And, so far, it has been the least interesting. In Moscow there have been fewer election posters and banners on view than in previous years. Last week one Russian newspaper joked that the Duma election had been classified “Top Secret”, since voters… Read more »
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn has called for Hungary to be suspended or even expelled from the European Union because of its “massive violation” of EU fundamental values. He cited the Budapest government’s treatment of refugees, independence of the judiciary and freedom of the press.
Germany arrests three Syrian men ‘on IS mission’ The arrests come less than two months after 10 people died in a string of attacks in southern Germany Three Syrian men have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of being sent by so-called Islamic State (IS) to launch attacks, prosecutors say. The men – aged between 17 and 26 – were… Read more »
Re-run of Austrian presidential vote postponed due to faulty ballot A re-run of Austria’s presidential election that was due to take place on October 2 has been postponed, Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said on Monday. “We are going to request that parliament approves a postponement of the election,” Sobotka told reporters. Possible new dates are November 27 or December 4,… Read more »
A 95-year-old former SS medic has gone on trial in Germany, after his mass murder trial was postponed three times for health reasons. Hubert Zafke appeared in court in Neubrandenburg in north-eastern Germany accused of assisting in the killing of 3,681 people at the Auschwitz death camp. The indictment covers one month, from 15 August to 14 September 1944. The… Read more »
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — European Union foreign ministers on Friday looked for a way to speak with one voice on relations with Turkey amid concerns over human rights that could sink a key deal with Ankara meant to keep refugees away from European shores. The relationship with Turkey is only one of several items on the agenda for the two-day, 28-nation… Read more »
Russian President Vladimir Putin struck a conciliatory tone before talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on a territorial dispute that’s prevented the countries from signing a World War II peace treaty. Resolving the conflict over four islands occupied by the Soviet Union in the final days of the war should be part of “setting the stage for the development… Read more »
The storm over bans on burkinis in more than 30 French beach towns has all but drowned out the voices of Muslim women, for whom the full-body swimsuits were designed. The New York Times solicited their perspective, and the responses — more than 1,000 comments from France, Belgium and beyond — went much deeper than the question of swimwear. What… Read more »
Former UK PM David Cameron has stood down as an MP, triggering a by-election in his Oxfordshire seat of Witney. Mr Cameron, 49, who resigned as prime minister after June’s EU referendum, said he did not want to be a “distraction” for new PM Theresa May He said Mrs May had “got off to a cracking start”, while she praised… Read more »
Hollande says terror cell ‘destroyed’ after new arrest in gas cylinder plot French police on Friday announced a new arrest in connection with an abandoned car found to contain gas cylinders in Paris over the weekend. The suspect is the boyfriend of a woman detained Thursday and is thought to have links to radical Islam. The suspect was arrested late… Read more »