A former member of a Belarusian security services unit on trial for the disappearance of three prominent opponents of President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko in 1999 has been acquitted by a Swiss court after judges ruled his testimony was unreliable, according to a decision released on Thursday. The decision dealt a blow to the relatives of …
Continue reading “Swiss Court Acquits Belarusian in Opposition Leaders’ Disappearance”
There was some question about how much stock should be placed in the videos released by Russia. Moscow has a well-established history of trying to sweep miliary embarrassments under the rug, most notably during this war when the flagship of its Black Sea Fleet was sunk. Even when its plans appear to work out, the …
Continue reading “Russia Releases New Videos of Viktor Sokolov, Admiral Ukraine Says It Killed”
For a 7,600-pound Asian elephant, simply putting one foot in front of the other can be a high-stakes proposition: A trip or tumble can result in grievous injury. “The bigger you are, the harder you fall,” said John Hutchinson, an expert on large animal locomotion at the Royal Veterinary College in Britain. “If an elephant …
Continue reading “To Knock an Elephant Off Balance, Bring Out a Giant Blindfold”
Ukraine’s military claimed on Monday that it had killed the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in a strike on Crimea — a blow that, if confirmed, would be among the most damaging suffered by the Russian Navy since the sinking of the fleet’s flagship last year. Citing “new information about the losses of the …
Continue reading “Ukraine Says It Killed Chief of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet”
France will withdraw nearly 1,500 troops from the West African nation of Niger by the end of the year, President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday, a decision that could upend the West’s security footprint in the region, including the future of 1,100 American forces based in Niger. In an interview on French television, Mr. Macron …
Continue reading “France to Pull Its Troops From Niger After Military Coup”
American spy agencies provided information to Ottawa after the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in the Vancouver area, but Canada developed the most definitive intelligence that led it to accuse India of orchestrating the plot, according to Western allied officials. In the aftermath of the killing, U.S. intelligence agencies offered their Canadian counterparts context …
Continue reading “U.S. Provided Canada With Intelligence on Killing of Sikh Leader”
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met on Friday with African leaders seeking to restore Niger’s democratically elected government to power, capping a week at the United Nations in which the Biden administration worked to deliver on promises of support amid high-profile crises elsewhere, like the war in Ukraine. In a sign of the instability …
Continue reading “Biden Officials Focus on African Crises at United Nations Gathering”
A State Department contractor stole classified documents that included satellite imagery and other sensitive information about military activities in Africa, federal prosecutors said in a criminal complaint unsealed on Thursday. Abraham T. Lemma, 50, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Ethiopian descent from Silver Spring, Md., was charged with two counts of espionage and willful retention …
Continue reading “State Dept. Contractor Is Accused of Stealing Satellite Imagery of Africa”
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, denouncing Russia’s “unprovoked aggression,” told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that if it did not break the grip of Russian veto power, it would be powerless to resolve conflicts around the world, adding his voice to the rising calls to reform how the body works. “Ukrainian soldiers are doing …
Continue reading “Zelensky Tells U.N. Security Council It’s Useless While Russia Has a Veto”
The United States is discussing terms of a mutual defense treaty with Saudi Arabia that would resemble military pacts with Japan and South Korea, according to American officials. The move is at the center of President Biden’s high-stakes diplomacy to get the kingdom to normalize relations with Israel. Under such an agreement, the United States …
Continue reading “Biden Aides and Saudis Explore Defense Treaty Modeled After Asian Pacts”
