Month: December 2021

By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — When Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and threw its support behind separatists in the country’s east more than seven years ago, Kyiv’s underfunded and disorganized armed forces struggled to mount a credible response. Now, amid fears that a Russian troop buildup near Ukraine’s border could signal

By FRANCESCA EBEL Associated Press TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Police violence is among the myriad challenges that LGBTQ people experience in Tunisia, and observers say officers who can dispense beatings with impunity are becoming increasingly brazen. A prominent LGBTQ activist has reported that two men, one dressed in police uniform, threw him to the ground,

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli Prime Minister and Health Minister are extending Israel’s tough travel restrictions including its entry ban on all foreign nationals for a further ten days, in a bid to stop further cases of the omicron variant of coronavirus entering the country. The extension means the restrictions on passengers arriving at Israel’s

By CARA ANNA Associated Press KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Climate activist Vanessa Nakate spoke to The Associated Press and reflected on the whirlwind of 2021 and what she and other young activists plan for the year to come. She expressed disappointment in the outcome of the U.N. climate talks in Scotland, saying she “expected the

By GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military-installed government has described as “fake news” reports that its troops were involved in a widely reported massacre in which soldiers allegedly rounded up and killed 11 civilians whose charred bodies were discovered by fellow villagers. The denial was published Friday as opponents of the military’s

By JACK JEFFERY Associated Press SILAT AL-DHAHR, West Bank (AP) — The few Palestinian prisoners who have succeeded in using prolonged hunger strikes to secure their release from Israeli detention get a hero’s welcome when they return home. They are seen as icons of resilience in the face of a military occupation that is well

By BASSEM MROUE ASSOCIATED PRESS TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AP) — Lebanese have been setting off from their country’s Mediterranean shore to attempt the perilous journey by boat to Cyprus and beyond in the hopes of reaching Europe. They join other migrants — Iraqis, Afghans and Sudanese — in leaving their homeland after Lebanon’s economic collapse threw

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. humanitarian chief is warning that Afghanistan’s economic collapse “is happening before our eyes” and urged the international community to take action to stop the freefall before it leads to more deaths. Martin Griffiths said in an AP interview that donor nations need to