Forced to abandon his Ukrainian companies because of corruption under the ousted pro-Russian president, Olexander Martynenko has risked it all on the front line.
Category: Geopolitics
The world of rugby is not what it used to be. Artists gave way to men built like tanks, and the 2015 World Cup, kicking off in England, will take the Robocop scrum to a new low.
The staple crop is so strategic that it has been targeted from all sides in the Syrian Civil War.
On the eve of the pontiff’s visit to the United States, confidential Obama administration documents reveal a remarkable harmony with Francis’ objectives.
SIDI ALI BEN AOUN — Ali Chadli opens his eyes wide, incredulous even now. No, he had no idea his sons were planning to leave for Syria, where they eventually died. “They were praying as usual,” he says. “I hadn’t noticed anything particular.” The aging man invites us to take a seat next to the […]
BODRUM — When the photograph of Alan Kurdi’s lifeless body spread around the world, the plight of Syrian refugees suddenly came into focus like never before. Yet Kurdi was just one of many who have died making the perilous journey to Europe, where they hope to attain asylum as the ongoing Syria civil war in their homeland continues to claim countless civilian lives. Turkey, which currently hosts some 1.8 million exiled Syrians, has increasingly become a departure point for a perilous sea journey toward Greece in flimsy rafts and ill-equipped boats to get inside European territory. Sayeed, a construction worker […]
Though the Egyptian military is still mum, new details are emerging in the deadly air strike in the Western Desert that mistook a group of Mexican tourists for Islamist terrorists.
From local politics to the the battle against polio to a banned prostitution film, here’s a quick tour of what has been happening in Morocco in recent days.
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Japanese Women v. Shinzo Abe
Japanese women are challenging the three-year-old Shinzo Abe government with “constitution cafes” and street protests.
Arriving in Germany every day, Syrians who have fled civil war are now the targets of the Salafi movement, radical Muslims who include those who espouse Islamis jihad.
As the lifting of sanctions appears to move closer to reality, business and government leaders from leading economies are eager to restore trading ties with Tehran
Under a repressive regime that outlaws independent lawyers, Laritza Diversent is blazing a trail for victims of Cuba’s harsh judicial system.
Fears are rising in Japan that a large-scale gang war could erupt, following a major schism in the yakuza organized crime syndicate. Cyber-crime might be making headlines today, but this is a reminder that “traditional” organized crime is still strong. And scary. Here’s a look at what’s happening in five criminal networks around the world. […]
Turkish political leaders and ordinary citizens are blind as ever to why Kurds continue to fight for freedom. It recalls another open chapter in the nation’s troubled history.
CAIRO — In the past two months, at least five people have died in Egyptian police custody after being arrested on politically related charges. Four of the detainees belonged to the conservative Jama’a al-Islamiya group, while another was accused of belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood. Three of those Jama’a al-Islamiya members died over just […]
Why are they here? Who can stay? How should we treat them? The fate of Middle East and African refugees dominates German debate. They were once our own grandparents.
The U.S. is actively trying to block new Russian military aid to the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. Moscow sees its best alternative is to team up with Tehran.
A French philosopher dissects the mix of reactions across society, and within our own individual psyches, when human misery arrives at our door.
Offering new economic opportunities is at the top of the agenda, though questions about human rights still must be addressed.
Germany’s welcoming of refugees is sending out a strong signal to the rest of Europe and the world. But there’s hard work ahead in a country that knows the weight of history.
Even as anger rises about the gap between rich and poor, looking hard at the numbers shows global poverty is decreasing. And government aid is not the reason.
Urged by her friends out of retirement, the 71-year-old retired judge surprised all by winning the mayor’s race on the wave of Spain’s rising protest movement. What will she do with her newfound power?
The unlikely tale of how a young Colombian’s communist convictions led him to leave his family in Spain to fight with Ukraine’s Putin-backed separatist rebels.
NSA-style monitoring of our ever-more digital lives is beyond even George Orwell’s disturbing vision. It’s also less effective in tracking the true enemies of the state.
This week, we shine the spotlight on Portugal: DOES RECOVERY SPELL REELECTION? After years in the doldrums, the Portuguese economy is showing signs of picking up, with the country’s GDP growing — albeit slowly — and unemployment figures reaching five-year lows, Diário Económico reports. According to official data from Portugal’s National Statistical Institute INE, private […]
PARIS — Shocking photographs of the body of a Syrian toddler, whose body had washed up on a Turkish beach after his family’s failed attempt to reach Europe, are sparking global outcry. Will the publication of the hard-to-look-at images mark a turning point in raising global consciousness of the plight of refugees? The series of […]
As radical Muslims from the West head to Syria to fight for Islamist forces, other foreigners are joining the Kurdish forces against them. But how useful are these volunteers?
Colombia’s former conservative president and Venezuela’s socialist leader fight in public, but they love the same, bombastic style of politics. And both countries suffer for it.
Two British reporters for VICE news, and their translator, have been charged as supporters of Kurdish group PKK, though they were first accused of being pro-ISIS.
Portrait of Yar Yar Kan, one of the many Rohingya Muslim minority rejected by the Burmese — and shunned by other Asian countries in an attempt to emigrate.
Tunisia is building a wall along the border with Libya to defend itself against terrorist infiltrations, but it is stirring up hostility from locals on both sides.
A visit to Kenya’s training site after media revelations about performance-enhancing drugs cast a pall over the country’s storied long-distance running team.
StopFake, established by Kiev journalism students, analyzes media coverage in both Russia and Ukraine, fact-checking reports — and separating fact from prolific fiction.
Though deep historical rivalries between Saudi Arabia and Yemen have little to do with Egypt, it has been drawn into the anti-Houthi confict. Having given initial support to the Saudi coalition, how far Cairo will go is the source of intense speculation.
PARIS — The suspected terror attack thwarted by American and British passengers aboard a high-speed European train has brought railway security sharply into focus. The alleged gunman, believed to be a 25-year-old Moroccan named Ayob El Khazzani, boarded the Amsterdam-to-Paris train equipped with an assault rifle, automatic pistol, nine cartridge clips and a box-cutter. More […]
-Editorial- BOGOTÁ — Colombia’s more than half-century old civil war has been, if nothing else, an environmental calamity. Besides causing tens of thousands of deaths and forcing millions from their homes, the protracted fighting between state forces, left-wing guerrilla forces and right-wing gangs has led to massive amounts of crude oil being poured into the country’s rivers, streams and wetlands. Data released by the oil industry suggests that over the past 30 years, some 4 million barrels of crude have been dumped in Colombia. That’s 10 times the amount the infamous Exxon Valdez tanker released off the coast of Alaska […]
The bloody dispersal of Cairo’s sit-ins two years ago marked a decisive end to the Muslim Brotherhood’s political ascendancy. The group now is in crisis, its membership divided over its ultimate direction.
Amid the seeming complacency or incompetence of the government, drug-related violence and criminals acting with impunity are creating an all-too-familiar atmosphere of fear.
Amid controversial scenes of banned Western food being destroyed, Russia now faces criticism over proposed new import restrictions on life-saving medical equipment for the country’s most vulnerable.
Nicolas Ngwabije fled his native Congo in 1966, a political refugee. He ended up working for decades at a French migrant center, a reference point for generations of refugees. And they keep coming.