President Joe Biden’s surprise visit Monday morning to wartime Kyiv began in the dead of night at a military airport hangar outside Washington, DC. At 4:00 am (09:00 GMT) Sunday, unbeknown to the world’s media, the Washington political establishment or American voters, the 80-year-old Democrat boarded an Air Force Boeing 757, known as a C-32. … Read morePlane, motorcade, train: How Joe Biden got to Kyiv in secret
It has been almost a year now since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, sowing death and destruction across the country. The toll of the war is grim: thousands of Ukrainian civilians dead, tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides killed, millions displaced, whole Ukrainian towns and villages razed to the ground. As … Read moreWill the war in Ukraine end this year?
The West must provide more military aid to Ukraine and speed up its deliveries, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, says. “Much more has to be done and much quicker,” Borrell said at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday. “There is still a lot to be done. We have to increase and accelerate … Read moreWest must provide more military aid to Ukraine, EU’s Borrell says
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Western allies to speed up their military support for Ukraine, warning that delays would play into Russia’s hands. “There is no alternative to speed because it’s speed that life depends on,” Zelenskyy said on Friday at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. Ukraine depends on Western weapons to thwart Russian … Read moreZelenskyy urges speedy arms support to thwart Russian ambitions
Serik Talipzhanov does not like Russia any more. The 32-year-old bank cashier lives in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s former capital and the financial hub of ex-Soviet Central Asia. The city is still largely Russian-speaking, and Talipzhanov, who can name several generations of his ethnic Kazakh forefathers, considers Russian his mother tongue. But his opinion about Kazakhstan’s former … Read more‘I was naive about Russia’: Central Asians on the Ukraine war
Chinese social media company TikTok plans to open two more data centres in Europe, according to a senior executive, a move that could mitigate concerns over the security of users’ data and ease regulatory pressure on the company. TikTok has been seeking to assure governments and regulators that users’ personal data cannot be accessed and … Read moreTikTok eyes European data centres amid regulatory pressure
Madrid has approved legislation expanding abortion and transgender rights for teenagers, while making Spain the first country in Europe that will entitle workers to paid menstrual leave. The driving force behind the two laws was equality minister Irene Montero, who belongs to the junior member in Spain’s left-wing coalition government, the “United We Can” Party. … Read moreSpain approves menstrual leave, teen abortion and trans laws
Russia bombarded Ukraine with missiles on Thursday and struck its largest oil refinery, Kyiv said, while the head of the Wagner mercenary group predicted the long-besieged city of Bakhmut would fall within a couple of months. Following a pattern of heavy bombardments after Ukrainian battlefield or diplomatic gains, Russia launched 36 missiles in the early … Read moreRussia rains missiles on Ukraine, eyes Bakhmut capture in April
Madrid has approved legislation expanding abortion and transgender rights for teenagers, while making Spain the first country in Europe that will entitle workers to paid menstrual leave. The driving force behind the two laws was equality minister Irene Montero, who belongs to the junior member in Spain’s left-wing coalition government, the “United We Can” Party. … Read moreSpain approves menstrual leave, teen abortion and trans laws
Shortly before being elected leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in late 2014, Nicola Sturgeon embarked on a rock star-style tour of Scotland, appearing in front of packed audiences around the country, usually illuminated on stage by a row of blazing lights. On Wednesday morning, in the more sedate Georgian surroundings of Bute House, … Read moreSturgeon leaves her party and movement in a state of uncertainty