President Joe Biden welcomes Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday as the first foreign leader to visit his White House, underscoring Tokyo’s central role in the U.S. strategy to counter the challenge of China’s growing assertiveness.
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United States
News
April 16, 2021
The Biden administration revealed Thursday that a business associate of Trump campaign officials in 2016 provided campaign polling data to Russian intelligence services, the strongest evidence to date that Russian spies had penetrated the inner workings of the Trump campaign.
The Biden administration warned the Kremlin on Thursday over the CIA’s conclusion that Russia had covertly offered payments to militants to encourage more killings of American and coalition troops in Afghanistan, delivering the diplomatic admonition as it imposed sanctions on Moscow over its hacking and election interference.
The United States is on track to have gathered an oversupply of hundreds of millions of coronavirus vaccine doses as soon as July, even while many countries in the developing world will have to wait years to vaccinate a majority of their populations, according to a report by the Duke Global Health Innovation Center.
Opinion
April 16, 2021
An iron river of illegal guns flows from the U.S. to Mexico, Central America, and across the hemisphere.
Africa
News
April 16, 2021
U.N. agencies said Friday that tens of thousands of Nigerians are fleeing deadly attacks by armed groups and the continuing clashes between the rebels and national forces in the country’s troubled northeastern Borno state.
Eritrean troops continue to commit atrocities in the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray, despite assurances by Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, that they were leaving, a senior United Nations official said Thursday.
More from WPR: Tigray Is Being Deliberately Starved to Death
More from WPR: Tigray Is Being Deliberately Starved to Death
Mali’s transitional government has announced presidential and legislative elections will take place next February, saying it was honoring the timetable it promised to the international community after taking power months after a military coup last year.
April 15, 2021
In a highly contentious move, Somalia’s president has extended his own term in office by two years, drawing condemnation from the United States and other allies who viewed it as a naked power grab that could upend faltering efforts to establish a functioning state in Somalia and defeat the insurgency by the extremist group al-Shabab.
Eritrean soldiers have opened fire on civilians in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region, killing three people and wounding at least 19, according to Amnesty International.
The Americas
News
April 16, 2021
Sixty-two years after a band of revolutionaries set Cuba down the path of confrontation with Washington—and unleashed waves of exiles that reshaped American cities—the last of the Castro brothers, towering figures of the Cold War, is poised to surrender official power.
Prosecutors in Mexico said Thursday a court has ordered 30 marines to stand trial in the cases of people who disappeared during anti-crime operations in the northern border city of Nuevo Laredo in 2018.
A majority of Brazil’s Supreme Court confirmed Thursday a decision to annul criminal convictions against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, teeing up a presidential run against current President Jair Bolsonaro in 2022.
More from WPR: A Cornered Bolsonaro Is Bad News for Brazil’s Democracy
More from WPR: A Cornered Bolsonaro Is Bad News for Brazil’s Democracy
Mexico’s Senate on Thursday voted to extend the term of the president of the Supreme Court for an extra two years, a move criticized by opposition lawmakers who called it a bid by the ruling party to strengthen its hold on the country’s institutions.
Opinion
April 16, 2021
Widespread resistance to Correismo and the Indigenous movement’s promotion of the null vote created the conditions for Guillermo Lasso’s victory in the presidential run-off.
More from WPR: With a New President, Ecuador Has a Chance to Heal
More from WPR: With a New President, Ecuador Has a Chance to Heal
Asia-Pacific
News
April 16, 2021
Opponents of Myanmar’s ruling junta went on the political offensive Friday, declaring they have formed an interim national unity government with members of Aung San Suu Kyi’s ousted cabinet and major ethnic minority groups.
More from WPR: Post-Coup Myanmar Could Become a Failed State
More from WPR: Post-Coup Myanmar Could Become a Failed State
The punishments for Lai, a media tycoon, and other leaders over an unauthorized peaceful protest point to what critics say is the shrinking space for dissent in Hong Kong.
More from WPR: How Biden Can Stand With Hong Kong
More from WPR: How Biden Can Stand With Hong Kong
Pakistan briefly blocked access to all social media Friday, after days of anti-French protests across the country by radical Islamists opposed to cartoons they consider blasphemous.
The world’s traditional growth engine reported an 18.3 percent leap in the first quarter. But consumers and small businesses aren’t fully sharing in the spoils.
Opinion
April 16, 2021
A U.S. operation targeting Indian claims has drawn unnecessary outrage.
News
April 15, 2021
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is the first foreign leader to be invited to the Biden White House, where he is likely to be pressed to more fully address Beijing’s threat to stability in the region.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend a climate change leaders summit video conference on April 16 with France and Germany, said China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, according to a report by China’s official Xinhua news agency.
Pakistan is to outlaw a hardline Islamist group that railed agaisnt blasphemy to rise to prominence, the interior minister said Wednesday, the third day of violent protests that killed two police officers and wounded 340.
Myanmar security forces arrested Thursday one of the main leaders of the campaign against military rule after ramming him with a car as he led a motorbike protest rally, friends and colleagues said.
Opinion
April 15, 2021
Failure to act will lead to a failed state.
More from WPR: Post-Coup Myanmar Could Become a Failed State
More from WPR: Post-Coup Myanmar Could Become a Failed State
Europe
News
April 16, 2021
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Paris on Friday for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel amid his country’s growing tensions with neighboring Russia, which has deployed troops near its border with Ukraine.
The French Parliament passed a contentious security bill Thursday that extends police powers, despite criticism from political opponents and civil rights activists who have vowed to challenge the legislation before France’s Constitutional Council.
The leaders of Germany and France welcomed Beijing’s aim to reach climate neutrality in its carbon dioxide emissions before 2060 in a video conference with China's President Xi Jinping on Friday, according to a statement.
A meeting aimed to improve fraught ties between NATO allies Greece and Turkey quickly descended into a tense exchange of accusations between the two neighbors’ foreign ministers Thursday.
Small groups of demonstrators clashed with police Thursday in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki at the end of a march to protest a new law allowing the policing of university campuses.
Opinion
April 16, 2021
The response to the current crisis will show whether Northern Ireland is on the edge of a new beginning or a painfully familiar old precipice.
News
April 15, 2021
Greece’s foreign minister travels to Ankara on Thursday for talks on the two NATO allies’ fraught relationship, following a slight easing of tensions between the neighbors.
Middle East & North Africa
News
April 16, 2021
Iran began enriching uranium Friday to its highest level ever, edging closer to weapons-grade levels to pressure talks in Vienna aimed at restoring its nuclear deal with world powers after an attack on its main atomic site.
Four people were killed and 20 wounded in a car bomb attack Thursday in the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad, Iraqi police and medical workers said.
The Israeli military says a projectile fired from the Gaza Strip on Thursday evening landed in south of the country, breaking weeks of relative cross-border calm.
The Lebanese judge leading the investigation into last year’s massive blast at Beirut’s port Thursday ordered the release of six people, including security officers, who had been detained for months, state news agency reported.
More from WPR: Can Lebanon Rebuild Not Just Beirut, but Its Broken Political System?
More from WPR: Can Lebanon Rebuild Not Just Beirut, but Its Broken Political System?
Opinion
April 16, 2021
Erdogan’s mega project would not just alter Istanbul’s geography. It would also destroy forested areas bordering the Black Sea, damage the city’s freshwater reservoirs and ecosystem, and significantly worsen the local impact of climate change.
News
April 15, 2021
Iran’s top leader said Wednesday that his country would keep negotiating with world powers over how to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal, quashing speculation that Iran’s delegation would boycott or quit participating in protest of the apparent Israeli sabotage of a major uranium enrichment site.
A drone carrying explosives attacked a U.S. air base in northern Iraq on Wednesday, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
The United Arab Emirates’ envoy to Washington confirmed the Gulf state is mediating between India and Pakistan to help the nuclear-armed rivals reach a “healthy and functional” relationship.
Opinion
April 15, 2021
In a ruling Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights just illuminated the utter debasement of the Turkish justice system under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
United States
News
April 16, 2021
President Joe Biden welcomes Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday as the first foreign leader to visit his White House, underscoring Tokyo’s central role in the U.S. strategy to counter the challenge of China’s growing assertiveness.
The Biden administration revealed Thursday that a business associate of Trump campaign officials in 2016 provided campaign polling data to Russian intelligence services, the strongest evidence to date that Russian spies had penetrated the inner workings of the Trump campaign.
The Biden administration warned the Kremlin on Thursday over the CIA’s conclusion that Russia had covertly offered payments to militants to encourage more killings of American and coalition troops in Afghanistan, delivering the diplomatic admonition as it imposed sanctions on Moscow over its hacking and election interference.
The United States is on track to have gathered an oversupply of hundreds of millions of coronavirus vaccine doses as soon as July, even while many countries in the developing world will have to wait years to vaccinate a majority of their populations, according to a report by the Duke Global Health Innovation Center.
Opinion
April 16, 2021
An iron river of illegal guns flows from the U.S. to Mexico, Central America, and across the hemisphere.
A U.S. operation targeting Indian claims has drawn unnecessary outrage.
News
April 15, 2021
The Biden administration Thursday imposed the first significant sanctions targeting the Russian economy in several years in order to punish the Kremlin for a cyberespionage campaign against the United States and efforts to influence the presidential election, according to senior U.S. officials.
The Taliban on Wednesday issued a warning in response to President Biden’s decision to extend the presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, increasing fears that the withdrawal of foreign forces will be met with widespread violence.
More from WPR: Biden Must Make Hard Choices Quickly on Afghanistan
More from WPR: Biden Must Make Hard Choices Quickly on Afghanistan
Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced stop in Afghanistan on Thursday for meetings with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, civic leaders and the National Reconciliation Chairman Abdullah Abdullah to reassure them that Washington’s support for the war-torn country will continue despite the U.S. decision to withdraw all military forces by Sept. 11.
The Biden administration plans to suspend the sale of many offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia approved under the Trump administration, but it will allow the sale of other matériel that can be construed to have a defensive purpose, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Iran’s top leader said Wednesday that his country would keep negotiating with world powers over how to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal, quashing speculation that Iran’s delegation would boycott or quit participating in protest of the apparent Israeli sabotage of a major uranium enrichment site.
A drone carrying explosives attacked a U.S. air base in northern Iraq on Wednesday, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is the first foreign leader to be invited to the Biden White House, where he is likely to be pressed to more fully address Beijing’s threat to stability in the region.
Opinion
April 15, 2021
Pulling out all U.S. troops is the administration’s risky plan to pressure Kabul and the Taliban to make peace.
The Americas
News
April 16, 2021
Sixty-two years after a band of revolutionaries set Cuba down the path of confrontation with Washington—and unleashed waves of exiles that reshaped American cities—the last of the Castro brothers, towering figures of the Cold War, is poised to surrender official power.
Prosecutors in Mexico said Thursday a court has ordered 30 marines to stand trial in the cases of people who disappeared during anti-crime operations in the northern border city of Nuevo Laredo in 2018.
A majority of Brazil’s Supreme Court confirmed Thursday a decision to annul criminal convictions against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, teeing up a presidential run against current President Jair Bolsonaro in 2022.
More from WPR: A Cornered Bolsonaro Is Bad News for Brazil’s Democracy
More from WPR: A Cornered Bolsonaro Is Bad News for Brazil’s Democracy
Mexico’s Senate on Thursday voted to extend the term of the president of the Supreme Court for an extra two years, a move criticized by opposition lawmakers who called it a bid by the ruling party to strengthen its hold on the country’s institutions.
Opinion
April 16, 2021
An iron river of illegal guns flows from the U.S. to Mexico, Central America, and across the hemisphere.
Widespread resistance to Correismo and the Indigenous movement’s promotion of the null vote created the conditions for Guillermo Lasso’s victory in the presidential run-off.
More from WPR: With a New President, Ecuador Has a Chance to Heal
More from WPR: With a New President, Ecuador Has a Chance to Heal
News
April 15, 2021
Brazil’s Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed a Senate investigation of President Jair Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic to go forward, one of two cases it tackled that could affect the leader’s bid for reelection next year.
More from WPR: A Cornered Bolsonaro Is Bad News for Brazil’s Democracy
More from WPR: A Cornered Bolsonaro Is Bad News for Brazil’s Democracy
Activists and opposition figures cried foul Wednesday after Mexico’s Senate passed legislation to require cellphone companies to gather customers’ identification and biometric data, like fingerprints or eye scans.
Cuba announced that it was loosening a decades-old ban on the slaughter of cattle and sale of beef and dairy as part of agricultural reforms as the Communist-run country battles with food shortages.
Europe
News
April 16, 2021
The Biden administration revealed Thursday that a business associate of Trump campaign officials in 2016 provided campaign polling data to Russian intelligence services, the strongest evidence to date that Russian spies had penetrated the inner workings of the Trump campaign.
The Biden administration warned the Kremlin on Thursday over the CIA’s conclusion that Russia had covertly offered payments to militants to encourage more killings of American and coalition troops in Afghanistan, delivering the diplomatic admonition as it imposed sanctions on Moscow over its hacking and election interference.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Paris on Friday for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel amid his country’s growing tensions with neighboring Russia, which has deployed troops near its border with Ukraine.
The French Parliament passed a contentious security bill Thursday that extends police powers, despite criticism from political opponents and civil rights activists who have vowed to challenge the legislation before France’s Constitutional Council.
The leaders of Germany and France welcomed Beijing’s aim to reach climate neutrality in its carbon dioxide emissions before 2060 in a video conference with China's President Xi Jinping on Friday, according to a statement.
A meeting aimed to improve fraught ties between NATO allies Greece and Turkey quickly descended into a tense exchange of accusations between the two neighbors’ foreign ministers Thursday.
Small groups of demonstrators clashed with police Thursday in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki at the end of a march to protest a new law allowing the policing of university campuses.
Opinion
April 16, 2021
The response to the current crisis will show whether Northern Ireland is on the edge of a new beginning or a painfully familiar old precipice.
News
April 15, 2021
The Biden administration Thursday imposed the first significant sanctions targeting the Russian economy in several years in order to punish the Kremlin for a cyberespionage campaign against the United States and efforts to influence the presidential election, according to senior U.S. officials.
Greece’s foreign minister travels to Ankara on Thursday for talks on the two NATO allies’ fraught relationship, following a slight easing of tensions between the neighbors.
A group of European nations Wednesday called Iran’s plans to increase uranium enrichment to 60 percent purity “regrettable” and warned that enrichment at that level, using advanced centrifuges, had no “credible” civilian purpose.
Russia and Ukraine held simultaneous military drills Wednesday as NATO foreign and defence ministers began emergency discussions on a massing of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border.
Russian police raided a student magazine’s editorial office Wednesday and detained four of its journalists on criminal charges of encouraging minors to take part in anti-Kremlin protests, the outlet said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend a climate change leaders summit video conference on April 16 with France and Germany, said China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, according to a report by China’s official Xinhua news agency.
Africa
News
April 16, 2021
U.N. agencies said Friday that tens of thousands of Nigerians are fleeing deadly attacks by armed groups and the continuing clashes between the rebels and national forces in the country’s troubled northeastern Borno state.
Eritrean troops continue to commit atrocities in the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray, despite assurances by Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, that they were leaving, a senior United Nations official said Thursday.
More from WPR: Tigray Is Being Deliberately Starved to Death
More from WPR: Tigray Is Being Deliberately Starved to Death
Mali’s transitional government has announced presidential and legislative elections will take place next February, saying it was honoring the timetable it promised to the international community after taking power months after a military coup last year.
April 15, 2021
In a highly contentious move, Somalia’s president has extended his own term in office by two years, drawing condemnation from the United States and other allies who viewed it as a naked power grab that could upend faltering efforts to establish a functioning state in Somalia and defeat the insurgency by the extremist group al-Shabab.
Eritrean soldiers have opened fire on civilians in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region, killing three people and wounding at least 19, according to Amnesty International.
Middle East & North Africa
News
April 16, 2021
A meeting aimed to improve fraught ties between NATO allies Greece and Turkey quickly descended into a tense exchange of accusations between the two neighbors’ foreign ministers Thursday.
Iran began enriching uranium Friday to its highest level ever, edging closer to weapons-grade levels to pressure talks in Vienna aimed at restoring its nuclear deal with world powers after an attack on its main atomic site.
Four people were killed and 20 wounded in a car bomb attack Thursday in the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad, Iraqi police and medical workers said.
The Israeli military says a projectile fired from the Gaza Strip on Thursday evening landed in south of the country, breaking weeks of relative cross-border calm.
The Lebanese judge leading the investigation into last year’s massive blast at Beirut’s port Thursday ordered the release of six people, including security officers, who had been detained for months, state news agency reported.
More from WPR: Can Lebanon Rebuild Not Just Beirut, but Its Broken Political System?
More from WPR: Can Lebanon Rebuild Not Just Beirut, but Its Broken Political System?
Opinion
April 16, 2021
Erdogan’s mega project would not just alter Istanbul’s geography. It would also destroy forested areas bordering the Black Sea, damage the city’s freshwater reservoirs and ecosystem, and significantly worsen the local impact of climate change.
News
April 15, 2021
The Biden administration plans to suspend the sale of many offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia approved under the Trump administration, but it will allow the sale of other matériel that can be construed to have a defensive purpose, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Greece’s foreign minister travels to Ankara on Thursday for talks on the two NATO allies’ fraught relationship, following a slight easing of tensions between the neighbors.
A group of European nations Wednesday called Iran’s plans to increase uranium enrichment to 60 percent purity “regrettable” and warned that enrichment at that level, using advanced centrifuges, had no “credible” civilian purpose.
Iran’s top leader said Wednesday that his country would keep negotiating with world powers over how to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal, quashing speculation that Iran’s delegation would boycott or quit participating in protest of the apparent Israeli sabotage of a major uranium enrichment site.
A drone carrying explosives attacked a U.S. air base in northern Iraq on Wednesday, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
The United Arab Emirates’ envoy to Washington confirmed the Gulf state is mediating between India and Pakistan to help the nuclear-armed rivals reach a “healthy and functional” relationship.
Opinion
April 15, 2021
In a ruling Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights just illuminated the utter debasement of the Turkish justice system under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Asia-Pacific
News
April 16, 2021
President Joe Biden welcomes Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday as the first foreign leader to visit his White House, underscoring Tokyo’s central role in the U.S. strategy to counter the challenge of China’s growing assertiveness.
The leaders of Germany and France welcomed Beijing’s aim to reach climate neutrality in its carbon dioxide emissions before 2060 in a video conference with China's President Xi Jinping on Friday, according to a statement.
Opponents of Myanmar’s ruling junta went on the political offensive Friday, declaring they have formed an interim national unity government with members of Aung San Suu Kyi’s ousted cabinet and major ethnic minority groups.
More from WPR: Post-Coup Myanmar Could Become a Failed State
More from WPR: Post-Coup Myanmar Could Become a Failed State
The punishments for Lai, a media tycoon, and other leaders over an unauthorized peaceful protest point to what critics say is the shrinking space for dissent in Hong Kong.
More from WPR: How Biden Can Stand With Hong Kong
More from WPR: How Biden Can Stand With Hong Kong
Pakistan briefly blocked access to all social media Friday, after days of anti-French protests across the country by radical Islamists opposed to cartoons they consider blasphemous.
The world’s traditional growth engine reported an 18.3 percent leap in the first quarter. But consumers and small businesses aren’t fully sharing in the spoils.
Opinion
April 16, 2021
A U.S. operation targeting Indian claims has drawn unnecessary outrage.
News
April 15, 2021
The Taliban on Wednesday issued a warning in response to President Biden’s decision to extend the presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, increasing fears that the withdrawal of foreign forces will be met with widespread violence.
More from WPR: Biden Must Make Hard Choices Quickly on Afghanistan
More from WPR: Biden Must Make Hard Choices Quickly on Afghanistan
Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced stop in Afghanistan on Thursday for meetings with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, civic leaders and the National Reconciliation Chairman Abdullah Abdullah to reassure them that Washington’s support for the war-torn country will continue despite the U.S. decision to withdraw all military forces by Sept. 11.
The United Arab Emirates’ envoy to Washington confirmed the Gulf state is mediating between India and Pakistan to help the nuclear-armed rivals reach a “healthy and functional” relationship.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is the first foreign leader to be invited to the Biden White House, where he is likely to be pressed to more fully address Beijing’s threat to stability in the region.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend a climate change leaders summit video conference on April 16 with France and Germany, said China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, according to a report by China’s official Xinhua news agency.
Pakistan is to outlaw a hardline Islamist group that railed agaisnt blasphemy to rise to prominence, the interior minister said Wednesday, the third day of violent protests that killed two police officers and wounded 340.
Myanmar security forces arrested Thursday one of the main leaders of the campaign against military rule after ramming him with a car as he led a motorbike protest rally, friends and colleagues said.
Opinion
April 15, 2021
Pulling out all U.S. troops is the administration’s risky plan to pressure Kabul and the Taliban to make peace.
Failure to act will lead to a failed state.
More from WPR: Post-Coup Myanmar Could Become a Failed State
More from WPR: Post-Coup Myanmar Could Become a Failed State