Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday the government would block the construction of a new Russian embassy near the country's parliament, citing threats to national security.. Albanese said that after receiving advice from intelligence agencies, new laws would be introduced to block the development on national security grounds.
A Guatemalan court on Wednesday sentenced the founder of a newspaper critical of the government to six years in prison on money-laundering charges, in a trial denounced by press freedom groups.. He was arrested last July on charges of money laundering, blackmail and influence peddling, though found guilty only of the first accusation.
Reporters Without Borders on Wednesday demanded that Pakistani prosecutors dismiss accusations against two journalists that could theoretically carry the death penalty, adding to US criticism of a crackdown.. A complaint accuses the two of a conspiracy against the military and in support of terrorism, saying that protesters were looking at the social media accounts of the two journalists and of two former officers who are critical of the army.
Several thousand people took to streets in Poland Wednesday to protest a near-total ban on abortion that they blame for a new case of a death of a pregnant woman.. They are already looking at two similar cases of pregnant women who died in hospital after the death of the foetus they were carrying.
At least 79 migrants died after their fishing boat sank off the Peloponnese, Greece's coastguard said Wednesday, as fears mounted that the death toll could rise much higher.. Also Wednesday, a sailing boat in distress carrying about 80 migrants off Crete was rescued by a coastguard patrol and towed to port, Greece's port police said.
Army warplanes bombed the Sudanese city of El Obeid Wednesday, as the country prepared to mark two months since a power struggle between rival generals plunged the country into devastating conflict.. The entire country has been completely devastated.
Germany on Wednesday called China a "partner, competitor and systemic rival" in its first national security strategy, accusing Beijing of repeatedly acting against the European giant's interests in a bid to reshape the global order.. "China is trying in various ways to remould the existing rules-based international order, is asserting a regionally dominant position with ever more vigour, acting time and again counter to our interests and values," the strategy paper said.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was on Wednesday heading to France where he will meet President Emmanuel Macron, with Paris seeking intensified support from the oil-rich kingdom for Ukraine against Russia's invasion.. Prince Mohammed had already discussed the Ukraine conflict face-to-face with Macron on his last official visit to Paris in July 2022.
At least 78 migrants died after their fishing boat sank off the Peloponnese, Greece's coastguard said Wednesday, as fears mounted that the death toll could rise much higher.. "Since very early Wednesday, an extensive rescue operation is underway off Pylos, after a fishing boat capsized with a large number of migrants onboard," the coastguard said.
More than 100,000 people have been evacuated from the path of a fierce cyclone heading towards India and Pakistan, with forecasters warning Wednesday it could devastate homes and tear down power lines.. Powerful winds, storm surges and lashing rains were forecast to hammer a 325-kilometre (200-mile) stretch of coast between Mandvi in India's Gujarat state and Karachi in Pakistan.
