Politics

  Tabanovce, Macedonia / AFP Mohamad Jomaa breathlessly recounts his covert journey from Greece to Macedonia: a 10-day trek through the mountains, getting robbed by local “mafia” and handing over costly bribes to police. While the so-called “Balkan route” is now officially closed to migrants, hundreds are still finding ways to cross it every day—whether furtively by foot or in ...

  Brussels / AFP NATO foreign ministers met on Thursday to finalise the alliance’s biggest military build-up since the end of the Cold War to counter what they see as a more aggressive and unpredictable Russia. At a Warsaw summit in July, NATO leaders will sign-off on the revamp which puts more troops into east European member states as part ...

  MOSCOW / AP A Russian artist known for his radical politically-charged performances has been convicted of vandalism in a pro-Ukraine protest and sentenced to 16 months in prison. The court, however, lifted the punishment for Pyotr Pavlensky in Thursday’s ruling on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired for his pro-Ukraine protest in 2014. Pavlensky and a ...

  PRISTINA / AP Kosovo prosecutors have charged 14 persons of forming a criminal gang that also allegedly has funded terrorist activities. The special prosecutors’ office said in a statement on Thursday that seven of the 14 have also been accused of money laundry and funding terrorist activities. The charges did not explain how the group had channeled money into ...

  Bamako / AFP Five Chadian peacekeepers were killed and three others wounded in a shootout during an ambush in northeastern Mali, the United Nations said on Thursday. “Five… peacekeepers were killed and three seriously wounded during an ambush,” which occurred on Wednesday, according to a statement posted on the UN Mali mission’s social media accounts. The attack in Aguelhok ...

  Beijing/ AFP Beijing on Thursday rejected Pentagon accusations that a Chinese aircraft made an “unsafe” intercept of a spy plane in international air space, as tensions rise in the strategically vital South China Sea. Rivalry between China and the United States is mounting in the disputed waterway, an important shipping route thought to be home to vast energy deposits, and ...

  TOKYO / AP A group representing Japanese survivors of US atomic bombings urged President Barack Obama to hear their stories and apologize when he visits Hiroshima. Two leaders of the Tokyo-based nationwide group told a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday that many survivors still want an apology though they have long avoided an outright demand for one out of ...

  Caracas / AFP Venezuelan protesters demanded a referendum on ousting President Nicolas, defying riot police who fired tear gas and a state of emergency that the opposition has blasted as unconstitutional. But Maduro warned that if anti-government acts turned violent “I will not hesitate” to ratchet up the extraordinary measures in force, “to fight for the peace and security ...

  Aranayaka / AFP Sri Lankan troops were digging through tonnes of mud on Thursday to search for more than 100 people reported missing after landslides buried two villages, claiming at least 24 lives. The government vowed to dig “as long as it takes” but hopes were fading of finding survivors in the landslides that hit a mountainous area late ...

  CAIRO/ AP A leading international rights group on Wednesday released a report documenting atrocities by Libya’s IS affiliate — including instances of “crucifixions” and shooting a man to death for “cursing God” — in the coastal city of Sirte, a stronghold of the militants. Human Rights Watch recounts “scenes of horror” that followed the city’s seizure by IS militants ...