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A Syrian government airstrike hit a busy open-air market in the country’s northwest on Saturday, killing at least 11 people, most of them children, according to activists. The town of Ariha has been particularly targeted over the last week as the gove…
July 27, 2019Read More
Protesters gathered near the site of an attack on pro-democracy activists last weekend. Police said demonstrators could face a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
July 27, 2019Read More
Hundreds of people have been arrested at a protest in Moscow. Scott Simon talks with Evan Gershkovich of the Moscow Times, who’s been covering the rally.
July 27, 2019Read More
The battle between rival militias for control of the Libyan capital raged amid increased fighting over the past the past 24 hours, officials said Saturday, with both sides relying heavily on airpower to make progress in the stalemated conflict. Forces…
July 27, 2019Read More
Demonstrators are demanding fair elections for the City Council and for opposition candidates to be allowed on the ballot.
July 27, 2019Read More
Police arrested more than 500 people as they gathered in Moscow on Saturday to demand fair local elections, the latest in a wave of protests after authorities blocked opposition candidates from the ballot paper. Around 3,500 people took to the streets for the unauthorised rally, according to official figures. Several of the arrests were violent and police used batons against protestors, AFP reporters at the scene saw. The demonstration came a week after the capital’s biggest protest in years, when some 22,000 marchers called on officials to reverse rulings and allow opposition activists to stand for the city council in September. Since then investigators have raided the homes and headquarters of several disqualified candidates, while top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was jailed for 30 days for calling the fresh protest. “Honestly, I’m scared,” 42-year-old IT worker Alexei Sprizhitsky told AFP at the demonstration on Saturday. He said the last time he had seen this level of pressure on activists was in 2012, when President Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin after four years as prime minister sparked popular dissent. Thousands turned up for the unauthorised rally Credit: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/ AFP Other leading opposition figures and would-be candidates were arrested in the hours leading up to the Saturday’s protest, which comes amid declining living standards and a fall in Putin’s approval ratings. Local polls are a rare opportunity for dissenting voices to participate in political life as anti-Kremlin parties have been squeezed out of parliament over Putin’s two decades in charge. OVD Info, which monitors demonstration, said at least 561 people had been arrested at the rally – more than one in seven of those officially taking part. The organisation reported that arrested protesters suffered from various injuries including a broken nose and head fractures. Security was tight in central Moscow and police shut down the area outside city hall where protesters were planning to gather, forcing participants out onto side streets. “This is our city!”, “Shame!” and “We want free elections,” the crowd chanted as police blocked off the site. Politician and disqualified candidate Dmitry Gudkov was arrested shortly before the march. Earlier he had said the future of the country was at stake. “If we lose now, elections will cease to exist as a political instrument,” he said. “What we’re talking about is whether it’s legal to participate in politics today in Russia, we’re talking about the country we’re going to live in.” Some said it was the authorities’ heavy response that had turned a local issue into a major protest movement While pro-Kremlin candidates enjoy the support of the state, independent candidates say they have been made to jump through countless hoops in order to get on the ballot for the city polls. After activists and ordinary Muscovites staged pickets last week, including outside the local election commission building, investigators said they were launching a criminal probe into obstructing the work of election officials. If found guilty, organisers risk up to five years in prison. Navalny ally Ivan Zhdanov said he had been arrested shortly ahead of the demonstration. Barred candidate Ilya Yashin meanwhile announced he was detained in the early hours of Saturday morning following a raid on his home. Would-be candidate Lyubov Sobol, who this week launched a hunger strike, was arrested at the demonstration. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called the unauthorised protest a “security threat”, adding that “order will be ensured according to the relevant laws”. Elena Rastovka, a 68-year-old pensioner at the demonstration, told AFP: “I’ve been afraid all my life, but enough is enough. If we stay at home, nothing will change. “Authorities arrest people who want to challenge them. Look at what they’re doing – the authorities do not like the people.” Some said it was the authorities’ heavy response that had turned a local issue into a major protest movement. “Who would have thought it would become important to take part in such a bizarre and boring affair as the Moscow parliament election?” asked Viktoria Popova, a 30-year-old illustrator, ahead of the rally.
July 27, 2019Read More
Divisions have emerged over plans for a European naval mission in the Persian Gulf, with Britain suggesting the operation would need US support while France and Germany insist it stay independent of America. In a first sign that the UK may move closer…
July 27, 2019Read More
Britain’s official statisticians have developed an algorithmic technology that can measure how green are all our gardens in a bid to help combat flooding and reduce pollution and CO2. Within any town or city, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) wi…
July 27, 2019Read More
Sudanese prosecutors on Saturday said the country’s ruling generals did not order the deadly break-up of a protest camp last month, instead blaming the widely condemned dispersal on paramilitary forces who exceeded their orders. Sudanese protest leade…
July 27, 2019Read More
President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran is at a crossroads. The U.S. faces a Thursday deadline to decide whether to extend or cancel sanctions waivers to foreign companies working on Iran’s civilian nuclear program as permitt…
July 27, 2019Read More
Russian police arrested more than 500 people on Saturday, including prominent activists, around a political protest in Moscow to demand that members of the opposition be allowed to run in a local election later this year. The protest, which authoritie…
July 27, 2019Read More
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