A day before he was to face a potentially make-or-break hearing, Boris Johnson conceded that he had misled the British Parliament about lockdown-breaking parties at 10 Downing Street while he was prime minister. But he insisted that he “did not intentionally or recklessly mislead” the House of Commons. Mr. Johnson will testify on Wednesday before […]
Month: March 2023
Russia-Ukraine War Live Updates: Xi and Putin Meet in Moscow
The Biden administration vowed last month to crack down on companies that sell critical technologies to Russia as part of its efforts to curtail the country’s war against Ukraine. But the continued flow of Chinese drones to the country explains why that will be hard. While drone sales have slowed, American policies put in place […]
Report Finds London Police Force Is Sexist and Racist
London’s police force is institutionally sexist, racist and homophobic, according to a new independent report investigating the culture and behavior within the department. While the force has been under intense scrutiny for months, the report, released on Tuesday, offers a damning new assessment of the police department and perhaps the strongest condemnation yet of its […]
Macron’s Government Survives No-Confidence Vote Amid France’s Wrath Over Pensions
PARIS — The French National Assembly rejected a no-confidence motion against the government of President Emmanuel Macron on Monday, ensuring that a fiercely contested bill raising the retirement age to 64 from 62 becomes the law of the land. The first of two motions received 278 votes, nine short of the 287 needed to pass. […]
Latest Xi-Putin Meeting News: Ukraine-Russia Live Updates
BRUSSELS — European Union foreign and defense ministers agreed on Monday to spend up to 2 billion euros, or $2.14 billion, to supply Ukraine with badly needed artillery shells, replenish their own national stocks and ramp up Europe’s ammunition production. As is typical for the bloc and its 27 member states, the details of the […]
American Held Hostage in Africa Is Freed
WASHINGTON — An American aid worker abducted by militants more than six years ago in West Africa has been freed, his wife and a senior military official said on Monday, but the circumstances of his release were not immediately clear. The aid worker, Jeffery Woodke, was kidnapped in Niger in October 2016 and then was […]
Some Details on the Agenda for Xi Jinping’s Visit to Russia
While Beijing has offered few details on the agenda for the two-day state visit to Moscow by China’s leader, Xi Jinping, Russia has shared some information about the agenda. Mr. Xi is expected to arrive in Moscow at about 1:30 p.m. local time (6:30 a.m. Eastern) on Monday. President Vladimir V. Putin’s foreign policy adviser, […]
China as Peacemaker in the Ukraine War? The U.S. and Europe Are Skeptical.
Ms. Sun said China’s recent mediation of an initial diplomatic rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran had boosted notions of China as a peacemaker. But that situation was entirely different than the Ukraine war — the two Middle Eastern nations had already been in talks for years to try to restart formal diplomacy, and China […]
Lab Leak or Not? How Politics Shaped the Battle Over Covid’s Origin
WASHINGTON — In the spring of 2021, with studies of the coronavirus pandemic’s origins going nowhere and the issue embroiled in bitter partisan politics, David Relman, a microbiologist at Stanford, quietly made a request of his congresswoman. He told his representative, Anna Eshoo, that he was organizing a letter from leading scientists calling for an open […]
To Combat Food Shortages, North Korea Deploys the Military
Hundreds of thousands of North Korean troops are mobilizing to help plant and harvest crops. The country’s military is rejiggering some of its munitions factories to produce tractors and threshing machines, while also converting some airfields into greenhouses. Soldiers are reportedly being asked to extend their service by three years and spend them on farms. […]