Month: November 2021

Russia’s Black Sea naval forces practiced destroying enemy targets on Tuesday as Moscow bristled at the presence of two U.S. warships in the area.  President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russian forces could observe the USS Mount Whitney navy command ship “through binoculars or in the crosshairs of its … defense systems” and complained …

Hopes are already fading that the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow will result in any new deal for a significant cut in global greenhouse gas emissions, after China and Russia declined to attend the conference and India’s pledges fell short of expectations.  The summit got under way Monday as dozens of world leaders addressed the …

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison rejected accusations French President Emmanuel Macron made about a scrapped $37 billion submarine deal. Macron has recently said Morrison lied when abandoning the submarine deal before Australia joined a new security pact with the United Kingdom and the United States known by its acronym AUKUS.  The AUKUS alliance and Australia’s cancelation of a lucrative defense contract in favor of U.S.-built nuclear submarines caught Paris off guard. France felt betrayed. In protest, France temporarily …

For months, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his aides have been raising expectations for the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, which they are hosting in Glasgow. But heading into the two-week gathering they have been sounding far less confident. In Rome at the G-20 summit Saturday, Johnson said the …

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday announced a range of American commitments aimed at curbing global warming, as leaders from more than 100 countries gathered in Glasgow for the U.N. Climate Change Conference. “The United States will be able to meet the ambitious target I set at the Leaders Summit on climate back in April, …

Barclays chief executive Jes Staley is leaving the bank after a dispute with British financial regulators over how he described his ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Staley will be replaced as CEO by Barclays’ head of global markets C.S. Venkatakrishnan, who on Monday pledged to continue his predecessor’s strategy. Staley’s shock departure comes …

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev announced his resignation late Sunday following the heavy defeat of his governing Social Democratic Union in North Macedonia’s local elections. “The responsibility for this outcome is mine and I’m resigning as prime minister and as leader of the Social Democratic Union,” Zaev said at a news conference at party headquarters. Zaev …

G-20 leaders concluded their two-day summit in Rome on Sunday with an agreement to work to reach carbon neutrality ‘by around mid-century’ and pledged to end financing for coal plants abroad. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara as this report from Rome. …

A volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma that has been erupting for six weeks spewed greater quantities of ash from its main mouth Sunday, a day after producing its strongest earthquake to date. Lava flows descending toward the Atlantic Ocean from a volcanic ridge have covered 970 hectares (2,400 acres) of land since …

Thousands of opposition supporters filled the street outside Georgia’s national parliament building Sunday to protest municipal election results that gave the country’s ruling party a near sweep.  Candidates of the Georgian Dream party won 19 of the 20 municipal elections in runoff votes on Saturday, including the mayoral offices in the country’s five largest cities: …