Month: January 2024

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — Aryna Sabalenka continued to be an irrepressible force at the Australian Open as she powered to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Chinese 12th seed Zheng Qinwen on Saturday to successfully defend her title and add a second Grand Slam trophy to her cabinet.  The Belarusian second seed has barely put a foot wrong …

london — Two British museums are returning looted gold and silver artifacts to Ghana under a long-term loan arrangement as U.K. institutions face increasing demands to hand over treasures acquired at a time when the British Empire ruled over people around the globe. The British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, together with …

CHISINAU, moldova — The chief negotiator for Moldova’s Russian-backed separatist Transniestria region said Friday that his team would no longer attend talks on the country’s future in areas under government control because he feared arrest.  Transniestria split from Moldova before the 1991 collapse of Soviet rule and fought a brief war against the newly independent country, …

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday formally informed Congress of its intention to proceed with the $23 billion sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, taking a major step toward completing a long-delayed process that tested ties with Ankara. The State Department sent the notification to advance the sale of 40 Lockheed Martin …

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London — NATO began its biggest military exercises since the Cold War this week, with tens of thousands of troops set to move across Europe in a show of force meant as a warning to Russia, following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Operation Steadfast Defender 24 will see some 90,000 NATO military personnel take part in …

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Beijing — China confirmed on Friday that it had sentenced a British national in 2022 to five years in jail for spying. It was its first official comment of a case that had gone unreported until this week. A Beijing court in 2022 “sentenced in the first instance the British defendant … to five years in …

LONDON — An American scientist has sparked a trans-Atlantic tempest in a teapot by offering Britain advice on its favorite hot beverage. Bryn Mawr College chemistry professor Michelle Francl says one of the keys to a perfect cup of tea is a pinch of salt. The tip is included in Francl’s book Steeped: The Chemistry of …

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Israel is set to hear Friday whether the United Nations’ top court will order it to end its military offensive in Gaza in a provisional ruling while the panel hears a case filed by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide. The International Court of Justice’s president, Joan E. Donoghue, will read out …

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washington — Alsu Kurmasheva, an American journalist jailed in Russia on charges that press freedom groups say are politically motivated and baseless, marked 100 days in detention on Thursday, as her employer and family renewed calls for her immediate release. “To be honest, it’s all becoming slowly but surely less bearable,” Kurmasheva wrote in a January …

The conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are fueling Turkey’s interest in a new China-Europe trade route known as the Middle Corridor. As Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, Turkey’s support for the corridor is growing as Ankara makes a big turnaround in its previously frosty relations with Beijing. Dorian Jones reports. …

paris — Youssouf Doucoure handed out flyers against tough French migration legislation under slate grey skies, as thousands of people poured into Paris’ elegant Trocadero Square on January 21 for a last-shot protest against the newly passed bill. “I would say it’s more politicians,” said 25-year-old Doucoure, who hails from Mali, of an uptick of anti-migrant …

LONDON/WASHINGTON — Britain and the United States on Thursday said they had sanctioned four senior Houthi officials for their roles in supporting or directing attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthi attacks have disrupted global shipping and stoked fears of global inflation. They have also deepened concern that fallout from the Israel-Hamas war …

Tallinn, Estonia — A Russian court on Thursday sentenced a woman to 27 years in prison for a cafe blast that killed a prominent pro-war blogger after he was given a bust of himself that later exploded. In a separate proceeding, a Moscow court convicted a former leader of separatist rebels in Ukraine who called President …