World news

Edgars Rinkēvičs elected president of Latvia, first openly gay president in country's history.

Latvian lawmakers have picked the Baltic country’s long-serving and popular foreign minister as its new head of state in a tight vote. The 100-seat Saeima legislature elected Edgars Rinkevics as president to serve for a four-year term. He received 52 votes. That's one vote more than required to win the race. He served as Latvia's top diplomat since 2011. Egils Levits has been Latvia’s head of state since 2019. But he didn’t seek reelection. Rinkevics is the first openly gay president in the Baltic nations.

Sweden close to becoming first 'smoke free' country in Europe as daily use of cigarettes dwindles

Summer is in the air, cigarette smoke is not, in Sweden's outdoor bars and restaurants. Sweden, which has the lowest rate of smoking in the Europe Union is now close to declaring itself “smoke free” — defined as having fewer than 5% daily smokers in the population. Some experts give credit to decades of anti-smoking campaigns and legislation, while others point to the prevalence of “snus,” a smokeless tobacco product that is banned elsewhere in the EU but is marketed in Sweden as an alternative to cigarettes. The 5% milestone is now within reach. Statistics from the Public Health Agency of Sweden show the daily smoking rate reached 5.6% last year.

Germany: Ukraine can launch attacks on Russian territory to defend itself

The German government believes the international law allows Ukraine to launch attacks on the territory of Russia as a measure of self-defence.

Zelenskyy: Russia has killed at least 483 children and is obliterating children’s rights

Russia has killed at least 483 Ukrainian children, and left nearly 1,000 children injured, in the 15 months of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Putin hasn't lost the war yet, so don't laugh at 1960s tanks – Polish President

Polish President Andrzej Duda has warned against making hasty statements about Russia’s defeat in the war against Ukraine.

Blinken urges Turkey to immediately approve Sweden's NATO accession

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday urged Turkey to immediately finalize Sweden's accession to NATO, saying the Nordic country had already taken significant steps to address Ankara's objections to its membership.

UK officials 'legitimate targets' in war on Ukraine, top Putin ally claims

UK officials are a “legitimate military target” because of the UK’s support for Ukraine, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has claimed…

Swiss police ‘catfish’ operation helps identify 2,200 child sex offenders

More than 2,200 sex offenders and consumers of child sex abuse material worldwide have been identified.

Freedom of Russia Legion is recruiting Russians to storm Moscow – The Times

A fighter of the Freedom of Russia Legion with the call sign Caesar said that the Russian partisans, who attacked the Kremlin’s forces from the territory of Ukraine, have “thousands” of people willing to join their ranks and will continue to raid the border until their forces are large enough to storm Moscow.

Russia is increasingly losing initiative in war – UK Intelligence

The UK Ministry of Defence has stated that in recent weeks, Russian troops have lost the initiative in the war and are forced to respond to the action.

Germany cracks down on far right with raids as hate crimes rise

“Politicians and the security apparatus have underestimated or downplayed the scale of the problem for decades,” one expert said.

Zelenskyy invites British defence company to manufacture weapons in Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has held talks with representatives of BAE Systems, the major British defence company.

North Korea says its attempt to launch 1st spy satellite ends in failure

North Korea’s attempt to put the country’s first spy satellite into space failed. Wednesday's failed launch is a setback to leader Kim Jong Un’s push to boost his military capabilities. After its unusually quick admission of failure, North Korea vowed to conduct a second launch after learning what went wrong. A satellite launch by North Korea is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. South Korea and Japan briefly urged residents to seek shelter during the launch. South Korea’s Defense Ministry released photos of a salvaged white, metal cylinder suspected to be part of the crashed North Korean rocket.

Russian Wagner Group is using American social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to recruit new members around the world, according to new report

The paramilitary group is hunting for new international recruits by boasting cushy salaries and benefits, Politico reported.

North Korea says spy satellite launch crashed into sea

Pyongyang was planning to send up its first space satellite to monitor US military activities.

Wagner’s chief Prigozhin blames Russian Ministry of Defense incompetence for Moscow drone attack

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader Russia’s Wagner Group PMC, has decided to capitalize on the outrage of Russian citizens caused by the drone attacks on Moscow and its suburbs, in order to further discredit the Russian Defense Ministry, presenting himself as a "defender of the ordinary people."

Mexico failed to uphold international treaty protecting vaquita porpoise, U.S. says: Maybe just 10 are left that haven't been caught in nets targeting totoaba for the Chinese black market

Uganda condemned by Joe Biden, UK government and world leaders over lethal anti-gay law

Uganda has been condemned by western governments, activists and LGBTQ+ groups after it signed its vile Anti-Homosexuality Act into law. 

Russian energy giant Gazprom's private security force was deployed to fight in Ukraine, report says

"I want to tell my colleagues at Gazprom: Don't go to Ukraine, stay at home," a former Gazprom security guard said in a video obtained by WSJ.