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☆ Davos 2023: Opposition leader says Russian move on Ukraine from Belarus unlikely
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( John Irish | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Belarus' exiled opposition leader said on Monday she did not think Russia would launch an offensive on Ukraine from Belarus after the two countries began military drills, but Moscow could launch more missiles strikes from its ally's territory. Moscow and Minsk started joint military exercises on Monday, triggering fears in Kyiv and the West that Moscow could use its ally to launch a new ground offensive in Ukraine. Belarus has conducted numerous military exercises since Russia's invasion began in February, both on its own and jointly with Russia. However, it is unclear how much appetite there is from the people to enter a war against their neighbour. "Lukashenko's regime isn't sure that if he sends troops to fight with the Russian army to Ukraine, the Belarus people won't change sides, hide or betray him, so the status quo is comfortable for Lukashenko and (Russian President Vladimir)Putin."

☆ Daughter of Thailand's exiled former PM Thaksin to seek premiership
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BANGKOK, Jan 16 (Reuters) - The daughter of Thailand's self-exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra has declared her readiness to run for prime minister in an election this year, as the main opposition seeks to regain power after being ousted in a coup eight years ago. Paetongtarn Shinawatra, whose father Thaksin and aunt Yingluck Shinawatra both led governments toppled by the army, will run under the Pheu Thai Party, the latest incarnation of a populist movement founded by her billionaire family two decades ago. "We want the party to win the election by a landslide so the promises we made to the people can be realised," she said. Both Yingluck and Thaksin are living overseas to avoid jail terms handed down under military rule. Prayuth, 68, joined the new United Thai Nation Party last week, hinting at a bid to remain premier.

☆ Redrawn South Carolina Congressional District ‘Exiled’ Black Voters, Judges Rule
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Jennifer Calfas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The panel said ‘race was the predominant motivating factor’ in how the state’s General Assembly drew its first congressional district. A panel of federal judges ruled South Carolina must redraw its U.S. congressional district map after finding lawmakers’ redrawing of the state’s first district discriminated against Black voters. In a decision Friday, the three-judge panel in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina said “race was the predominant motivating factor” in how the state’s General Assembly drew its first congressional district. The court ordered lawmakers to bring a new map to the court by March 31 and halted elections in the district until future court orders.

☆ All-female team replaces Juan Guaidó as face of Venezuela opposition
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s opposition has selected an all-female team of mostly unknown exiled former lawmakers to replace the beleaguered Juan Guaidó as the face of its faltering efforts to remove socialist President Nicolas Maduro. Meanwhile, Maduro’s supporters seemed to be relishing the opposition’s squabbles. At Thursday’s session inaugurating the legislative year, loyalist lawmakers re-elected Jorge Rodriguez to lead the National Assembly. U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday that the U.S. stands ready to work with any individual, or collective body, chosen by the 2015 National Assembly to represent it. We support the 2015 National Assembly as the only remaining vestige of democracy in Venezuela.”

REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez ViloriaCARACAS, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition national assembly on Thursday appointed three exiled lawmakers to direct it and create a commission to control foreign assets, including oil refiner Citgo (PDVSAC.UL). The assembly voted last week to remove Juan Guaido, the public face of the fractious opposition since 2019, as its interim president. The new leadership triumvirate is assembly president Dinorah Figuera and vice-presidents Marianela Fernandez and Auristela Vasquez - from opposition parties Justice First, A New Era and Democratic Action respectively. The new leadership will designate a five-member commission to manage foreign assets like Citgo, a subsidiary of state-owned oil company PDVSA. Because of its backing abroad, the opposition is able to control foreign assets based in other countries, like $1 billion in gold stored at the Bank of England.

☆ Moscow's exiled chief rabbi says Jews could be scapegoated for hardships caused by the war in Ukraine and should leave while they can
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The chief rabbi of Moscow left Russia earlier this year in protest over its invasion of Ukraine. Pinchas Goldschmidt told The Guardian that Jews should leave Russia while they can. "This is why I believe the best option for Russian Jews is to leave," he said. Goldschmidt resigned from his post as Moscow's chief rabbi earlier this year, after refusing to support Russia's invasion of Ukraine. After leaving the country, Goldschmidt said in a statement that he was leaving the Russian Jewish community "in distress," according to The Times of Israel.

“Your story will be different than ours.” Those are the final words of Sarah Polley’s film “Women Talking” and they succinctly sum up the film’s challenges, as well as its hopes. “Women Talking” starts after the otherworldly pretense has already exploded. Instead, most of “Women Talking” is, like the title says, women talking. Instead, most of “Women Talking” is, like the title says, women talking. “Women Talking” insists, though, that it’s worth doing.

☆ Before-and-after photos show how Russia is stripping Ukrainian life out of one of the only major cities it has captured
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Rebecca Cohen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Photos show how Russian troops are stripping Ukrainian life out of Mariupol. Video posted to Telegram Friday shows Russians destroying a theater in the captured city. In the year since, Russians have been sucking Ukrainian life out of Mariupol. Mariupol governmentThe video on Telegram recounts a "full history of the tragedy of the Drama Theater of Mariupol," the post said. To pay back all the guilty ones - those who bombed, those who falsified evidence, those who hid the crime," the Telegram post said.

He long has sought Patriot missiles to help counter three months of Russian missile and drone strikes on civilian infrastructure, including Ukraine's power grid. Switching to Russian, Zelenskiy warned that "citizens of Russia must clearly understand that terror never goes without a response." REPORTED REINFORCEMENTSUkraine has driven Russian forces from the areas around its capital Kyiv and second biggest city Kharkiv. Moscow is now focused on holding areas its forces occupy in southern and eastern Ukraine - around a fifth of the country. Russian forces shelled the southern Kherson region 61 times in 24 hours, half of those within Kherson city, killing one person, Governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said.

☆ Self-exiled Philippine communist leader Sison dies at 83
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Jose Maria Sison, founder of Philippine Communist Party, reacts after he was released from Scheveningen prison in the Netherlands September 13, 2007. REUTERS/Ronald FleurbaaijMANILA, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Philippine communist leader Jose Maria Sison died on Friday night at the age of 83 after a two-week confinement in a hospital in the Netherlands, his party said on Saturday. Sison is the founder of the Philippine Communist Party, whose military wing - the New People's Army (NPA) - has been waging an armed rebellion in one of the world's longest-running insurgencies. The self-exiled communist leader has lived in Europe since the late 1980s, after his release from jail following the fall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, whose namesake son was elected president in a May election this year. The party said Sison died peacefully at around 8:40 p.m. (1240 GMT) on Friday after being confined in the hospital in Utrecht.

☆ Elon Musk's Twitter bans several prominent journalists without explanation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —Twitter on Thursday evening banned the accounts of several high-profile journalists from top news organizations without explanation, apparently marking a significant attempt by new owner Elon Musk to wield his unilateral authority over the platform. Neither Musk nor Twitter responded to a request for comment Thursday evening, and the platform did not explain precisely why the journalists were exiled from the platform. It also called into serious question Musk’s supposed commitment to free speech. We hope that all of the journalists’ accounts are reinstated and that Twitter provides a satisfying explanation for this action.”“Elon says he is a free speech champion and he is banning journalists for exercising free speech,” Harwell told CNN on Thursday. Several of the journalists banned Thursday had covered the ban of the @ElonJet account, and highlighted the irony of Musk’s self-purported mission to advance free speech.

☆ Drone strikes leave more than a million without power in southern Ukraine, officials say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Mithil Aggarwal | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Russia used Iranian-made drones to target energy infrastructure in and around the port city of Odesa, leaving more than 1.5 million people without power, Ukrainian officials said Saturday. “The situation in Odesa region is very difficult,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address posted to his Telegram channel. People watch the soccer World Cup in a restaurant powered by a generator after a drone attack knocked out power in Odessa, Ukraine, on Saturday. The strikes were launched by the U.S.-supplied HIMARS missiles, Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-appointed governor of the region, said on his own Telegram. He added that that it would help Ukrainian forces cut supplies to Crimea, which Russia has been using as a launchpad for its offensives and missile strikes.

☆ Ukrainian air strikes hit Russian barracks in occupied Melitopol with US-supplied HIMARS, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ukraine launched a missile attack on the occupied city of Melitopol, Ukrainian and pro-Kremlin authorities said. Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russia-installed head of the Zaporizhzhia region, also said that HIMARS struck Melitopol, per the Kyiv Post. The Moscow-appointed Zaporizhzhia governor said that the missiles struck and destroyed a "recreation center" where people were dining. According to The Guardian, the missiles struck a former resort and hotel complex next to a church which was reportedly being used as Russian barracks. Russian state media also reported that 20 missiles hit the Donetsk People's Republic on Sunday morning, according to CNN.

☆ Ukraine attacks occupied Melitopol, Russian side says two killed
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Nick Starkov | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KYIV, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Ukraine attacked occupied Melitopol in the country's southeast on Saturday evening, the Russian-installed and exiled Ukrainian authorities of the strategically located city said. The pro-Moscow authorities said a missile attack killed two people and injured 10, while the exiled mayor said scores of "invaders" were killed. He said a "recreation centre" where people were dining was destroyed in the Ukrainian attack with HIMARS missiles. "All logistics linking the Russian forces on the eastern part of the Kherson region and all the way to the Russian border near Mariupol is carried out through it," Arestovych said in a video interview on social media. Ukrainian forces gain a direct route to Crimea."

☆ Exiled Russian TV Channel Loses License in Latvia
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Alan Cullison | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Latvian government suspended the license Tuesday of a Russian opposition television channel operating from its soil, calling it a security risk after one of its presenters made a clumsy show of support for Russian servicemen who had been mobilized to fight in Ukraine. The chief editor of the channel, TV Rain, called the Latvian government’s decision “absurd and having nothing to do with common sense.” The presenter, who was fired from the channel, offered an apology and said his words were taken out of context. The channel, staffed by journalists who fled Russia, is now looking for a new country to base its operations.

☆ Latvia cancels licence of exiled Russian television station TV Rain
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Andrius Sytas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Summary Russian TV station moved to Latvia after Ukraine invasionLatvian regulator says it poses security threatTV Rain calls accusation "absurd"VILNIUS, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Latvia has cancelled the licence of Russian independent television station TV Rain after the company was branded a threat to national security, the state broadcasting regulator said on Tuesday. TV Rain said it programmes could still be seen on YouTube. Abolins said the regulator was convinced TV Rain did not understand "the essence and gravity" of its alleged violations. TV Rain apologized to its viewers and fired a presenter on Friday after Latvia's State Security Service launched an investigation into comments he made on air. TV Rain editor-in-chief Tikhon Dzyadko called the comments "misleading", tweeting last Friday: "TV Rain did not, does not, and will not act to help supply the Russian army".

☆ A $200m superyacht seized from Putin's apparent choice for a Ukrainian puppet leader is being sold at auction, with Ukraine keeping the proceeds
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The yacht of pro-Kremlin Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk is being sold by Ukraine. Medvedchuk was said to be Vladimir Putin's top choice for a puppet leader in Ukraine. He was also believed to be Vladimir Putin's top choice for a puppet leader to replace Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the event Russia successfully overthrew the Ukrainian government. While Croatia seized the yacht in March, police only searched it on November 19 after a search warrant from the US justice department was approved, according to the Croatian Jutarnji list. It added that it's also searching for a $540 million yacht, which is owned by an unnamed Russian oligarch.

☆ In title bout, 'Chocolatito' fights for Nicaragua leader Daniel Ortega
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Drazen Jorgic | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Two years later, the wealthy Coen family contracted Gonzalez to promote their Grupo Coen conglomerate in three world title fights in exchange for a house worth $150,000. Gonzalez's relationship with Grupo Coen also fractured. In 2019, he sued Grupo Coen after it refused to pay the boxer, claiming he didn't contest enough world title fights to fullfil his contract. This year, the courts awarded an extra $150,000 to Gonzalez against Grupo Coen, according to court documents seen by Reuters. Grupo Coen declined to comment.

☆ Factbox: A chronology of dissent in China in recent decades
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( James Pomfret | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The following is a timeline of some other notable protests, and public dissent against China's ruling Communist Party. 2009 - Xinjiang - In the region's worst ethnic unrest in decades, ethnic Uighurs attacked majority Han Chinese in the capital Urumqi, after an incident involving Uighur workers in a factory in southern China. China later builds massive "facilities" to turn Xinjiang into what a United Nations panel described as a "massive internment camp shrouded in secrecy". China later imposes a powerful national security law, arresting scores of democrats and shutting down civil society groups and liberal media outlets, including the Apple Daily newspaper. 2022 - Henan bank protests - Public protests simmer as thousands lose access to their savings in a banking fraud scandal centred on rural lenders in Henan and Anhui provinces.

☆ Obituary: China's Jiang Zemin confounded doubters, mended U.S. ties
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

[1/5] A security guard stands next to a portrait of China's former President Jiang Zemin at an exhibition to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Beijing, China, July 7, 2011. Under Jiang, China weathered the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001 and won the bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. "Jiang Zemin was more ready to be natural, even though sometimes it could be perceived as vulgar, not very sophisticated." At celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic in 1999, floats carried giant portraits of Mao, Deng and Jiang past Tiananmen Square. Jiang, like Mao, wore his trousers well above his waist and brushed his hair straight back.

☆ An exiled billionaire has given Chinese protesters 7 tips for stonewalling police if they get arrested
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui shared tips for how protesters can deal with police questioning. Guo posted his tips on Gettr, the social media site relaunched by a former Donald Trump aide. Guo Wengui, who is also a political activist, shared the tips in a post on Tuesday. Gettr is a social media app that was previously in Chinese and used by dissidents to oppose the Chinese Communist Party, according to Politico. Guo was accused of corruption and fled to the US in 2014 as the Chinese government initiated a campaign to discredit him.

☆ Afghanistan's Massoud urges elections to create legitimate government
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DUSHANBE, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Only elections can lead Afghanistan out of political crisis, even if they legitimise Taliban rule, Afghan anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Massoud told a conference in Tajikistan on Wednesday. The most recent elections in Afghanistan were held under the U.S.-backed administration which the hardline Islamist Taliban deposed in August 2021 when Western troops withdrew. Domestic, regional and international consensus is needed to work out a general elections framework in Afghanistan, he said. "If the Taliban come to power through elections, (the Resistance Front) will accept that as they will have the authority from the people." The NRF groups opposition forces loyal to Massoud, son of the former anti-Soviet mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.

☆ Jailed Belarus protest leader in intensive care after operation - sister
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

KYIV, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Jailed Belarusian protest leader Maria Kolesnikova was in a stable but serious condition in the intensive care ward of a hospital on Tuesday after undergoing surgery, her sister and opposition politician Viktor Babariko's Telegram account said. The jailed Babariko's Telegram channel said Kolesnikova, an outspoken critic of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, had been taken to a hospital in the southeastern city of Gomel on Monday. In an interview with Russian independent TV station Dozhd (TV Rain), which broadcasts from Latvia, the protest leader's sister, Tatsiana Khomich, said Kolesnikova had undergone surgery on Monday after a time in a punishment cell. Nothing was known about the reason for the surgery, and Kolesnkova had not complained about her health, Khomich said. Babariko's telegram channel said Kolesnikova was set to be moved out of the intensive care unit to a surgery ward on Wednesday.

POLITICAL TALKSFollowing oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2019, Chevron received an exemption to trade its Venezuelan crude to recoup pending debts. Chevron's four PDVSA joint ventures produced about 200,000 barrels per day of crude oil and exported the crude around the world prior to the sanctions. It also allows the U.S. company to import supplies to help process the country's crude oil into exportable grades. That limits any wider expansion of Venezuelan oil production. Chevron and other U.S. oil refiners could benefit from supplies of Venezuela's heavy crude flowing to their U.S. Gulf Coast processing plants.

☆ Belarus officials say Vladimir Makei, long-time foreign minister, has died suddenly
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Belarus’ long-standing foreign minister has died suddenly, the country’s foreign ministry said Saturday, two days before he was meant to meet his Russian counterpart. "The Foreign Minister of the Republic of Belarus Vladimir Makei has passed away," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus said in a tweet. Before the presidential elections and mass anti-government protests in Belarus in 2020, Makei had been one of the initiators of efforts to improve Belarus’ relations with the West and had criticized Russia. “We are shocked by the reports of the death of the Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Vladimir Makei,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova posted in her Telegram channel. “In 2020, Makei betrayed the Belarusian people and supported tyranny.

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