Belarus

MINSK, Belarus (AP) — They don’t chant, they don’t move, and they mostly wear the wrong colors. They’re not even real.

The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, will not order sports in his country to shut down over the coronavirus.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that the Communist regime in China is the “central threat of our times.”

President Donald Trump is preparing to widen his travel ban to include a broader range of countries — and to expand the penalties for countries that do not update their airline security measures.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday called for the United States to have a role in negotiating between Ukraine and Russia, but the Kremlin immediately ruled out direct American participation.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine debuted Wednesday a new campaign to make the Chernobyl exclusion zone more welcoming to scientists and tourists.

Ukraine and Belarus held observance ceremonies in their capitals Friday to honor the casualties of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, which occurred 33 years ago and has left an uninhabitable nuclear wasteland in its wake.

Prior to landing in Madrid on Tuesday, Chinese Communist Party chief Xi Jinping published a Spanish-language editorial proclaiming that Spain had been a key stop on the ancient Silk Road “more than 2,000 years ago.”

Migrants are using the soccer World Cup ticketing system to illegally enter the European Union (EU) without a visa.

Ukraine and Belarus commemorated the 32nd anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster this week with memorial services and marches. The Chernobyl incident, the worst civilian nuclear accident in history, began on April 26, 1986.

An estimated 70 pro-democracy demonstrators were arrested in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, on Sunday after a rally marking the 100th anniversary of the nation’s ill-fated declaration of independence from Russia.

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Israeli security forces have arrested an Israeli citizen on suspicion of attempting to join the Islamic State terror group in Syria, the Shin Bet (Israeli Security Agency) announced on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (AP) – News media in Belarus are reporting sizable protests in five cities against an unpopular labor law that obliges citizens to pay the equivalent of $250 if they work less than half the year and do not register

Belarusian singer Ivan plans to take next month’s Eurovision Song Contest by storm — performing completely naked with a wolf at his side. But his plan may prove too much even for a show known as an annual celebration of

The Jerusalem Post reports: BOSTON – The Conference of European Rabbis weighed in on Jerusalem’s decision to close its embassy in Belarus, complaining of what it believes are the negative repercussions of the decision on the local Jewish community. “This decision

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Belarusian author Svetlana Alexievich condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine when she won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Literature for her work that portrayed the cruel reality of living in the Soviet Union. She documents experiences of between 500 and 700 people for each book.

Polish officials refused to allow Russian President Vladimir Putin’s biker gang the Night Wolves to enter the country. The gang is currently on their “victory ride” to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

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Apparently the tensions between the Ukrainian and Russian governments are not the only tensions sky high. A Russian journalist from Kremlin station LifeNews literally barked at a Ukrainian journalist in Minsk, Belarus where leaders convened to end the war in east Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Francois Hollande met in Minsk, Belarus, in an attempt to end the war in east Ukraine. The four emerged after 16 hours, all agreeing to a ceasefire in the east starting on February 15.

Russian soldiers and Russian-backed rebels in Ukraine assaulted Kramatorsk and surrounded Debaltseve on the eve of peace talks in Minsk, Belarus. The attack left twelve people dead and wounded thirty-one. Children are included among the wounded.

Lithuania, a member of the European Union and NATO, has identified more spies within its armed forces. The spy discovered in this incident worked at a NATO facility in Šiauliai. Lithuanian officials did not state which country the spies worked for, but they did not rule out connections to Russia and Belarus. Other experts believe several more Russian spies have infiltrated Lithuania.