Tag: World News

KYIV, Ukraine—U.S. officials are warning that Russia could be about to attack Ukraine. For many citizens in this embattled country, the assault has already begun. Ukrainian officials say that Russia, which has positioned more than 100,000 troops around three sides of Ukraine, is stepping up a destabilization campaign involving cyberattacks, economic disruption and a new tactic: hundreds of fake bomb threats.

HONOLULU—The U.S., Japan and South Korea will strengthen their joint efforts to deter North Korea’s missile activity and nuclear ambitions, while continuing to push for diplomatic engagement with Pyongyang, the allies’ senior diplomats said Saturday. “It is clear to all of us that the DPRK is in a phase of provocation,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, using shorthand for the country’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “We condemn the recent missile launches, violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions.” North Korea conducted seven weapons tests in the month of January alone—more than it had done all of last year. That includes an intermediate-range ballistic missile on Jan. 30, the most powerful weapon the Kim Jong Un regime has shown off in years. Pyongy...

Protesters fighting Covid-19 vaccine mandates temporarily stopped two-way traffic on the busiest international land-border crossing in North America, as a nearly two-week demonstration in Ottawa threatened to expand and disrupt U.S.-Canada trade.Authorities in Canada and the U.S. said the Ambassador Bridge, a 1.6-mile corridor that connects Detroit with Windsor, Ontario, was temporarily closed late Monday night because of a demonstration by truckers and their supporters. The protesters are calling for governments to rescind Covid-19 policies requiring individuals to be fully vaccinated to enter restaurants and gyms or to board planes and trains. About 600 people in heavy-duty trucks, sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks assembled on a major north-south corridor leading to the bridge, ...

ROME—Retired Pope Benedict XVI replied to charges that he mishandled cases of clerical sexual abuse during his tenure as an archbishop in Germany, but his response seemed unlikely to remove the taint that the allegations have left on his record.In his response, released by the Vatican on Tuesday, the retired pope asked forgiveness for any “grievous fault” he may have incurred, and expressed “profound shame” for failures that occurred during his long career of leadership in the church. But he didn’t admit wrongdoing. An accompanying document from his lawyers rebutted specific charges of coverup, perjury and insensitivity to abuse victims made against the 94-year-old Benedict last month in a church-sponsored probe on historical sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising. The probe fa...

Feuding investors in a California plane startup are firing off allegations against each other while the company is in the midst of a U.S. national security review, a risky tactic during the secretive process.Icon Aircraft Inc. makes a small, amphibious plane with foldable wings that is marketed for recreational use. A group of American shareholders fell out with Chinese investors who hold a dominant stake in Icon, alleging they are improperly transferring the company’s technology to China. The Chinese investors have said in legal filings that they are pursuing a normal technology licensing agreement. They and Icon deny any improper dealing. The Americans last year filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the alleged technology transfer. They then appealed to the Committee on Foreign Investment in t...

NEW DELHI—Social media posts by a Pakistan distributor for Hyundai Motor Co. have triggered calls to boycott the company and prompted India’s government to summon South Korea’s ambassador to express its displeasure.The episode highlights the potential pitfalls for multinational corporations in navigating the political sensitivities between India and Pakistan. Online calls to boycott the South Korean auto maker erupted in India after social-media users seized upon Facebook and Twitter posts made by the distributor marking Pakistan’s Kashmir Solidarity Day on Saturday. A tweet by a Hyundai distributor in Pakistan expressing solidarity with people in the contested region of Kashmir caused an uproar in India. Photo: Uncredited “Let us remember the sacrifices of our Kashmiri brothe...

KYIV, Ukraine—With Russian military forces gathering on three sides of Ukraine last month, advisers to President Volodymyr Zelensky urged a low-key response. His top national security adviser, in a cellphone call, counseled him with two words: “Olympian calm.”The following day, Mr. Zelensky addressed the nation on television and said the threat of war was no greater than any other time since Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded portions of the country in 2014. This is the tack chosen by Mr. Zelensky, a 44-year-old ex-comic with no political experience prior to his election, in his bid to fend off both Russian aggression as well as the American response it has kicked off. Caught between two powers increasingly at odds with each other, Mr. Zelensky is adamant he can prevent an invasion o...

HONG KONG—Unvaccinated residents will be barred from Hong Kong’s supermarkets and malls, as city officials try to beat back a record outbreak of Covid-19.The restrictions unveiled Tuesday by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam expand a vaccine mandate due to be implemented Feb. 24 that already covered venues like restaurants and gyms. The financial hub is racing to contain a fast-growing outbreak driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Daily cases exceeded 600 for the second consecutive day Tuesday, with some transmission linked to gatherings over the Lunar New Year. The numbers, while small in global terms, have rattled a city of 7.4 million that has largely kept the virus at bay throughout the pandemic with stringent border controls. Hong Kong has recorded...

When U.S. special-operations forces touched down in northwest Syria early Thursday in a raid that would bring about the death of Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, they entered an area they were familiar with.A little over two years earlier, they found Qurayshi’s predecessor, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who detonated his suicide vest to avoid capture, in a house 15 miles down the road. Idlib province in northwestern Syria has emerged as a haven for senior Islamic State leaders after the group lost most of its territory in 2017. At first sight, it should be hostile ground. Idlib is under the control of one of Islamic State’s sworn enemies, a rival jihadist group called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. Yet Islamic State managed to build a presence in the province, buoyed in part...

BEIJING—After months of uncertainty and tension, China kicked off one of the most unusual Olympic Games in history with an opening-ceremony spectacle punctuated by what appeared to be a defiant jab at the U.S. and its allies that have challenged the country’s human-rights record.Beijing on Friday officially became the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Games, staging a display of exquisite pageantry in freezing temperatures that was more subdued than the steamy extravaganza in 2008 held in the same stadium, known colloquially as the Bird’s Nest. Games organizers brought back Zhang Yimou, the famed Chinese director who headed the ceremony 14 years ago, for an encore that featured thousands of performers dancing in unison, synchronized skating and a blaze of fireworks. The Openi...