Tag Archives: world politics

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Bangkok-based plastics firm has agreed to pay $20 million to settle with the U.S. over 467 “egregious” violations of Iran sanctions, the U.S. Treasury announced on Friday. SCG Plastics Co. used U.S. banks to process $291 million in sales of Iranian high-density polyethylene resin from 2017 to 2018, according to the signed settlement agreement between the …

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president is in a rush to finish the big legislative and building projects he promised before his term ends in September, and experts say officials are getting a bit sloppy amid all the haste. This week, legislators from the governing Morena party mistakenly submitted the wrong bill on pension reform for a vote in Congress, …

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa granted clemency to more than 4,000 prisoners, including some who were on death row, in an independence day amnesty on Thursday. Zimbabwe marked 44 years of independence from white minority rule, which ended in 1980 after a bloody bush war. The country’s name was changed from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe. The presidential amnesty, the second in less …

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa faces an unusual national election this year, its seventh vote since transitioning from white minority rule to a democracy 30 years ago. Polls and analysts warn that for the first time, the ruling African National Congress party that has comfortably held power since Nelson Mandela became the country’s first Black president in 1994 might receive …

The military Junta ruling Burkina Faso have expelled three French diplomats for alleged subversive activities, according to a government document posted on social media Thursday. The Junta named the three diplomats, two of whom are political advisors, and declared they were persona non grata in Burkina Faso, according to the document signed by the ministry of foreign affairs Tuesday. They …

Former President Trump on Thursday demanded that Europe do more to help Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia, saying the U.S. has played too big a role. In a post on his Truth Social account, the Republican frontrunner questioned why the U.S. – despite having an ocean between it and Ukraine – was giving more money than Europe. “Why …

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s governing conservative party added a convicted politician from Albania’s ethnic Greek minority to its list of candidates for the upcoming European Parliament election, adding to the already existing tension between the two countries. Fredi Beleris was elected mayor of the town of Himare in southern Albania last year but was arrested on vote-buying charges and …

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The Swedish parliament passed a law Wednesday lowering the age required for people to legally change their gender from 18 to 16. Those under 18 still need approval from a guardian, a doctor and the National Board of Health and Welfare. No longer required is a gender dysphoria diagnosis, defined by medical professionals as psychological distress …

The Belarusian parliament on Wednesday voted to suspend the country’s participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty that once was a key security doctrine for the continent, a 1990 agreement that was abandoned last year by Russia. The bill, introduced by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko earlier this month, could pave the way for Belarus — Russia’s ally in the …

The lower house of Swiss parliament on Wednesday followed in the footsteps of the Senate, or upper house, in approving a measure that would ban the use of, public wearing or display of Nazi and racist symbols that could foment extremist hate or violence. The proposal — years in the making — goes beyond a simple ban on Nazi memorabilia, …