Like most of his predecessors as Conservative Party leader, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is wealthy, white and male. There’s a good chance his successor will be different.

The eight candidates running in a party election to succeed Johnson are four men and four women, with roots in Iraq, India, Pakistan and Nigeria as well as the U.K. The race could give the country its first Black or brown prime minister, its third female leader, or both.

With the first round of voting by Conservative lawmakers set for Wednesday, the bookies’ favorite is former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, son of Indian parents who came to Britain from East Africa. Other contenders include Kemi Badenoch, whose parents are Nigerian; Nadhim Zahawi, who was born in Baghdad and came to Britain as a child and Suella Braverman, whose Indian parents moved to Britain from Kenya and Mauritius.

With Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss also in the race, only two white men — Tom Tugendhat and Jeremy Hunt — are running.

Zahawi, who recalled coming to Britain at age 11 speaking no English, said “the Conservative Party has made me who I am today.”

But if the contenders reflect the face of modern Britain, the winner will be chosen by an electorate that does not. The next party leader, who will also become prime minister, will be chosen by about 180,000 Conservative members who tend to be affluent, older white men.

The slate of candidates reflects successful efforts to attract more diverse talent to the party and shake its “pale, male and stale” image, begun after former Prime Minister David Cameron became party leader in 2005. Cameron made a push to draft diverse candidate shortlists for solidly Conservative seats, an effort that has seen Black and brown Tory lawmakers elected in constituencies that are predominantly white.

The party’s attempt to attract aspiring politicians from immigrant backgrounds has succeeded despite a Brexit vote in which the winning “leave” side — championed by Boris Johnson — played on concerns about immigration.

“The Conservative Party is very diverse at the very, very top,” said Sunder Katwala, director of the equality think-tank British Future. “It’s a massive, rapid change, and it’s a level of ethnic diversity that has never been seen in any leadership field for any political party in any Western democracy.

“It’s clear that minority candidates have a sense that their voice, their story, is relevant to this moment. That might be the story of aspiration, it might be the story of inclusive patriotism after Brexit.”

Change has happened despite the Conservatives lagging behind the left-of-center Labour Party in terms of overall diversity. Labour, which passed Britain’s first race relations act in 1965, has long seen itself as the natural home for ethnic-minority voters, as well as a champion of women’s rights. Half of Labour’s lawmakers are women and 20% come from non-white backgrounds; among Tory legislators, 24% are women and 6% belong to ethnic minorities.

But minorities in the Tory party have risen higher, and faster. Sunak, Zahawi and Javid all served in Johnson’s Cabinet in senior posts. Both of Britain’s female prime ministers — Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May — have been Tories, while Labour has never had a female leader.

The only British prime minister from an ethnic minority background was 19th-century leader Benjamin Disraeli, who came from Sephardic Jewish stock. He was a Conservative, too.

“Labour continues to regard minorities as groups to be protected or talked about a lot — but for whatever reason it seems they can’t or won’t advance them on merit to the highest offices,” said Conservative commentator Alex Deane. “The conservative approach is to advance people on ability regardless of gender or color and — guess what?— it works.”

If the candidates’ backgrounds are diverse, their views are less so. Johnson’s drive for a “hard” Brexit from the European Union, regardless of the economic cost, drove many pro-European and centrist lawmakers out of the government. Those who remain, of all backgrounds, are small-state, free-marketeers inspired by “Iron Lady” Thatcher.

Contenders have fallen over one another to promise tax cuts, painting Sunak as a left-winger because he has suggested that slashing taxes might not immediately be possible amid war in Ukraine and a stuttering post-pandemic economy.

Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said the race was “a contest between different strains of Thatcherism.”

In part that’s because the candidates are wooing an electorate, members of the Conservative Party, that is significantly less diverse — racially, economically and ideologically — than Britain as a whole.

A study of political party membership by Queen Mary University of London and Sussex University, completed in 2020, found 95% of Conservative members identified as “White British,” compared to about 86% of the population as a whole. Some 63% of party members were men, 58% were aged 50 or older and 80% were middle class or above.

Still, Katwala, who studies British social attitudes, is confident the Conservative electorate “will see the leaders through their politics and through issues” rather than through gender or ethnicity.

“Britain has become a more tolerant, less racially prejudiced country, very significantly, over the last few generations,” he said.

“What makes ethnic diversity normal in politics is when you’ve got it on the right, on the left and in the middle.”
…

Officials from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations are due to meet Wednesday in Istanbul in an effort to resume grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. 

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has hindered Ukrainian exports, helping push up global prices on grain, cooking oils, fuel and fertilizer. 

Turkey and the United Nations have been working to broker a deal to alleviate the crisis. 

Russia has expressed concerns about ships being used to bring weapons into Ukraine and called for ships to be searched. 

Ukraine has said an agreement cannot threaten the security of its territory along the Black Sea. 

Donbas fighting 

Britain’s defense ministry said Wednesday it expects Russian forces to focus on taking small towns near the cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk as it tries to take control of the eastern Donbas region. 

“The urban areas of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk likely remain the principal objectives for this phase of the operation,” the ministry said. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address late Tuesday that “Russian shelling does not stop for a single day.” 

“In the Donbas, offensive attempts do not stop, the situation there does not get easier, and the losses do not get smaller. We must remember this. We must see this, draw attention to this.” 

Ukraine said Tuesday 52 Russians were killed in a long-range missile attack on an ammunition dump in southern Ukraine. Moscow disputed the claim, saying seven civilians had been killed. 

Kyiv said the attack in the town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region came after the United States supplied Ukraine with advanced HIMARS mobile artillery systems, which Ukraine said its forces were using with greater accuracy. 

“Based on the results of our rocket and artillery units, the enemy lost 5️2 (people), a Msta-B howitzer, a mortar and seven armored and other vehicles, as well as an ammunition depot in Nova Kakhovka,” Ukraine’s southern military command said in a statement. 

The region Ukraine hit is one that Russia seized after launching its invasion on February 24. With access to the Black Sea, the area is of strategic importance. 

A Russian-installed official in Kherson gave a different version of events, saying at least seven people had been killed and that civilians and civilian infrastructure had been hit. 

Russia’s TASS news agency quoted Vladimir Leontyev, head of the Russia-installed, Kakhovka district military-civilian administration, as saying at least seven people had been killed in the attack and about 60 wounded. 

“There are still many people under the rubble. The injured are being taken to the hospital, but many people are blocked in their apartments and houses,” Leontyev said in the TASS account. He was also quoted as saying that warehouses, shops, a pharmacy, gas stations and a church had been hit. 

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of indiscriminately killing civilians in the war. The United Nations human rights office said Tuesday that 5,024 civilians had been killed in Ukraine since the invasion began, while adding that the actual toll was likely much higher. 

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…

France’s new foreign minister said on Tuesday there were only a few weeks before the window of opportunity to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers would close. 

Speaking to lawmakers, Catherine Colonna said the situation was no longer tenable and accused Iran of using delaying tactics and going back on previously agreed positions during talks in Doha earlier this month, while forging ahead with its uranium enrichment program. 

“There is still a window of opportunity … for Iran to finally decide to accept an accord, which it worked to build. But time is passing,” Colonna said, warning that if Iran kept on its current trajectory, it would be a threshold nuclear-armed state. 

“Time is passing. Tehran must realize this,” she said, adding that the U.S. mid-term elections would make it even harder to seal a deal. 

“The window of opportunity will close in a few weeks. There will not be a better accord to the one which is on the table.” 

Last week, the U.S. envoy for the talks to reinstate the deal said Iran had added demands unrelated to discussions on its nuclear program during the latest talks and had made alarming progress on enriching uranium. 

Under the 2015 nuclear pact, Iran limited its uranium enrichment program, a potential pathway to nuclear weapons, though Tehran says it seeks only civilian atomic energy, in return for a lifting of international sanctions. 

In 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the deal, calling it too soft on Iran, and reimposed harsh U.S. sanctions, spurring Tehran to breach nuclear limits in the pact. 

Western officials have repeatedly said that the talks between world powers and Iran only had a few weeks to conclude a deal, with Colonna’s predecessor Jean-Yves Le Drian even saying in February it was just a question of days.
…

More than 1.8 billion people worldwide are at risk of severe floods, new research shows. Most reside in low- and middle-income countries in Asia, and four out of 10 live in poverty.

The figures are substantially larger than previous estimates. They show that the risk is concentrated among those least able to withstand and recover from flooding.

“I thought it was a valuable paper, indeed. Because this link between poverty and flood risk is kind of overlooked,” said hydrologist Bruno Merz, of the German Research Center for Geosciences, who was not involved in the study.

Flood risk assessments typically consider risk in monetary terms, which is highest in rich countries where more wealth is at stake. The new study focused on how flood exposure and poverty overlap.

Published in the journal Nature Communications, the study combined a global flood risk database with information on population density and poverty. The research focused on places where floods 15 centimeters deep or deeper happen at least once every 100 years on average.

The study found that nearly 90% of people at risk of severe flooding live in poor countries, not rich ones. More than 780 million flood-exposed people live on less than $5.50 per day.

The substantial overlap between high flood risk and poverty feeds into a vicious cycle that further concentrates flood protections in rich countries that have more resources to deal with floods in the first place, said flood risk researcher Jeroen Aerts of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Aerts was not involved in the study.

“It’s doing a cost-benefit analysis,” Aerts said. “Less money is going to poorer countries, because, of course, if the country is poorer, there are less dollars exposed.” Aerts said that this also happens within countries, which tend to invest in pricey flood protections for wealthy urban centers rather than for poorer rural areas.

The new estimate for global flood exposure is higher than some earlier ones. For instance, one previous study predicted that 1.3 billion people would be exposed to severe floods by 2050 — 500 million fewer than are exposed today, according to the new estimate. The authors attribute their higher number to their use of better data covering more regions at higher resolution and combining the risks from coastal, river and surface water floods.

The study did not consider protections, such as levees or dikes, in its assessment of flood exposure. This “distorts the picture,” Merz said, since some flood-prone populations are well-protected, such as those in the Netherlands.

Rather than undermining the study’s findings, Merz thought that this could mean that an even greater proportion of the people threatened by floods lives in poor regions.

“In many low-income countries, there is no flood protection, so people will be flooded by a small flood … that occurs on average every five years. On the other hand, in Europe, in North America, many of the areas are protected (from floods that happen once every) 100 years, 200 years or even higher. And so, this is not included,” he said.

Unprotected, poorer regions could thus shoulder an even greater share of the actual risks from flood exposure than the paper suggests.

The new result offers a snapshot of flood risk around the world as it is today, not a projection of how it will develop in the future. Climate change is projected to increase the frequency and intensity of floods in much of the world. And although early warning systems have decreased flood fatalities, including in resource-poor regions, population growth in flood-prone areas will also put more people at risk in the future, Aerts said.

“The exposure to natural hazards, exposure to flooding — it’s larger than previously investigated. And the majority of those exposed people live in a vulnerable, poor region,” Aerts said. “I think that’s the takeaway, I think, and maybe one sentence more: This means that investments in … flood adaptation should be targeted at those areas.”
…

Eight British Conservative Party lawmakers have made the cut to replace outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who resigned earlier this month amid scandals. 

Each of the eight needed support from at least 20 fellow Conservative Party lawmakers before the Tuesday deadline.  

Runoff voting among fellow Conservative lawmakers, to narrow the field to two, is scheduled to begin Wednesday. 

Among the eight are former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt and backbench lawmaker Tom Tugendhat. Former health secretary Sajid Javid was not among the eight. 

Lawmakers aim to narrow the field to two by the summer break, which starts July 21. The two finalists will then campaign across the country, after which party members will vote on the winner. 

The new leader is due to be announced when the House of Commons returns on September 5. 

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press. 

 
…

Ukrainian and Russian officials gave differing accounts Tuesday of a Ukrainian attack in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

According to the Ukrainian side, a long-range rocket struck a Russian ammunition depot in Nova Kakhovka, killing 52 Russian troops.

Russia said the Ukrainian strike instead hit civilian infrastructure.

Also Tuesday, Britain’s defense ministry said Russian forces continued to make “incremental territorial gains” in Donetsk province, the area of eastern Ukraine where it has focused its efforts.

The British statement said Russia is likely maintaining pressure on Ukrainian forces while “regrouping and reconstituting for further offensives in the near future.

Officials in the Donetsk town of Chasiv Yar said the death toll from a Russian missile strike on an apartment building rose to 34, with nine people having been safely rescued from the rubble.

The five-story apartment building was demolished by a rocket attack Saturday.

Chasiv Yar is about 20 kilometers southeast of Kramatorsk, a city that is expected to be a major target of Russian forces as they push farther westward into Donetsk province after claiming victory a week ago in the adjoining Luhansk province.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
…

Russian journalist Yury Dud was fined 120,000 rubles ($2,024) by a Moscow court Tuesday under a law that bans “propaganda” in support of gay relationships.

Lefortovo district court said the 35-year-old was fined for disseminating “propaganda for non-traditional sexual relationships among minors.”

Former sports reporter Dud is one of Russia’s top media stars, having risen to prominence via acerbic, politically tinged interviews and documentaries uploaded to YouTube, where he has more than 10 million subscribers.

In October last year, Dud was fined 100,000 rubles ($1,689) on charges of “drugs propaganda,” after a pro-Kremlin lobby group asked Russia’s internal affairs ministry to investigate him.

On April 15, Dud was designated a foreign agent by Russia’s justice ministry after publicly opposing Russia’s war in Ukraine, which he dubbed an “imperial frenzy.”

Human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov said the case against Dud was based on a 2021 YouTube interview he conducted with a gay performance artist, although Chikov said the interview was not about homosexuality.

Russia has since 2013 criminalized “propagandizing” non-traditional sexual orientations to children, as part of the Kremlin’s wider conservative agenda. Last week, parliamentary speaker Vyacheslav Volodin called for a complete ban on promoting “non-traditional values” in Russia.
…

Olympic champion Mo Farah revealed in an article published Monday that he was brought to Britain illegally under the name of another child to work as a domestic servant. 

Farah told the BBC that he was given the name Mohamed Farah by a woman who flew him to the UK from the East African country Djibouti when he was 9. 

The 39-year-old, whose father was killed in Somalia when he was 4, said his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin and claimed he was made to look after another family’s children in Britain. 

“The truth is I’m not who you think I am,” he said as part of a documentary to be aired Wednesday. 

“Most people know me as Mo Farah, but it’s not my name, or it’s not the reality. 

“The real story is I was born in Somaliland, north of Somalia, as Hussein Abdi Kahin. Despite what I’ve said in the past, my parents never lived in the UK. 

“When I was 4 my dad was killed in the civil war, you know, as a family we were torn apart. 

“I was separated from my mother, and I was brought into the UK illegally under the name of another child called Mohamed Farah.” 

Farah, who became the first British track and field athlete to win four Olympic gold medals, said his children have motivated him to be truthful about his past. 

“I’ve been keeping it for so long, it’s been difficult because you don’t want to face it, and often my kids ask questions, ‘Dad, how come this?’ And you’ve always got an answer for everything, but you haven’t got an answer for that,” he said. 

“That’s the main reason in telling my story because I want to feel normal and don’t feel like you’re holding on to something.” 

‘Just being honest’ 

Farah’s wife, Tania, said in the year leading up to their 2010 wedding she realized “there was lots of missing pieces to his story” but she eventually “wore him down with the questioning” and he told the truth. 

During the television program, Farah said he thought he was going to Europe to live with relatives and recalled going through a UK passport check under the guise of Mohamed at the age of 9. 

“I had all the contact details for my relative and once we got to her house, the lady took it off me and right in front of me ripped them up and put it in the bin and at that moment I knew I was in trouble,” he said. 

Farah eventually told his physical education teacher Alan Watkinson the truth and moved to live with his friend’s mother, Kinsi, who “really took great care” of him, and stayed seven years. 

It was Watkinson who applied for Farah’s British citizenship, which he described as a “long process” and on July 25, 2000, Farah was recognized as a British citizen. 

Farah, who named his son Hussein after his real name, said: “I often think about the other Mohamed Farah, the boy whose place I took on that plane, and I really hope he’s OK. 

“Wherever he is, I carry his name and that could cause problems now for me and my family. 

“The important thing is for me to just be able to look, this is what’s happened and just being honest, really.”
…

Spain and Portugal were sweltering in their second heat wave in a month Monday, with scorching temperatures also expected in France and Britain in the coming days.

People in Spain baked with the temperature in the central town of Candeleda hitting a stifling 43.3 degrees Celsius (110 degrees Fahrenheit) shortly after 6 p.m. (1600 GMT), according to Spain’s meteorological agency AEMET.

The mercury meanwhile hit 42.4C in the southern city of Seville.

The southwestern cities of Badajoz and Merida also saw temperatures of 42C.

AEMET forecast 46C in Badajoz on Thursday and Friday with Seville predicted to swelter in 45C on Wednesday and Thursday.

“This heat wave really has the potential to be exceptional,” said AEMET representative Ruben del Campo.

The current temperature surge began Sunday and could “last nine or 10 days, which would make it one of the three longest heat waves Spain has seen since 1975,” he told AFP.

Heat waves have become more frequent due to climate change, scientists say. As global temperatures rise over time, heat waves are expected to become more intense.

June had already seen Spain grapple with temperatures above 40C in swathes of the country.

The previous month was Spain’s hottest May since the beginning of the century.

In August 2021, Spain recorded its highest ever temperature when the mercury reached 47.4C (117 degrees Fahrenheit) in the small southern town of Montoro.

Meteorologists did not rule out the prospect of that record being broken in the coming days.

The heightened temperatures have been accompanied by a lack of rainfall.

Reservoirs in Spain stood at 45.3% of capacity Monday, well below the average of 65.7% recorded during the same period over the past decade.

In neighboring Portugal temperatures topped 44C over the weekend, fueling wildfires and vast smoke clouds which were visible in the capital Lisbon.

Firefighters brought the largest blaze under control Monday after it had burned through swathes of the central municipality of Ourem, local officials said.

‘Maximum risk’

While temperatures eased somewhat in Portugal on Monday, they were expected to soar again in the coming days with 44C forecast for the southeastern city of Evora.

“In the coming days we will experience conditions of maximum risk,” Prime Minister Antonio Costa said.

“The slightest lapse in vigilance could result in a fire of significant proportions.”

A front of hot air began pushing into France Monday, with the mercury rising above 30C across much of the country, according to national weather forecaster Meteo-France.

Temperatures could hit 39C in some parts of France Tuesday, Meteo-France added. The heat wave should reach its peak between Saturday and next Tuesday, said Sebastien Leas of Meteo-France.

Britain on Monday issued an extreme heat warning, with temperatures predicted to hit more than 30C across large parts of England and Wales.

The extreme heat warning was classified as “amber,” the second-highest alert level, indicating a “high impact” on daily life and people.

Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Rebekah Sherwin said the U.K. highs would continue into early next week.

“From Sunday and into Monday, temperatures are likely to be in excess of 35C in the southeast (of England), although the details still remain uncertain,” she said.
…

The United Nations said Monday that thousands of children in war zones suffered grave abuses including rape, maiming and death last year, and that concerns are growing for children in new regions of conflict, including Ukraine.

“The fact remains that hundreds, if not thousands, of children are victims of violence in armed conflict every day of every week of every month of every year in conflict-affected states and regions,” Virginia Gamba, the special representative of the secretary-general for children and armed conflict, told reporters at the launch of the annual report.

The most dangerous places to be a child last year were Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, Somalia and Yemen.

Gamba’s office, working with U.N. teams on the ground, verified nearly 24,000 grave violations against children. More than 8,000 were killed or maimed due to conflict, 6,310 were recruited and used in combat; and nearly 3,500 children were abducted.

Among worrying trends the report uncovered is the significant increase in abductions and sexual violence against children. Both were up 20% from 2020.

Gamba said many of the girls abducted are then trafficked, and that armed groups such as Boko Haram and West Africa’s branch of the Islamic State group target girls specifically for this purpose; it is not a random act of violence in a conflict. Ninety-eight percent of sexual violence documented in the report targeted girls.

While the vast majority of monitored violations were against boys — some 70% — overall the number of abuses against them has decreased, while girls suffered an increase in killing and maiming, abduction and rape.

“By 2020, one out of four children victims of grave violations were girls, but by 2021, one out of three are girls,” Gamba said. “The Lake Chad Basin region, which was included in children and armed conflict agenda last year, showed the most significant increase of girls affected by grave violations among all situations on the agenda.”

Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Libya, Niger and Nigeria are all part of the Lake Chad Basin region and have suffered variations of instability, intercommunal violence, terrorism and conflict.

Naming and shaming

The annual report is known for “naming and shaming” governments that mistreat children. But the 2021 report had no surprise listings.

Fifty-seven parties to conflict, seven of which are government-related actors, are mentioned, while the rest are nonstate groups.

Among the state offenders are Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, which was listed for maiming, killing and raping children. Congo’s army, the FARDC, for raping children. Syria’s government forces and pro-government militias for recruiting, killing and maiming, raping and attacking schools and/or hospitals.

A lengthy list of nonstate groups, including terrorists and rebel groups such as Islamic State, al-Qaida, Boko Haram and al-Shabab were also cited for multiple violations.

Afghanistan’s Taliban was listed for recruiting, maiming, killing and abducting children, as well as attacking schools and hospitals. Gamba said monitoring in Afghanistan in 2021 ended on Aug. 15, when the Taliban seized power after the government collapsed and the U.N. switched its focus to the humanitarian emergency. But in those first 7 1/2 months, there were nearly 3,000 verified violations against children.

“It still is one of the low points in my life to look at what is happening in Afghanistan,” Gamba said.

She said monitors have resumed their work there “however we can.”

New conflicts

The special representative’s office has now been mandated by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to immediately begin monitoring four new situations of concern: Ethiopia, Mozambique, Ukraine and the Central Sahel.

On Ukraine, she is most concerned about attacks on schools and hospitals and the killing and maiming of children. Her Ukraine mandate starts immediately and includes both the protection of children and the prevention of abuses against them.

Good news

There were some positive developments in the report. Some countries that have been listed have seen improvement after signing action plans with Gamba’s office and engaging with them.

She pointed to South Sudan, which in 2018 was the second-highest offender with more than 4,000 violations against children each year.

“Today there is less than 300 a year,” Gamba said. “Why? The action plans put in place, measures put in place, laws, training, capacity that has been put in place.”
…

Hundreds of people marched in Spain’s capital Madrid Sunday to demand “human rights for Cubans” during a demonstration marking the first anniversary of the protests in Cuba.

Police reported that some 250 people participated in the march. They also asked for freedom for political prisoners.

“The tentacles of the Cuban regime are very wide,” said Cuban émigré Yadira Dobarganes, who criticized what she called the “false and lying leftists.” Among her demands was that Cubans have the right to return to the island, alluding to the complaints about the restrictions imposed by Havana on some people who are prevented from returning to the country for political reasons.

VOA found emigrants from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua among the protesters who chanted slogans. “No more dictatorship,” “Democracy for Cuba now,” and “SOS Cuba,” read some of the posters.

Some politicians also attended, such as Rocío Monasterio, a VOX party member of the Assembly of Madrid.

The demonstration took place almost a year after July 11, 2021, when thousands of Cubans took to the streets, from Havana to Santiago de Cuba, frustrated by months of crisis, restrictions, a lack of medicine, and other resources to put a stop to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their demands called for vaccines and “freedom.”

It was the first massive demonstration in decades on the island with a one-party political system and communist government, where dissenters are usually sentenced to long prison sentences. To date, human rights organizations inside and outside the country have reported that more than 1,000 protesters have been arrested or imprisoned. The government reported that it had criminally prosecuted 380 people for crimes of sedition, sabotage, robbery with force, violence and others.

Those who echoed the protests on social networks were threatened and ordered to delete the publications that showed the discontent and the magnitude of the protests.

Many were arrested, including teenagers, who have been brought to trial and sentenced to prison terms.

The government of Miguel Díaz-Canel then asked his followers to take to the streets to respond to the protesters, claiming that many were “confused” and pointed to the United States government to encourage the protests that shook the island. The island government also said that the goal was to “destabilize” the socialist system that had been in place for decades.

“The combat order is given,” Díaz-Canel said in an intervention on state television a year ago.

Havana blames the U.S. embargo for the economic crisis it has faced for decades and which has worsened in recent years. Some of those who dissent say mismanagement and the Cuban political system has the Caribbean island in crisis.

Law to criminalize protest

In August 2021, the government approved Decree-Law 35, aimed at content or messages that Havana considers to be false, offensive news or that may incite acts “that disturb public order.” Under the law, anyone who tries to “subvert the constitutional order” will be considered a cyberterrorist.

In Madrid, Cuban singer and activist Yotuel Romero led the march that ended in the popular Plaza Cibeles.

“It has been incredible, few people expected because today is Sunday, yesterday was the day of gay pride. … We have to continue ‘positions and connected,'” said Romero, one of the authors of the song “Patria y Vida,” which served as inspiration and motto for the demands for democratic changes in Cuba.

“I have come to protest and ask for the freedom that the Cuban people deserve,” Armando López, who was wearing a hat decorated with a Cuban flag , told VOA.

Other demonstrations are expected to take place on Monday in Spanish cities such as Barcelona, Seville and Saragoza.
…

All Ukrainians can now apply for fast-track Russian citizenship, according to a decree signed Monday by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Previously, this option had been open only to residents of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as residents of the southern Zaporizhzhia and the Kherson regions, which are largely under Russian control.

It was unclear how many would apply for Russian citizenship, but between 2019 — when the offer was made available to residents of Donetsk and Luhansk — and 2022, about 18% of the population in rebel-held areas of Ukraine received Russian passports.

In May, the program was expanded to residents of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

Ukrainian officials have yet to comment on Putin’s decree.

Some information in this report comes from Reuters and The Associated Press.
…

Thousands of people from Bosnia-Herzegovina and around the world have descended on Srebrenica for the 27th anniversary of Serbian massacre 

Serbian forces summarily executed more than 8,000 Bosnian men and boys. About 100,000 people, including women and children died during Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war.

Families of 50 recently identified victims will rebury their loved ones after almost three decades of searching through the mass graves scattered around the eastern Bosnian town.

The Srebrenica massacre is Europe’s only acknowledged genocide since the Holocaust and is the only one legally defined as such by many countries and two United Nations courts.

A special U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague found Bosnian Serb wartime president Radovan Karadzic and his military commander, Ratko Mladic, guilty of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide in Srebrenica and eventually extended their initial long-term prison sentences to life imprisonment. 

The tribunal and courts in the Balkan countries have sentenced about 50 Bosnian Serb wartime officials to more than 700 years in prison for the Srebrenica killings.

Leaders of Serb Republic of Bosnia, or Republika Srpska, however, continue to downplay or even deny the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and hail Karadzic and Mladic as national heroes.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
…

Russia is shutting down the Nord Stream One pipeline for annual maintenance beginning Monday morning.

The pipeline from Russia, which under the Baltic Sea, is Germany’s main source of gas, and is scheduled to be offline until July 21.

German officials have expressed doubts about Russia’s intentions, especially given the fact that Nord Stream operator Gazprom reduced the gas flow by 60% last month.

Gazprom has said the maintenance includes “testing of mechanical elements and automation systems.”

Gazprom also reported technical problems with parts of a turbine that its partner Siemens Energy sent to Canada for repair, but which could not be returned because of western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Canada, however, said over the weekend that it would allow the parts to be returned to Germany, citing the “very significant hardship” the insufficient gas supply will cause to German economy.

German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck has said he suspected that Russia may cite “some little technical detail” as a reason not to resume gas deliveries to Germany after the maintenance is completed.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
…

Ukrainian officials said Russian airstrikes on the country’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, early Monday destroyed a school and a residential building, killing at least three people and wounding 28 others.

Oleh Syneihubov, governor of the Kharkiv region, said on Telegram that the missile strikes, which also included one that landed near warehouse facilities, were launched against civilian targets. Syneihubov called the attacks “absolute terrorism.”

The strikes came as rescuers in the eastern town of Chasiv Yar worked to find any survivors from a Russian rocket attack on a five-story apartment building Saturday that killed at least 15 people.

Emergency services personnel said there may be as many as two dozen people trapped in the rubble, and that they had made voice contact with several.

Chasiv Yar is about 20 kilometers southeast of Kramatorsk, a city that is expected to be a major target of Russian forces as they push farther westward into Donetsk province after claiming victory a week ago in the adjoining Luhansk province.

The Chasiv Yar attack was the latest strike in recent weeks that left mass civilian casualties, although Russia contends it only targets Ukrainian military operations.  A late June attack killed at least 19 people at a shopping mall in Kremenchuk, and an attack on an apartment building and recreation area in the southern Odesa region killed 21 this month.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
…

An activist who shouted “Where is Peng Shuai?” and held up a sign with the same message was removed from Center Court during the Wimbledon men’s final on Sunday.

Drew Pavlou, an activist who made a similar protest at the Australian Open this year, said he shouted the message during a stoppage in play and was then forcefully removed from the stadium.

“I didn’t want to disrupt the actual match itself, so I waited to make sure there was a break in the play and then I just basically held up a sign saying, ‘Where is Peng Shuai?'” Pavlou told The Associated Press. “And I just said, ‘Where is Peng Shuai? This Chinese tennis star is being persecuted by the Chinese government. Why won’t Wimbledon say something?'”

Peng is a retired professional tennis player from China who last year accused a former high-ranking member of the country’s ruling Communist Party of sexual assault. She has made very few public appearances since then.

On Monday, four activists wearing “Where is Peng Shuai?” T-shirts were stopped by security at Wimbledon and had their bags searched.

Pavlou said he smuggled the sign onto the grounds of the All England Club by folding it up and hiding it in his shoe. He also had a T-shirt with the message tucked into the waistline of his jeans.

He shouted the protest early in the third set of the match between Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios. Djokovic eventually beat Kyrgios, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3).

“I tried to be as loud as possible,” said Pavlou, who is Australian. “I screamed it because I wanted people to hear it.”

Pavlou said security wrestled him to the ground and then four of them restrained him with his arms behind his back and brought him to a public area outside Center Court. He said he was then told to leave the grounds.

He tried to reenter a short time later, but a security guard told him his tickets had been canceled.

The All England Club said Pavlou was removed “after disrupting play by shouting, running down the stairs and causing a nuisance to their fellow spectators.”

At the Australian Open, a spectator was removed from the grounds for wearing a T-shirt supporting Peng, but the tournament later reversed its decision and allowed people to wear the clothing as long as they didn’t congregate in large groups or cause problems for other spectators.

Peng disappeared from public view last year after accusing former Communist Party official Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault. Her accusation was quickly scrubbed from the internet and discussion of it remains heavily censored.

Peng won two Grand Slam women’s doubles titles in her career, including at Wimbledon in 2013.

The women’s professional tennis tour canceled its tournaments in China because of the situation surrounding Peng.
…

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry is “deeply disappointed” by a Canadian government decision to return a repaired Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline turbine to Germany after completing maintenance on the equipment.

The decision sets a “dangerous precedent” and will “strengthen Moscow’s sense of impunity,” the ministry said Sunday in a statement.

The statement warns that the transfer of the turbine would allow Russia to continue to use energy as a weapon in war and calls on the Canadian government to reverse its decision.

Canada announced the decision Saturday, saying at the same time that it would expand sanctions against Russia’s energy sector to include industrial manufacturing.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Russia could continue supplying gas to Germany through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in full without the turbine.

It said the Nord Stream 1 compressor station where the turbine operated is equipped with several other turbines, including backups.

One turbine is in Canada, three are currently operating, and the rest “have been turned off without explanation,” the ministry said.

It also reiterated its position that Russia could continue uninterrupted gas supplies to the European Union even if Nord Stream 1 were out of operation entirely by using gas-transit routes through Ukraine or Poland.

“Thus, Russia’s demand for the mandatory return of the turbine to continue gas transportation is blackmail that has no technical justification,” the ministry said.

Ukraine also asserted that Canada made its decision despite having said that it understood that Russia’s demand had no technical basis.

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said in a statement the new sanctions would apply to “land and pipeline transport and the manufacturing of metals and of transport, computer, electronic and electrical equipment, as well as of machinery.”

It said the sanctions would “put further pressure on a pillar of the Russian economy” and further increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin and his regime over “his senseless war in Ukraine.”

The German corporation Siemens said Sunday that Canada’s decision was a “necessary and important first step” for the delivery of the turbine.

“The political export decision is a necessary and important first step for the delivery of the turbine. Currently, our experts are working intensively on all further formal approvals and logistics,” Siemens Energy said.

“Among other things, this involves legally required export- and import-control procedures. Our goal is to transport the turbine to its place of operation as quickly as possible,” it added.

Russia’s Gazprom last month cut the capacity along the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to 40% of normal levels, pointing to the delayed return of equipment being serviced by Germany’s Siemens Energy in Canada.

The turbine will be sent to Germany first and then be delivered to Gazprom so that Canada does not breach any sanctions, a government source told Reuters.

Germany says the return of the turbine would deprive Russia of an excuse to keep supplies significantly below normal levels.

Moscow on July 8 said it would increase gas supplies to Europe if the turbine was returned.

Some information for this article came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
…

Volunteers from Kyiv are providing hundreds of meals each day for the beleaguered residents of the nearly destroyed village of Borodyanka, just outside Ukraine’s capital. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story. Camera and video editing by Pavel Suhodolskiy.
…

The first cohort of Ukrainian soldiers, many of whom have no previous military experience, have arrived in the U.K. for combat training as the eastern European nation races to replace troops killed and wounded in the war against Russia.

The first few hundred recruits are receiving instruction at sites across Britain in the first phase of program that aims to train up to 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers in weapons handling, battlefield first aid and patrol tactics, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said. It is part of a broader package of support for Ukraine that includes 2.3 billion pounds ($2.8 billion) of anti-tank weapons, rocket systems and other hardware.

“Using the world-class expertise of the British Army, we will help Ukraine to rebuild its forces and scale up its resistance as they defend their country’s sovereignty and their right to choose their own future,” Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said.

As part of the program, Britain procured AK-type assault rifles so the Ukrainians can train with the weapons they will be using on the front line. The U.K. will also provide personal protective equipment for the soldiers, including helmets, body armor, eye, ear and pelvic protection, individual first aid kits as well as field uniforms and boots.

The goal is to rapidly turn civilians into effective soldiers, Sgt. Dan Hayes told The Times of London.

“All these guys were (truck) drivers or they worked in quarries or they were shopkeepers,” Hayes said. “I’ve been in the army 14 years and I chose to join. These guys are all civvies (civilians) … and we are investing everything we can because we know they are going to need it.”
…

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said on Sunday that getting U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner home from Russia, where she faces up to 10 years in prison on a drug charge, remains a top priority for the league.

Griner pleaded guilty to a drugs charge in a Russian court last week but denied she had intentionally broken the law. Her next court hearing was scheduled for July 14.

“Obviously we are thinking of Brittney Griner at this time,” Engelbert said in her opening remarks to media ahead of Sunday’s WNBA All-Star Game in Chicago.

“She remains a huge priority for us, continues to have our full support, fully focused on getting her home safely and as soon as possible of course.”

Griner was previously named an honorary starter for the All-Star Game and her initials and number will feature on the court and on the back of the players’ warm-up shirts.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist was detained in February at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport with vape cartridges containing hashish oil, which is illegal in Russia, and has been kept in custody since.

The 31-year-old Griner, a center for the Phoenix Mercury in the Women’s National Basketball Association, has often played for a Russian professional team during the WNBA off-season to help supplement her income.

U.S. President Joe Biden last week told Griner’s wife that he is working to secure the player’s release from Russia as soon as possible, describing her detention on drug charges as “intolerable.”
…

…

German police are investigating after several women reported feeling unwell following an event hosted by the parliamentary group of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party.

Berlin police said Saturday that the investigation was triggered by a 21-year-old woman, who felt dizzy and unwell several hours into Wednesday’s summer party for the Social Democrats and then was unable to remember the evening the following day. She went to a hospital for checks, and the police ordered a blood test for an analysis of possible toxic substances.

The woman ate and drank at the event, but didn’t consume any alcohol, police said. By Saturday morning, another four cases in which people reported similar symptoms had emerged. German media reported that they apparently were victims of so-called “knockout drops,” which can be mixed into drinks or food. Police said they were awaiting test results.

Police opened an investigation of unknown persons on suspicion of bodily harm. Both they and the center-left Social Democrats said they weren’t aware of any offenses beyond that.

The Social Democrats’ co-leader, Lars Klingbeil, told Welt television he was “furious that something like this could happen at an event” organized by the party. He said the parliamentary group’s leadership is cooperating with authorities and he hopes “that the perpetrator or perpetrators can be caught and then brought to account.”

About 1,000 people attended the annual party Wednesday, including the chancellor, party lawmakers and their employees. 
…

Hundreds of thousands of people waved rainbow flags and danced to music at Madrid’s Pride march Saturday as the event returned following two years of COVID-enforced restrictions.

Across Europe, in Romania, an estimated 15,000 took to the streets of Bucharest to demand equal rights for gender and sexual minorities, under the heavy supervision of police.

Romania decriminalized homosexuality in 2001, but same-sex couples are not allowed to marry or enter into civil partnerships.

Demonstrators in the Spanish capital gathered in the late afternoon behind a large banner with the slogan “visibility, pride and resilience.”

Some participants carried water pistols and sprayed each other to keep cool in the searing heat. Others went bare-chested and danced to the rhythm of Brazilian and techno music.

Several ministers from Spain’s left-wing coalition government, including Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, joined them.

“I missed this a lot. The atmosphere is great. You can see that people really wanted to party after so long without a ‘normal’ Pride,” said Victor Romero Fernandez, a 38-year-old teacher.

City authorities said more than 600,000 people took part in the event, which public broadcaster TVE covered live for the first time.

Civil servant Miguel Angel Alfonso, 44, appreciated seeing packed streets but thought the event should put more emphasis on demanding rights.

“It has become a big party, with floats converted into discos and multinationals … it’s a big business,” he said.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in Spain in 1978, three years after the death of dictator Francisco Franco. The country has since legalized marriage and adoption for same-sex couples.

In Bucharest, activists are worried about a draft law, put forward by lawmakers from Romania’s Hungarian minority, to prohibit educational material that discusses homosexuality and gender transition in schools.

The senate earlier this year passed the bill, though it still has to be put to a vote in the lower house.

The proposal is similar to legislation that came into force last year in neighboring Hungary.

Among the crowd, 37-year-old Catalin Enescu had come with his wife and two young daughters, both dressed in rainbow-colored dresses.

“It’s my first time taking part in a march like this, but it’s important to be here because the rights of LGBTQ people are no longer respected,” he said. 

Earlier in the day, about 200 people, several brandishing Orthodox Christian icons, responded to a call by far-right party Noua Dreapta for a counter-protest.

“The fact that pride celebrations are bigger and bigger while right-wing groups are smaller and smaller is a positive sign,” said Tor-Hugne Olsen, of the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

“But it’s challenging that we see many proposals in parliament that are reducing the rights of the LGBT and other sexual health issues.”

Oana Baluta, another protester and a professor at the University of Bucharest, said she feared what would happen if the bill were passed into law in the EU country.

“If it is adopted, this draft law — which is contrary to European Union norms — would deal a grave blow to the freedom of expression and rights of LGBTQ people,” she said.

“It would set a dangerous precedent, because we would then risk also being banned from the right to discuss abortion and sexual education,” she said.

Romania has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancies in Europe. Abortions are legal, but access to them has become increasingly difficult.
…

The Italian navy Saturday began relocating the first 600 migrants from the Sicilian island of Lampedusa after its refugee identification center became overwhelmed with new arrivals and photos circulated of filthy conditions.

July has seen a sustained uptick in daily migrant arrivals in Italy compared to recent years, according to Interior Ministry statistics. Overall, migrant arrivals are up sharply this year, with 30,000 would-be refugees making landfall so far compared to 22,700 in the same period in 2021 and 7,500 in 2020.

Lampedusa, which is closer to North Africa than mainland Italy, is often the destination of choice for Libyan-based migrant smugglers, who charge desperate people hundreds of dollars apiece to cross the Mediterranean Sea on packed, dangerous dinghies and boats.

The Italian navy’s San Marco ship was taking an initial 600 migrants from Lampedusa to another center in Sicily and from there they were be distributed elsewhere in Italy. The ministry said the transfers would continue Sunday.

Lampedusa’s former mayor, Giusi Nicolini, posted what she said were photos and videos taken in the center in recent days, showing new arrivals sleeping on the floor on pieces of foam and bathrooms piled high with plastic bottles and garbage.

“There are 2,100 people packed in the Lampedusa welcome center,” which has beds for 200, she wrote on Facebook. “These could be photos from Libya, but no, it’s Italy. And these are the ones who survived.”

Right-wing lawmakers were quick to seize on the overcrowding, blaming the left-wing parties in Italy’s government for being too soft on migration.

“And this would be the left’s famous humanitarian model?” Georgia Meloni of the far-right Brothers of Italy party tweeted along with the images. “Saying no to mass illegal immigration also means saying no to this.”
…