Hungary and Poland say no to LGBTIQ

“A Europe that protects” is Austria’s motto for its presidency of the Council of the EU. But it couldn’t agree to protect everyone.

Hungary and Poland on Thursday torpedoed a joint statement by EU employment and social affairs ministers intended to promote gender equity in the digital era because of objections to a reference to LGBTIQ, the initialism intended to cover the fullest panorama of gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and questioning individuals.

Huawei arrest: China demands release of Meng Wanzhou

China is demanding the release of telecoms giant Huawei's chief financial officer, who has been detained in Canada.

Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the company's founder, could face extradition to the US.

She was arrested in Vancouver on 1 December, but the news was not made public at her request.

"Yellow vest" protesters in Paris and Green New Dealers at home: Enemies, or future comrades?

The fiery street protests challenging French President Emmanuel Macron over his proposed higher taxes on gasoline and the young climate activists of the Sunrise Movement who sat in at prospective House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office might seem like antagonists – one resisting, the other seeking, faster and more ambitious movement away from fossil fuels. I’m not so sure about that, though. Some deep currents connect the two movements, currents that raise a fundamental challenge for the climate movement – how to shed the issue’s historic framing as a question of austerity and sacrifice.

Lawsuit says Israeli firm that helped Saudi Arabia spy on Jamal Khashoggi broke international laws

A lawsuit filed on Sunday in Tel Aviv on behalf of a Saudi Arabian activist living in Canada aims to hold an Israeli software company with government ties accountable for the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The lawsuit claims that by selling its Pegasus software to oppressive governments, NSO Group is breaking international laws. The suit was filed on behalf of Montreal-based activist Omar Abdulaziz, who was in touch with Khashoggi.

“The hacking of my phone played a major role in what happened to Jamal, I am really sorry to say. The guilt is killing me,” said Abdulaziz, whose WhatsApp messages with Khashoggi were hacked.

Let’s be honest about what’s really driving Brexit: bigotry

Today, I shall go to the German embassy in London to sign the necessary forms so that my half-German sons may apply for dual citizenship. My father and one of my brothers have already been granted Maltese passports (my family hails from the tiny Mediterranean island). I am glad that such options are available, as a Brexit of unknowable character approaches, and at a time when the prime minister sees fit to label those of us with funny continental names “queue-jumpers”. It is fair to say that, in the circumstances, we are fortunate.

China Is Using U.S. 'War On Terror' Rhetoric To Justify Detaining 1 Million People

China is holding 1 million people in secretive indoctrination camps, separated from their families in conditions that have led to suicide attempts and deaths. The reason, it says, is Islam.

International outrage over the fate of those detainees ― Muslim citizens of China, the vast majority of them members of an ethnic minority group called the Uighurs ― has reached an unprecedented level this year, with the United Nations confirming the number of detainees in August. Congress wants sanctions, and European officials are urging independent investigations into the facilities. 

Netanyahu echoes Trump after Israeli police recommend new indictment: 'The witch hunt against us continues'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday accused police of a "witch hunt" after authorities recommended a new indictment against him.

In a joint statement with the Israel Securities Authority, Israeli police said that sufficient evidence was found to bring bribery charges against Netanyahu and his wife. The Israeli leader allegedly traded regulatory favors to a top telecommunications company in exchange for favorable news coverage.

Israeli Police Recommend Netanyahu Be Charged With Bribery In Telecom Case

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police on Sunday recommended indicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on bribery charges related to a corruption case involving Israel’s telecom giant, prompting immediate calls for his resignation.

Police say their investigation has established an evidentiary foundation to charge Netanyahu and his wife Sara with accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust. The case revolves around suspicions that confidants of Netanyahu promoted regulations worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the Bezeq telecom company in exchange for positive coverage of the prime minister on Bezeq’s subsidiary news website, Walla.

The agenda for Mexico’s new leftist president is ambitious. But is it doable?

Mexico today will inaugurate its first leftist president since the country transitioned to a full democracy in 2000. The outgoing Enrique Peña Nieto, whose 26 percent approval rating took another dive after he awarded Jared Kushner Mexico’s highest honor, will be replaced by the 65-year-old Andrés Manuel López Obrador, better known as AMLO.

AMLO swept to victory during July elections, winning 53 percent of the vote and a majority in Congress with a leftist populist platform. He’s made a series of high-profile promises which have further endeared his populist credentials, including slashing his own salary, selling the presidential plane and pledging to get rid of his presidential bodyguards.

Russian men barred from entering Ukraine

Ukraine has banned Russian men aged between 16 and 60 from entering the country for the duration of martial law after Russia seized three Ukrainian ships and 24 sailors.

The measure was announced on Friday at a security meeting where Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko assured that the move would “prevent the Russian Federation from forming detachments of private armies” in Ukraine “similar to the operations they tried to carry out in 2014.”