Town Hall News

By Ali Sawafta AL-MUGHAYYIR, West Bank (Reuters) -An Israeli settler shot dead a Palestinian man who the military said tried to carry out a stabbing attack in a settlement in the occupied West Bank on Friday. The incident came as several European countries condemned Israeli demolitions and settler violence in the West Bank, which flared again as Palestinian farmers said Jewish settlers fired at them while they were working on […]

By Marine Strauss BRUSSELS/DUBAI (Reuters) -A Belgian aid worker jailed in Iran and an Iranian diplomat imprisoned in Belgium were freed on Friday in an exchange mediated by Oman, both sides said. Aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele was arrested on a visit to Iran in February 2022 and sentenced in January to 40 years in prison and 74 lashes on charges including spying. Iranian diplomat Asadollah Assadi was convicted in Belgium […]

By Fatos Bytyci ZVECAN, Kosovo (Reuters) -Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic placed the country’s army on full combat alert and ordered its units to move closer to the border with Kosovo on Friday, after protesters and police clashed in a majority Serb town in Kosovo. “An urgent movement (of troops) to the Kosovo border has been ordered,” defence minister Milos Vucevic said in a live TV broadcast. “It is clear that […]

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden still hopes to be a member of NATO by the time of the alliance’s summit in Vilnius in July, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on Friday. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine convinced Sweden and Finland last year to ditch long-held policies of military non-alignment and seek security of NATO’s collective defence commitment. Finland joined NATO last month, but Sweden’s membership has been held up by objections […]

By Andrew Osborn (Reuters) – A cross-border raid into Russia from Ukraine this week has fuelled calls for Moscow to allow local self-defence units to be armed, with one influential lawmaker suggesting a new military border command structure be set up. The raid on Belgorod region by Ukraine-based ethnic Russian fighters who oppose the Kremlin, apparently equipped with U.S.-made military vehicles, spanned two days, forcing Moscow to call in air […]

By Andrew Osborn (Reuters) – A cross-border raid into Russia from Ukraine this week has fuelled calls for Moscow to allow local self-defence units to be armed, with one influential lawmaker suggesting a new military border command structure be set up. The raid on Belgorod region by Ukraine-based ethnic Russian fighters who oppose the Kremlin, apparently equipped with U.S.-made military vehicles, spanned two days, forcing Moscow to call in air […]

By Alan Baldwin MONACO (Reuters) – Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz lapped fastest in first practice for the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix on Friday with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso second on the timesheets. Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton set the third quickest lap, in a new-look Mercedes with significant upgrades to the sidepods and suspension, with last year’s winner Sergio Perez fourth for Red Bull. Perez had warned before the start […]

(Reuters) – Moscow’s city court will hold a hearing on May 31 in a new case against jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, according to official documents posted online, on charges that could keep him in prison for decades. Navalny, who rose to prominence by lampooning President Vladimir Putin’s elite and alleging vast corruption, said last month that an “absurd” terrorism case had been opened against him that could see him […]

By Fatos Bytyci ZVECAN, Kosovo (Reuters) – Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic placed the country’s army on full combat alert and ordered its units to move closer to the border with Kosovo on Friday, after protesters and police clashed in a majority Serb town in Kosovo. “An urgent movement (of troops) to the Kosovo border has been ordered,” defence minister Milos Vucevic said in a live TV broadcast. “It is clear […]