The European Union (EU) Wednesday announced it is recommending that member nations lift COVID-19 restrictions on tourists from the United States, potentially making it easier for U.S. tourists to travel to Europe. Nonessential travel from the U.S. and other nations had been banned in the EU as a precaution to avoid the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. But EU member representatives, meeting in Brussels, agreed Wednesday to add the U.S. to the list of nations from which the ban may be lifted. The recommendation is non-binding, and national governments have authority to require test results or vaccination records and to set other entry conditions. EU officials said the decision to add the U.S. to the list was based on the pace of the U.S. vaccination process, among other factors. In addition to the U.S., EU representatives also added North Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Lebanon and Taiwan to the tourist travel list. The recommendations are expected to be formalized on Friday … [Read more...]

WARSAW, Poland—One of the rare successes chalked up by the regime of Europe’s last dictator has been the establishment of a kind of East European Silicon Valley, which spawned a booming industry of Belarusian programmers and tech start-ups. The autocratic president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko , now fears he has created a monster. An army of 30,000 tech-savvy professionals is turning against its creator. Coders and software engineers, many of whom are linked to the state-sponsored Hi-Tech Park in Minsk, have formed a hacking collective called Cyber Partisans which is wreaking havoc as Lukashenko tries to quell a growing revolution. Thousands of Belarusians have been arrested since August’s presidential election, which was condemned as rigged by foreign observers. Opposition leaders claim Lukashenko was voted out of power amid huge demonstrations against a brutal quarter of a century in power. Hundreds of those who were arrested have been beaten and assaulted, some have … [Read more...]

The meeting of the G7 nations proved that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is closer to a Green Party politician than an actual Conservative, said Brexit leader Nigel Farage. At the G7 meeting in Cornwall, Mr Johnson declared that the UK will look to be “building back better together, and building back greener, and building back fairer, and building back more equal, and… in a more gender-neutral, and perhaps a more feminine way”. Responding to the comments, Brexit’s Nigel Farage told Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade that Johnson’s tone reflected the beliefs of the “metropolitan liberal elite” rather than the working class, remarking that Johnson has virtually transformed the Conservative Party into “the Green Party”. “Whether this is his new wife who was an eco-warrior that’s had this influence, I don’t know. What I do know is this is not what conservative voters gave him a big majority for,” Farage said. The Brexiteer said that to him, Mr Johnson appears to be “easily influenced” by … [Read more...]

PARIS (AP) – France on Wednesday eased several COVID-19 restrictions, with authorities saying it’s no longer always mandatory to wear masks outdoors and halting an 8-month nightly coronavirus curfew this weekend. The announcement by French Prime Minister Jean Castex comes as France is registering about 3,900 new virus cases a day, down from 35,000 a day in the March-April peak. Castex welcomed “very good news” and said the curfew will be lifted on Sunday, 10 days earlier than expected. Wearing a mask will still remain mandatory outdoors in crowded places like street markets and stadiums, he said. People are required to wear a mask indoors in public spaces, including at work – with an exception for restaurants and bars. “We have not known such a low level of virus spreading since last August,” Castex said, adding that the situation was improving in all of France´s regions. “Those positive evolutions are due to the mobilization of the French and to the vaccination campaign,” … [Read more...]

LONDON (AP) — The former top aide to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson ramped up his criticism of the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday, releasing what appeared to be private message exchanges in which Johnson branded his health minister “hopeless.” Dominic Cummings, who was Johnson’s most senior adviser until late last year, published screenshots of WhatsApp exchanges, apparently with Johnson, discussing problems securing protective equipment and increasing coronavirus testing in March 2020. In one message, Johnson said Health Secretary Matt Hancock was “totally (expletive) hopeless.” Johnson’s office would neither confirm nor deny that the messages were genuine. One of the architects of the successful campaign to take Britain out of the European Union, Cummings was appointed a top adviser when Johnson became prime minister in 2019. He left his job in November after a power struggle inside the prime minister’s office. Now a fierce critic of … [Read more...]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The Hubble Space Telescope has been hit with computer trouble, with all astronomical viewing halted, NASA said Wednesday. The orbiting observatory has been idle since Sunday when a 1980s-era computer that controls the science instruments shut down, possibly because of a bad memory board. Flight controllers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland tried to restart the computer Monday, but the same thing happened. They’re now trying to switch to a backup memory unit. If that works, the telescope will be tested for a day, before the science instruments are turned back on and observations can resume. For now, the cameras and other instruments are in a so-called safe mode. Launched in 1990, Hubble is showing more and more signs of aging, despite a series of repairs and updates by spacewalking astronauts during NASA's shuttle era. The idled computer was installed during the fifth and final service call in 2009. NASA plans to launch Hubble's … [Read more...]

GENEVA - U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin have begun their highly anticipated summit in Geneva, the Swiss capital chosen as a location for the summit for its history of political neutrality. The leaders thanked each other during the brief, and chaotic press opportunity at the beginning of their meeting where American and Russian media jostled each other. “Mr. President, I’d like to thank you for your initiative to meet today. I know that you’ve been on a long journey,” said Putin via an interpreter. “The U.S. and Russian relations have a lot of issues accumulated that require the highest-level meeting. And I hope that our meeting will be productive,” he added. WATCH LIVE at 1pm EST Both sides have been underscoring opportunities for cooperation but are downplaying expectations for any improvement in tense relations between Moscow and Washington. The meeting is expected to be more of an airing of grievances than a platform to reach significant … [Read more...]

German police say they are investigating a protest by the environmental group Greenpeace at a soccer match in Munich Tuesday that apparently went wrong, injuring at least two people. Before the start of a Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) game between France and Germany at Munich’s Allianz Arena, a man piloting a motorized parachute flew into the stadium. The parachute, with "Kick Out Oil" and "Greenpeace" written on the back, went out of control after hitting overhead cables, landing hard on the field and sending debris into the stands. Police say at least two of those injured were taken to the hospital, but none of the injuries were serious. They say the parachutist was slightly injured but was able to walk as he was led away by police. On its Twitter account, Greenpeace Germany apologized for the act. “This protest was never intended to disrupt the game or injure people. We hope everyone is fine and no one was seriously injured. Greenpeace actions are always … [Read more...]

WASHINGTON - Russian President Vladimir Putin is sharply dismissing U.S. claims that Moscow and Russian hackers are carrying out debilitating cyberattacks on American companies and government agencies, including demands for millions of dollars in ransom to restore corporate computer operating systems. Biden said at a news conference in Britain at the end of the G-7 summit of leading industrialized countries that he was "open" to the idea of a prisoner swap, although he appeared to doubt that any criminals in the U.S. were committing crimes against Russians. The Russian leader also made claims sharply at odds with the circumstances behind the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol when hundreds of supporters of former President Donald Trump rampaged past law enforcement officials, smashed windows, ransacked offices and scuffled with police as lawmakers were certifying Biden’s Electoral College victory in last November’s election. “I want to ask you: Did you order the assassination … [Read more...]

ISTANBUL - Mosques across Turkey broadcast prayers Monday in support of Palestinians injured in violent confrontations with Israeli police in Jerusalem. The unrest, which coincides with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, comes amid the possible eviction of Palestinians from east Jerusalem homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers. Also Monday, hundreds of people, many waving Palestinian flags, massed in front of Israel’s consulate in Istanbul in protest of Israeli police actions around the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City. The site is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, considered the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam. Witnesses reported Israeli security forces fired tear gas, rubber bullets, and stun grenades at Palestinian demonstrators, some of whom threw rocks at police. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s communication chief, Fahrettin Altun, Monday tweeted, “It’s time to stop Israel’s heinous and … [Read more...]