Media Coverage

Anti-racism groups joined French unions and a new left-wing coalition in protests across France against the surging nationalist far right as frenzied campaigning is under way in advance of snap parliamentary elections. About 21,000 police and gendarmes were deployed at rallies on June 15 with...

Armenia will leave a Russia-led military alliance, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan confirmed on June 12, accusing members of the bloc of plotting with bitter rival Azerbaijan to start a war against them. Pashinyan has for months accused the Kremlin’s Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) of...

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on June 12 that a peace treaty with Azerbaijan was close to completion, but that his country would not accept Baku’s demands that it change its constitution. After Pashinyan made the comments, clashes broke out between police and demonstrators, the latest...

Large protests calling on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign have extended into a second day following a demonstration on June 9. Following a rally featuring thousands and an overnight vigil in pouring rain, hundreds of protesters rallied in front of Armenia’s parliament in Yerevan on...

In a ruling handed down on June 5, the Paris Court of Appeal has confirmed the inapplicability of functional immunities in the case of international crimes. The Court refused to grant the immunity claimed by Adib Mayaleh, who is under investigation for complicity in crimes against humanity and war...

Emmanuel Macron has begun the first state visit to Germany by a French president in 24 years, to boost ties between the two countries and to emphasize the importance of defending democracy against nationalism in upcoming European elections. “Franco-German relations are indispensable and important...

France has opened its first trial into officials from the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad with three top security officers tried in absentia for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Paris Criminal Court was on May 21 hearing the cases against the officials for...

The leaders of Norway, Ireland and Spain have said their countries will formally recognize Palestine as a state next week for the sake of “peace in the Middle East,“ prompting Israel to immediately recall its envoys. Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said on May 22 that a two-state solution...

A Russian playwright and theatre director accused of “justifying terrorism” have told a Moscow court that they are innocent on the first day of their trial over the staging of an award-winning play. The arrest of director Yevgeniya Berkovich and writer Svetlana Petriychuk in May last year sent shock...

A controversial media bill passed this week by Georgia’s parliament is “unacceptable” and will be vetoed, President Salome Zourabichvili said on May 16, reaffirming her opposition to a measure that critics describe as a threat to free speech. In an interview with The Associated Press, Zourabichvili...