Russia’s claimed observers in Ukraine ‘referendums’ violate numerous international principles – experts
The foreigners that Russian state media routinely cite as being international observers to the so-called referendums in four regions of Ukraine are violating numerous international principles of election observation and are engaging in nothing more than “political activism,” experts in the field told CNN.
“What they do is not election observation at all,” Anton Shekhovtsov, who writes reports on fake election observation for the European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE), a German and European Union-backed NGO, said Tuesday. “It’s a political activity that is only masquerading as election observation.”
The Russian state news agency TASS has over the past week regularly quoted the observations of people it calls international observers as proof that the so-called referendums being held in the occupied portions of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions are free and fair.
Japan consul ‘blindfolded and restrained’ during FSB interrogation in Russia
Tokyo demands apology from Moscow after diplomat subjected to ‘coercive interrogation’ in Vladivostok
Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Japan has summoned Russia’s ambassador in Tokyo after a Japanese diplomat was blindfolded and physically restrained during an interrogation in Vladivostok.
Japan’s foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said Tatsunori Motoki, a consul based in the eastern Russian city, had been subjected to a “coercive interrogation” during his detention by Russia’s FSB security service.
The FSB said it was holding him on allegations of espionage, one of which was linked to the effect of Ukraine war sanctions on Russia.
Kenyan lawyer in ICC case linked to new president found dead
Police say a Kenyan lawyer facing charges at the International Criminal Court of bribing and threatening prosecution witnesses in a past ICC case against Kenya’s recently elected president has been found dead
Police say a Kenyan lawyer facing charges at the International Criminal Court of bribing and threatening prosecution witnesses in a past ICC case against Kenya’s recently elected president has been found dead.
Paul Gicheru had pleaded not guilty earlier this year to all eight counts of interfering with witnesses in the case against William Ruto, who had been charged with involvement in violence after Kenya’s 2007 election that left more than 1,000 people dead. The charges against Ruto and others, including previous President Uhuru Kenyatta, were ultimately dropped when the case fell apart amid allegations of witness interference. Ruto denied the allegations against him.
North Korean nukes loom over Kamala Harris's visit to Asia
Tokyo
As the US Vice President prepares to visit South Korea, Washington warns that North Korea could carry out a nuclear test while she is there. Pyongyang continues to ratchet up tensions with ballistic missile tests.
The United States, South Korea and Japan are closely monitoring North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test site as US Vice President Kamala Harris visits Seoul this week.
North Korea has carried out over 30 missile tests in 2022 and US officials are warning that Pyongyang could use Harris's visit as an opportunity to carry out a seventh nuclear test, and the first since 2017
Iran security forces clash with protesters over Amini's death
Sudan coup leader bids to co-opt pro-democracy movement
Mohamad Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemeti, has tried to reach out to Sudan’s pro-democracy movement, despite his involvement in October’s coup against the country’s civilian government.
Nearly a year after backing a coup in Sudan, the feared paramilitary leader Mohamad Hamdan Dagalo is trying to sell himself as a useful partner for the pro-democracy groups that have been regularly protesting against the country’s military rule for months, his critics and some analysts say.
In recent weeks, Dagalo – better known as Hemeti – has declared the October 25, 2021 coup a failure due to the ongoing protests and a spiralling economy, and touted his efforts to reduce violence in Sudan’s neglected peripheral regions.
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