TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP)-For Lam Wing-kee, a Hong Kong bookstore owner who was detained by police in China for five months for selling sensitive books about the Communist Party, coming to Taiwan was a logical step. An island just 640 kilometers (400 miles) from Hong Kong, Taiwan is close not just geographically but also linguistically and … Read more
Former M-19 rebel Gustavo Petro won Colombia’s runoff presidential election Sunday with 50.5% of the vote. His opponent, businessman Rodolfo Hernández, received 47.3%. The rest of the votes were either left intentionally blank or annulled by electoral authorities. With nearly half of all voters declining to endorse Mr. Petro, there is no mandate for radical … Read more
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A little more than two years ago, Juan Guaidó was showered with bipartisan applause when President Donald Trump during his State of the Union speech praised the Venezuelan opposition leader as a “very brave man” who carries on his shoulders the democratic hopes of an entire nation. But in a sign … Read more
HONG KONG (AP) – Heavy police force patrolled Hong Kong’s Victoria Park on Saturday after authorities for a third consecutive year banned public commemoration of the anniversary of the deadly Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, with vigils overseas the only place marking the event. For decades, Hong Kong and nearby Macao were the only places … Read more
WASHINGTON (AP) – Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told the U.S. Congress on Tuesday their shared belief in “freedom over tyranny, in democracy over authoritarianism” is being tested as he focused on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Mitsotakis used his address to a joint meeting of Congress to call out the “heroism of … Read more
MANILA, Philippines (AP) – Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s apparent landslide victory in the Philippine presidential election is giving rise to immediate concerns about a further erosion of democracy in the region, and could complicate American efforts to blunt growing Chinese influence and power in the Pacific. Marcos, the son and namesake of longtime dictator Ferdinand Marcos, … Read more
HONG KONG (AP)-John Lee, a hard-line security chief who oversaw a crackdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, was elected as the city’s next leader on Sunday in a vote cast by a largely pro-Beijing committee. Lee was the only candidate and won with over 99% of the vote in which nearly all 1,500 committee members … Read more
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) – When abuses were reported in recent weeks in Mali – fake graves designed to discredit French forces; a massacre of some 300 people, mostly civilians – all evidence pointed to the shadowy mercenaries of Russia’s Wagner Group. Even before these feared professional soldiers joined the assault on Ukraine, Russia had deployed … Read more