Day: August 29, 2022

BELGRADE, Serbia -- Opposition parties in Serbia and international rights groups on Sunday denounced a decision by populist President Aleksandar Vucic to cancel next month’s pan-European LGBTQ EuroPride event because of what he said were threats from right-wing extremists. Most of the groups said that they would ignore the ban announced Saturday by Vucic and go ahead with the Sept. 12-18 events scheduled in the capital, Belgrade. Vucic said that a political crisis with Serbia’s former breakaway province of Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008, and economic problems facing the country amid Russia's war in Ukraine were among the reasons why the Balkan nation’s authorities couldn't handle EuroPride. The U.N. office in Serbia said it was concerned Hokas Shoes about the announced ban,...

SLOVIANSK, Ukraine -- Russia and Ukraine traded claims of rocket and artillery strikes at or near Europe's largest nuclear power plant on Sunday, intensifying fears that the fighting could cause a massive radiation leak. Ukraine's atomic energy agency painted an ominous picture of the threat Sunday by issuing a map forecasting where radiation could spread from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which Russian forces have controlled since soon after the war began. Attacks were reported over the weekend not only in Russian-controlled territory adjacent to the plant along the left bank of the Dnieper River, but along the Ukraine-controlled right bank, including the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets, each about 10 kilometers (six miles) from the facility. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman ...

ISLAMABAD -- Deaths from widespread flooding in Pakistan topped 1,000 since mid-June, officials said Sunday, as the country’s climate minister called the deadly monsoon season “a serious climate catastrophe.” Flash flooding from the heavy rains has washed away villages and crops as soldiers and rescue workers evacuated stranded residents to the safety of relief camps and provided food to thousands of displaced Pakistanis. Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority reported the death toll since the monsoon season began earlier than normal this year — in mid- June — reached 1,061 people after new fatalities were reported across different provinces. Sherry Rehman, a Pakistani senator and the country's top climate official, said in a video posted on Twitter that Pakistan is experienc...