LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II outlined the British government’s legislative program in a speech to Parliament on Wednesday after the prime minister promised “humility” in negotiating Britain’s exit from the European Union following a disastrous election that cost the ruling Conservative Party its majority. The 91-year-old monarch carried on with her royal duties at … Continue reading
PARIS (AP) — The Latest on France’s parliamentary elections (all times local): 11:35 p.m. Official figures show French President Emmanuel Macron’s new centrist party has won an absolute majority in the powerful lower house of parliament. The Interior Ministry said Sunday night that with 513 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly definitively decided, Macron’s Republic … Continue reading
LONDON (AP) — A knife-wielding man went on a deadly rampage at the heart of Britain’s seat of power Wednesday, May 22, mowing down pedestrians on London’s Westminster Bridge before stabbing an armed police officer to death inside the gates of Parliament. Four people were killed, including the attacker, and about 20 others were injured. … Continue reading
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An Australian senator has fallen victim to the press freedom he champions when he was photographed snoozing on his first day in Parliament. Former veteran journalist Derryn Hinch was caught napping as a senator beside him nudged his arm during Governor-General Peter Cosgrove’s 40-minute speech on Tuesday, August 30, 2016, afternoon … Continue reading
TORONTO (AP) — Canada on Thursday, April 14, introduced a new assisted suicide law that will apply only to citizens and residents, meaning Americans won’t be able to travel to Canada to die. Canadian government officials said a person would have to be eligible for health services in Canada to take advantage of the law, … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa’s parliament on Tuesday Apr. 5, debated an opposition motion to remove President Jacob Zuma because the country’s top court ruled that he had violated the constitution in a spending scandal. The debate was raucous at times but the motion was unlikely to pass because it requires a two-thirds majority for … Continue reading
Hundreds of people gathered in Vilnius in freezing temperatures to honor the 14 people killed when Soviet troops and tanks moved into a crowd of protesters outside a TV tower on Jan. 13, 1991. The attacks only emboldened Lithuanians to demand freedom, which they gained later that year. President Dalia Grybauskaite drew parallels between those … Continue reading
CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — The Moldovan government lost a no-confidence vote Thursday and was dismissed by Parliament, plunging the impoverished East European country into uncertainty. Sixty-five lawmakers in the 101-seat legislature voted against the government of Prime Minister Valeriu Strelet, who was appointed July 30. Parliament now has three months to approve a new government … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The right-wing and anti-migrant Law and Justice party has won a majority of seats in Poland’s parliament and can govern alone, the state election authority announced on Tuesday. The party got 235 seats in the 460-seat lower house of Poland’s parliament and also won a majority in the Senate — the … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — With the election of a right-wing and Euroskeptic party, Poland is expected to become a more inward-looking country, and one less willing to work with European partners to forge common policies on pressing issues like climate change and migrants. “Poland will be a different Poland in Europe starting from today,” Agnieszka … Continue reading
CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian voters head to the polls Sunday to elect a parliament, the first since the military-led ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013. The vote will mark the final step in what has been billed as a post-Morsi transition to democracy. But critics here and abroad describe it as part of … Continue reading
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Fifteen policemen and one civilian were injured during a violent protest by the opposition Self-Determination Party (Vetevendosje!) after an opposition lawmaker was taken in for questioning, Kosovo police said Tuesday. Police spokesman Baki Kelani says opposition leader Albin Kurti was taken to a police station Monday evening to be questioned on … Continue reading
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Opposition lawmakers in Kosovo disrupted parliament’s session on Thursday, using tear gas and whistles to protest the government’s recent EU-sponsored deal with Serbia giving the country’s Serb-majority areas greater powers. The opposition wants the government to backtrack from the deal, saying it endangers Kosovo’s territorial integrity. The governing coalition says the … Continue reading
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s parliament majority showed cracks Tuesday after a right-wing party said it was leaving the coalition over a measure to give more power to Ukraine’s regions, including the rebel-held east. The announcement from the Radical Party, which came in fifth in last year’s election, came as two more National Guard officers … Continue reading
PRAGUE (AP) — Czech President Milos Zeman and the U.S. ambassador are in a rare public dispute over Zeman’s decision to attend a Russian military parade, and the country’s prime minister and Czech lawmakers are siding with the American. In an interview with online publication Parlamentni Listy on Sunday, Zeman bristled at the envoy’s … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 