LJUBLJANA, Slovenia – Russian President Vladimir Putin is visiting European Union and NATO-member Slovenia this weekend, signaling a bid to maintain ties amid simmering tensions between the Kremlin and the two Western-led blocs.
Slovenia, a small Alpine nation where U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s wife Melania was born and grew up, has kept friendly relations with Russia even as it joined EU sanctions against Moscow over Ukraine.
Still, Slovenia has been careful to portray Putin’s visit on Saturday as strictly informal – officially, Putin is coming to attend a World War I memorial – and not contrary to the official EU policy of sanctions against Moscow.
Slovenian President Boris Pahor told Russia’s TASS agency the visit is designed to build trust and dialogue.
BEIJING – About two dozen Chinese relatives of passengers aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on Friday staged a small protest outside China’s Foreign Ministry, calling on governments to continue searching for the plane.
The relatives gathered outside the ministry in Beijing and demanded to see the foreign minister to submit a petition to him saying that last week’s decision to suspend the search was irresponsible.
China, Australia and Malaysia announced last week that the more than two-year-long hunt for the missing flight would be suspended once the current search area in the Indian Ocean has been completely scoured, something expected by the end of the year.
The protest came the same day Australian officials announced that a wing part found last month on an East African island most likely came from the missing plane.
DAKAR, Senegal – A tribunal ordered Chad’s ex-dictator Hissene Habre on Friday to pay more than 4,700 victims at least $17,000 each for abuses suffered during his time in power.
The Extraordinary African Chambers in Senegal found Habre guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment on May 30 for crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture and sex crimes committed during his presidency from 1982-1990.
The trial against Habre began in July 2015 and was the first in which courts of one country prosecuted the former ruler of another for alleged human rights crimes. Victims and survivors have been pursuing the case for more than 15 years.
Associated Press
