Karl Ritter

In this June 22, 2016, file photo, Border Patrol agent Eduardo Olmos walks near the secondary fence separating Tijuana, Mexico, background, and San Diego in San Diego (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

July 9, 2018, 10:54 am

US, Europe clamp down on migration even as arrivals drop considerably

‘The numbers don’t support the hysteria,’ says official at the International Organization for Migration. ‘Politicians know what moves voters, and this is extremely effective’

By Karl Ritter

In this Aug. 6, 2002 file photo, Ingvar Kamprad, founder of Swedish multinational furniture retailer IKEA, stands outside the company's head office in Almhult, Sweden. (Claudio Bresciani/TT via AP)

January 28, 2018, 5:00 pm

IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad dies at 91

He turned a small mail-order business into a global furniture empire. He also made missteps, including an early interest in fascism which he ‘bitterly regretted’

By Karl Ritter

Raoul Wallenberg, right, with Jews in the Swedish Embassy in Budapest, exact date uncertain (Courtesy Yad Vashem)

October 31, 2016, 8:35 pm

Sweden declares hero Wallenberg officially dead

Diplomat, credited with helping at least 20,000 Hungarian Jews escape Holocaust, is believed to have died in Soviet captivity

By Karl Ritter

Nobel Prize winner Yoshinori Ohsumi smiles as he speaks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on a mobile phone during a press conference at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Tokyo Monday, Oct. 3, 2016. (Shizuo Kambayashi/AP)

October 3, 2016, 5:07 pm

Japanese who unraveled cell recycling wins Nobel

Yoshinori Ohsumi to receive medicine Nobel for isolating genes crucial to ‘autophagy,’ process wherein cells gobble up damaged content

By Karl Ritter

In this Sept. 26, 2015 file photo, Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)

October 1, 2016, 12:45 am

Will Iran deal earn Kerry and Zarif a Nobel Prize?

From Pope Francis to Edward Snowden, all bets are on for nominees for the prestigious peace award, to be announced next Friday

By Karl Ritter

Former Norwegian politician and head of the Norwegian Refugee Council Jan Egeland, 2011. (Flickr/HSHorg/CC BY-ND 2.0)

September 28, 2016, 11:26 pm

Oslo mediator: Israeli leaders today lack Peres’s vision

Former president was ‘a tough guy,’ but sought ‘to not create new generations of hatred,’ recalls Norway’s Jan Egeland

By Karl Ritter

Singers and delegations celebrate on stage after advancing to the grand final, held on May 14, after qualifying in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden, May 10, 2016. (AFP/JONATHAN NACKSTRAND)

May 12, 2016, 4:35 pm

Eurovision Song Contest struggles to enforce politics ban

Armenian singer Iveta Mukuchyan waves flag of separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region, irking producers

By Karl Ritter

In this image made from video from Sunday, May 1, 2016, Tess Asplund gestures towards a group of far-right protesters in Borlange, Sweden. (DT.se via AP)

May 5, 2016, 7:39 pm

Swedish woman who defied neo-Nazis says inspired by Mandela

Image of Tess Asplund with clenched fist trying to block Nordic Resistance Movement march in town of Borlange shared thousands of times on social media

By Karl Ritter

Sweden's Housing Minister Mehmet Kaplan (Jessica Gow / TT via AP, File)

April 26, 2016, 6:21 pm

Sweden’s Green Party grapples with claims it’s been infiltrated by Islamists

Minister quit when video surfaced of him comparing Israel to Nazis; candidate refused to shake woman’s hand; leader called 9/11 terror attacks ‘accidents’

By Karl Ritter

In this Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013 file photo, author Salman Rushdie attends a promotional event for “Midnight’s Children” in Mumbai, India. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade, file)

March 24, 2016, 3:28 pm

Nobel panel pans Rushdie death warrant, 27 years on

Decision comes after Iran raises bounty on writer’s head by $600,000; 2 academy members quit in 1989 over group’s refusal to condemn fatwa

By Karl Ritter

Anders Behring Breivik has his handcuffs removed inside a court room at Skien prison in Skien, Norway, Wednesday, March 16, 2016. (Lise Aserud/NTB scanpix via AP)

March 17, 2016, 1:19 am

Breivik slams prison food, praises Hitler in court speech

Norwegian extremist who killed 77 people in 2011 shooting spree suing government for ‘violating human rights’ in prison

By Karl Ritter

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius (R) is congratulated by French President Francois Hollande (L) after a statement at the COP21 Climate Conference in Le Bourget, north of Paris, on December 12, 2015. (AFP PHOTO/MIGUEL MEDINA)

December 12, 2015, 5:35 pm

Hollande: Decisive climate deal for the planet is here and now

If adopted, the ‘Paris agreement’ would slow rising temperatures and sea levels, bring human-made emissions to levels nature can absorb

By Angela Charlton, Seth Borenstein and Karl Ritter

US Secretary of State John Kerry, left, and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon meet on the sidelines of the United Nations climate change conference, in Le Bourget, on the outskirts of Paris on Friday Dec. 11, 2015. (Mandel Ngan, Pool via AP)

December 12, 2015, 11:03 am

Diplomats closing in on climate change accord in Paris

Draft agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions to be presented after ‘tremendous developments’ in late-night negotiations

By Angela Charlton and Karl Ritter

People attend a climate conference at the US pavilion during the COP21, United Nations Climate Change Conference in Le Bourget, north of Paris, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

December 11, 2015, 9:06 am

New draft climate deal emerges as Paris talks near end

Negotiators seek to bridge gap between developed, developing nations while island states seek ever lower carbon emissions

By Karl Ritter and Sylvie Corbet

A woman lights a candle near the Cosa Nostra restaurant in Paris, France, on November 20, 2015. (AP/Thibault Camus)

November 21, 2015, 2:15 am

A week after attacks, Parisians honor the dead

Investigators still piecing together details on terrorists and how they converged in the French capital, killing 130 on November 13

By Karl Ritter and LORNE COOK