Andrew Higgins

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Andrew Higgins

A former senior official at Interpol, the international police organization, has been detained in the United Arab Emirates under an arrest alert issued by his former employer at the request of France. The former official, Vitalie Pirlog, is wanted in France and his home country of Moldova in connection with a sprawling investigation into a scheme that allowed wanted fugitives to get red notices — which are arrest alerts — lifted in return for payments to corrupt officials.

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Andrew Higgins

Efforts in the Polish region of Silesia to honor Ernest Wilimowski, a local star who played for the national teams of both Poland and Nazi Germany, are raising tricky questions about national loyalty and betrayal. People walking by a mural of Ernest Wilimowski in May in Chorzow, Poland. Credit... Maciek Nabrdalik for The New York Times Was he a hero or a traitor? And if he was guilty of treachery, which of the nations that claimed him did he betray?

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Andrew Higgins

The country's government is centrist, with deep ties to Brussels. Its new president is a Trump-backed nationalist. That reflects a broader struggle. Tugged between two poles of Western power - the Washington of President Trump, and Brussels as a champion of liberal democracy - Poland tilted toward the Trumpian model on Monday when a nationalist historian eked out a narrow win in a presidential election.

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Andrew Higgins

The victory of Karol Nawrocki, who is backed by the previous right-wing governing party, will complicate Prime Minister Donald Tusk's efforts to advance his liberal agenda. A nationalist who is hostile to Poland's centrist government has eked out a narrow win in a runoff election for the presidency, delivering a severe setback to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, according to official results released on Monday.

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Andrew Higgins

A vote seen a test of the power of populist nationalism in Europe was too close to call, with exit polls putting the two contenders neck and neck. A pivotal presidential election on Sunday in Poland was too close to call, with exit polls putting the two contenders nearly neck and neck as voting ended and an official count of the ballots began.