Month: May 2022

Blame Game in France After Soccer ‘Chaotic’ Champions League Final 

Chaotic scenes at the French national stadium before and during Saturday night’s Champions League final were branded a national embarrassment, while French ministers blamed Liverpool fans for the trouble. The final between Liverpool and Real Madrid kicked off with a 35-minute delay after police tried to hold back people attempting to force their way into the Stade de France without tickets, while some ticket holders complained they were not let in. Television footage showed images of young men, who did not appear to be wearing the red Liverpool jerseys, jumping the gates of the stadium and running away. Other people …

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Strawberry Farms Threaten Spanish Wetlands

Standing in the middle of a stretch of land surrounded by dunes and pine forest, Juan Romero examines the cracked ground then stares at the dusty horizon. “It’s dry… really dry,” the retired teacher said at the huge Donana National Park in southern Spain, home to one of Europe’s largest wetlands, which is threatened by intensive farming. “At this time of the year this should be covered with water and full of flamingos,” added Romero, a member of Save Donana, a group that has been fighting for years to protect the park. Water supplies to the park have declined dramatically …

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‘Now I Am a Beggar’: Fleeing the Russian Advance in Ukraine

As Russian forces press their offensive to take the eastern Ukrainian cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, civilians who have managed to flee say intensified shelling over the past week left them unable to even venture out from basement bomb shelters. Despite the attacks, some managed to make it to the town of Pokrovsk, 130 kilometers to the south, and boarded an evacuation train Saturday heading west, away from the fighting. Fighting has raged around Lysychansk and neighboring Sievierodonetsk, the last major cities under Ukrainian control in the Luhansk region. Luhansk and the Donetsk region to its south make up the …

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В ОП пропонують «заморозити» ціну на газ для населення, доки триває війна

«Варіанти компенсації державою дельти між ринковою вартістю газу та чинним тарифом для споживачів підприємств ТКЕ зараз аналізується і буде запропоновано на розгляд ВРУ» …

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War Surges Norway’s Oil, Gas Profit. Now, It’s Urged to Help

Europe’s frantic search for alternatives to Russian energy has dramatically increased the demand — and price — for Norway’s oil and gas.  As the money pours in, Europe’s second-biggest natural gas supplier is fending off accusations that it’s profiting from the war in Ukraine.  Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who is looking to the Scandinavian country to replace some of the gas Poland used to get from Russia, said Norway’s “gigantic” oil and gas profits are “indirectly preying on the war.” He urged Norway to use that windfall to support the hardest-hit countries, mainly Ukraine. The comments last week touched a …

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Latest Developments in Ukraine: May 28

For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine. The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT: 1:56 p.m.: A senior pro-Russian official in Kherson, an occupied area of southern Ukraine, tells Reuters that fighting nearby could impact its formal petition to join Russia, which could happen “towards next year.” Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-backed Kherson Military-Civilian Administration, also said the process might involve a referendum, despite previous comments that a general vote of the electorate was unnecessary. 1:04 p.m.: Released Ukrainian POWs say Russian troops tortured them, according to reporting …

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Кримська єпархія УПЦ (МП) заявила, що залишається у підпорядкуванні патріарха Кирила

Після анексії Криму Росією на території півострова продовжили діяти структури УПЦ (МП). Керівництво Кримської єпархії демонструвало свою лояльність до російської влади …

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Війська РФ зазнали втрат на Херсонщині, відступили на «невигідні рубежі», бої тривають – Генштаб

У Генеральному штабі Збройних сил України повідомили, що внаслідок наступальних дій підрозділів Сил оборони війська РФ зазнали втрат та зайняли оборону на невигідних рубежах поблизу Андріївки, Лозового та Білогірки Херсонської області. «Бойові дії тривають. Російські окупанти обстріляли цивільну інфраструктуру в районах населених пунктів Прибузьке, Посад-Покровське, Благодатне, Осокорівка, Нововоронцовка, Новоолександрівка та інших», – йдеться в повідомленні. Тим часом спікер оперативного командування «Південь» Владислав Назаров повідомив, що російські військові продовжують обстрілювати цивільну інфраструктуру в населених пунктах вздовж адмінмежі Миколаївщини та Херсонщини. Назаров каже: російські загарбники атакували Миколаїв з реактивних систем залпового вогню, влучивши у житлові квартали. Попередньо, є поранені серед цивільного населення. …

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Fleeing the Russians: Evacuations are Slow, Arduous, Fraught

To a threatening soundtrack of air raid sirens and booming artillery, civilians are fleeing towns and cities in eastern Ukraine as Russian forces advance. Negotiating narrow apartment building staircases, volunteers carry the elderly and infirm in their arms, in stretchers or in wheelchairs to waiting minibuses, which then drive them to central staging areas and eventually to evacuation trains in other cities. “The Russians are right over there, and they’re closing in on this location,” Mark Poppert, an American volunteer working with British charity RefugEase, said during an evacuation in the town of Bakhmut on Friday. “Bakhmut is a high-risk …

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Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican Power Broker for Decades, Dies at 94

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, a controversial Vatican power broker for more than a quarter of a century who was accused of covering up one of the Catholic Church’s most notorious sex abusers, has died at the age of 94. Sodano, who had been ill for some time and died on Friday night, was secretary of state under two popes — John Paul II and Benedict XVI — holding the number two post in the Vatican hierarchy for 16 years between 1990 and 2006. It was widely believed that Sodano, together with John Paul’s secretary, then-Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, ran the Church in …

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