Month: July 2024

Євросоюз

Russian warships make routine visit to Cuba

HAVANA — Havana residents watched from shore on Saturday as Russian warships arrived for the second time in as many months in a visit that Cuba called routine.  Cuban authorities fired shots into the air to signal their welcome, while curious fishermen watched from Havana’s waterside promenade as the ships advanced up the bay. Russian residents were also among the few up early to see the fleet’s arrival.  The patrol ship Neustrahimiy, training vessel Smolniy and support vessels, all from the Baltic Fleet, are scheduled to depart on Tuesday.  A brief statement by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces described their arrival …

READ MORE

Євросоюз

Hungary’s Orban: Russia stands to gain as ‘irrational’ West loses power

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday that Russia’s leadership was “hyper rational” and that Ukraine would never be able to fulfill its hopes of becoming a member of the European Union or NATO. Orban, a nationalist in power since 2010, made the comments during a speech in which he forecast a shift in global power away from the “irrational” West toward Asia and Russia. “In the next long decades, maybe centuries, Asia will be the dominant center of the world,” Orban said, mentioning China, India, Pakistan and Indonesia as the world’s future big powers. “And we …

READ MORE

Євросоюз

Global cruise industry sees growing demand, wary of port protests

MADRID — The global cruise industry expects to carry 10% more passengers by 2028 than the 31.7 million who took cruise holidays in 2023, when the sector surpassed pre-pandemic levels, but sees some routes exposed to protests over overtourism. Long criticized for its impact on the environment and coastal communities, the industry has ordered 57 more cruise ships in addition to some 300 now in operation to meet the projected demand, said the European director of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), Marie-Caroline Laurent. At the same time, companies are working to adapt the ships so they can switch to electricity from …

READ MORE

Євросоюз

‘Les Français,’ Olympic hosts, can’t be pigeonholed

paris — They’re often thought to have practically cornered the market on romance, yet they also can bicker and squabble as though they were Olympic sports. They practically wrote the book on fraternity, liberty and equality — words inscribed on their schools and town halls — but also recognize that those ideals aren’t always applied to citizens of color. Les Français — the French, as the people of France call themselves — simply don’t fit neatly into any one box. Now that they’re hosting the Olympics, here’s a look at some of the particularities that make the French, well, French:  The …

READ MORE

Євросоюз

Ukrainian adviser says agreement with Russia is ‘deal with the devil’

KYIV, Ukraine — Signing an agreement with Russia to stop the war with Ukraine would amount to signing a deal with the devil, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as pressure mounts on the country to seek an end to more than two years of fighting.  A deal would only buy time for Russian President Vladimir Putin to strengthen his army and usher in another,potentially more violent chapter in the war, Mykhailo Podolyak told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday.  “If you want to sign a deal with the devil who will then drag you to hell, …

READ MORE