Month: November 2024

A Russian attack on Ukraine’s northeast city of Sumy killed 11 people and injured at least 89, Ukrainian officials said. “Sunday evening for the city of Sumy became hell, a tragedy that Russia brought to our land,” military administrator Volodymyr Artyukh said in a post on the Telegram messaging channel. Sumy regional prosecutors said the attack damaged 90 apartments, 28 cars, two educational institutions and 13 buildings. The attack followed a massive Russian bombardment of Ukraine’s power infrastructure earlier in the day, as well as news reports that the United States granted clearance for Ukraine to use long-range U.S. weapons …

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AMSTERDAM — The Netherlands’ foreign minister, whose ministry oversees export restrictions on top computer chip equipment maker ASML, said on Monday that China-Russia trade was “directly affecting” European security.  NATO views China as a “decisive enabler” of Russia in its war against Ukraine, given that Chinese firms are selling goods that end up as components in Russian weapons, including drones, Caspar Veldkamp said before a meeting with European Union foreign ministers in Brussels.  “I raised this twice with the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and I think as Europeans we should all do this, because this is something that China should …

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LONDON — Britain will seek backing from other United Nations Security Council members on Monday for its demand that Sudan’s warring parties stop hostilities and allow deliveries of aid, the British foreign ministry said. With London holding the rotating presidency of the council, British foreign minister David Lammy is due to chair a vote on a UK/Sierra Leone-proposed draft resolution, which also calls for the protection of civilians. Lammy will say “the UK will never let Sudan be forgotten” and announce a doubling of Britain’s aid to $285 million, according to a statement from his ministry. A power struggle between the …

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The Baltic states have committed to continue providing financial and material support to Ukraine’s fight against Russia in 2025. Part of that support is coming from the Latvian-led Drone Coalition. Vladislav Andrejevs has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Video editing by Sergii Dogotar. …

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Baku, Azerbaiijan — A new set of global carbon credit trade market standards has been agreed to during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, or COP29, following years of deadlock. Some analysts say that under the guidelines, a bigger number of entities could join a more regulated voluntary carbon credit trading system to reduce emissions. Known as Article 6.4, delegates agreed on the rules for establishing a system that allows trade in carbon credit between individual countries and companies, under the supervision of a centralized U.N. body. These include how to validate, verify and issue credits.  Another option, …

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Tbilisi, Georgia — Opposition protesters in Georgia’s breakaway province of Abkhazia on Sunday refused to cede control of key government buildings seized during rallies earlier in the week during which at least 14 people were injured in clashes with police. Demonstrators stormed the buildings Friday to protest new measures allowing Russians to buy property in the seaside region. Protesters on Sunday continued to demand the ouster of self-styled Abkhazian President Aslan Bzhania, and one prominent politician vowed that the opposition would form a rival government if he refuses to step down. “If our demands for the president’s resignation are not met, …

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Berlin — Prominent Russian opposition figures led a march of at least 1,000 people in central Berlin Sunday, criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine and calling for democracy in Russia. Behind a banner that read “No Putin. No War,” the protesters were led by Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of top Putin critic Alexei Navalny, as well as Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza, who were freed from Russian detention in a high-profile prisoner exchange this summer. Shouting “Russia without Putin” and other chants in Russian, the demonstrators held up signs with a wide array of messages on a …

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Artifacts and human remains taken by a Norwegian explorer and anthropologist in the late 1940s are being returned by a museum in Oslo to Chile’s remote territory of Easter Island in the mid-Pacific, the Kon-Tiki Museum said Wednesday. In 1947, explorer Thor Heyerdahl sailed on a log raft named Kon-Tiki from Peru to Polynesia in 101 days to prove his theory — that the South Sea Islands were settled by seafarers from South America. He brought 5,600 objects back from Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui. This is the third time objects taken by him are being …

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Rome — Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute genocide, according to excerpts released Sunday from an upcoming new book ahead of the pontiff’s jubilee year.   It’s the first time that Francis has openly urged for an investigation of genocide allegations over Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip. In September, he said Israel’s attacks in Gaza and Lebanon have been “immoral” and disproportionate, and that its military has gone beyond the rules of war.   The book, by Hernán Reyes Alcaide and based on interviews with the Pope, is entitled “Hope never disappoints. Pilgrims …

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Brussels — Josep Borrell took a deep breath as the train rumbled across Ukraine at the end of his final visit after five tumultuous years as the EU’s foreign policy chief. “I feel a certain nostalgia,” the 77-year-old Spaniard said, hunching forward to be heard over the noise of the tracks. “We’ve been working closely with these people, who are great people, who are fighting for their survival,” he said. “And who knows what’s going to happen with them?” The job of EU top diplomat has often been seen as thankless — trying to coordinate the sometimes radically opposed positions of …

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