Category: Євросоюз

The Ukrainian parliament gave initial approval Thursday to a law that would ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church after Kyiv accused it of collaborating with Russia following last year’s invasion. The UOC has historic links with Moscow, but says it is no longer aligned with the Russian Orthodox Church. It denies the charges leveled at it by Kyiv and said the draft law would be unconstitutional. Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a member of parliament, said on the Telegram messaging app that deputies had voted to support the bill in its first reading. It has to be backed in a second reading and approved …

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NATO is stepping up patrols in the Baltic Sea following recent damage to undersea infrastructure in the region, the transatlantic military alliance said Thursday. “The increased measures include additional surveillance and reconnaissance flights, including with maritime patrol aircraft, NATO AWACS planes and drones. A fleet of four NATO minehunters is also being dispatched to the area,” NATO said in a statement. The move followed announcements by authorities of damage to a Baltic Sea telecom cable connecting Sweden and Estonia and to a Finnish-Estonian pipeline and cable at around the same time earlier this month. Officials from the countries involved have …

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Greek intelligence has increased surveillance of refugee camps in the country amid radical Islamist calls for jihad in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict. Cheers of celebration minutes after Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel. … Chants of praise not from pockets of the Middle East … but Greece. Like many other countries, Greece has boosted security since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, elevating its level of national alert to Code 4, just shy of the highest level possible. With tens of thousands of mainly Arab migrants residing in camps here, intelligence officials are keeping close watch fearing what they tell …

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The World Health Organization said Thursday that five trucks full of medical supplies are ready at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, with hopes that the aid could be delivered to Palestinian hospitals as early as Friday. “Our trucks are loaded and ready to go,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. The delivery of aid would be the first since Israel imposed a complete blockade on the Gaza Strip, following the October 7 attack by Hamas militants that killed over 1,400 Israelis.  Health authorities in the Gaza Strip said Thursday that at least 3,785 Palestinians …

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European Union interior ministers on Thursday debated how to manage the impact of the war between Israel and Hamas on the bloc, amid heightened security tensions after a firebomb assault on a Berlin synagogue and killings in Belgium and France by suspected Islamist extremists. Officials from across the 27-nation EU have expressed concerns about a rise in antisemitic attacks, the radicalization of young people online, the use of encrypted messaging services by criminals or extremists, and the need to speed up the deportation of people who might pose a public danger. But calls for an increase in security across the …

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Ukraine’s military says Russia unleashed a wave of drone and missile strikes on four Ukrainian regions overnight but most of them were intercepted and destroyed by air defenses. A total of 17 drones and missiles were launched against infrastructure, civilian, and military targets in Donetsk, Mykolayiv, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia, the military said Thursday. Three drones and one cruise missile were shot down by Ukrainian forces, the military added. There were no reports of casualties. On Wednesday, officials in southern Ukraine said a Russian missile hit a residential area killing at least two people.  Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said the missile hit …

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U.S. President Joe Biden is set to address the nation Thursday night and discuss the U.S. response to the recent Hamas attack on Israel as well as Russia’s war in Ukraine. Biden visited Israel Wednesday, bringing a message of support to Israelis while also working to secure humanitarian aid for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The U.S. announced $100 million in aid for Gaza and the West Bank, and the Biden administration is expected to propose $100 billion in supplemental assistance for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and security along the U.S.-Mexico border. “My administration was in close touch with the leadership …

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Officials in southern Ukraine said a Russian missile hit a residential area late Wednesday, killing at least two people. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said the missile hit a food shop in the Mykolaiv region. Vitaliy Kim, the regional governor, said the attack happened in the village of Stepove and damaged both residential buildings and an agricultural business. Another Russian missile strike earlier Wednesday hit a residential building in Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Wednesday that attack killed five people and injured five others. Another Russian strike killed a woman and injured four other people in Dnipropetrovsk, …

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French Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah has returned to France, her university said Wednesday, after being held for 4½ years in Iran in a case that prompted tensions between Paris and Tehran. Adelkhah was arrested in June 2019 and convicted on national security charges that her supporters have denounced as absurd. She was released from prison in February but remained unable to leave Iran. A well-known researcher of Iranian Shiite religion and politics, Adelkhah landed back in Paris on Tuesday, according to her employer, Sciences Po University, which had set up a support group to win her release. “After so many …

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A Russian American journalist working for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has been detained in Russia and charged with failing to register as a foreign agent, her employer and a journalist watchdog group said Wednesday. Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with the U.S. Congress-funded outlet’s Tatar-Bashkir service, “needs to be released so she can return to her family immediately,” RFE/RL acting President Jeffrey Gedmin said in a statement. “Alsu is a highly respected colleague, devoted wife and dedicated mother to two children,” Gedmin said. RFE/RL, like VOA, is an independent news organization that is part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. …

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Tensions between the United States and Turkey are growing, with each side accusing the other of posing a security threat. The war of words follows the U.S. downing of a Turkish drone that Washington said was threatening American forces in Syria. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. …

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Pope Francis decried the “desperate” situation in Gaza, calling for peace, during his general audience on Wednesday. The pope, however, did not mention the deadly attack Tuesday on a hospital in Gaza. Pope Francis told the faithful gathering in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday that his “thoughts go to Palestine and Israel,” expressing concern that this war could spread. He urged the faithful to pray for peace.   “The victims are increasing and the situation in Gaza is desperate,” Pope Francis said. “May, please everything, everything be done to avoid a humanitarian disaster, and it’s possible that this war might grow. …

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Russia’s parliament moved swiftly to fulfill the wish of President Vladimir Putin by completing the passage of a bill that shifts Moscow’s legal stance on nuclear testing at a time of acute tension with the West. The lower house, the State Duma, on Wednesday passed the second and third readings of a bill that revokes Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, or CTBT. Both were passed unanimously by 415 votes to 0. Putin urged the Duma on October 5 to make the change in order to “mirror” the position of the United States, which has signed but …

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Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed their deepening bilateral ties Wednesday during a one-on-one meeting in Beijing. The two leaders held talks at the Great Hall of the People on the sideline of a forum marking the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi’s signature policy to build massive infrastructure projects across Asia, Africa, Latin America and parts of Eastern and Southern Europe. Referring to his Russian counterpart as “my old friend,” President Xi said the ‘political trust” between China and Russia has deepened, with two sides sharing “close, effective strategic coordination.” “In the …

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Ukrainian officials said Wednesday a Russian missile attack in the city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least two people and wounded five others. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the missile hit a five-story residential building and destroyed eight apartments. “The evil state continues to use terror and wage war on civilians,” Zelenskyy said.   Yuriy Malashko, the regional governor of Zaporizhzhia, said Russia targeted the area with six missiles early Wednesday.  Malashko said Russian drones and artillery fire were also directed at the area. Another Russian strike killed a woman and injured four other people in Dnipropetrovsk, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. …

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As images of the war between Israel and Hamas sent shockwaves around the world, people in Italy’s capital held a march this week commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Nazi roundup of Rome’s Jewish community during World War II. Those gathering on Monday said they remember the past because they care about the future. Esther, a Jewish resident of Rome, said this 80th anniversary “March of Remembrance” was particularly poignant for her as she turns 80 this year.  She said she and her family survived the Nazis’ 1943 roundup of Rome’s 1,200 Jews only because they were in Africa at …

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Four-day work weeks improved Spanish workers’ health several ways, such as by lowering stress while reducing fuel emissions and benefiting children, a pilot program showed on Tuesday.  The coastal city of Valencia — Spain’s third largest with more than 800,000 inhabitants — scheduled local holidays to fall on four consecutive Mondays between April 10 and May 7 this year. The project affected 360,000 workers.  Many participants used the long weekends to develop healthier habits such as practicing sport, resting and eating homemade food, according to an independent commission of health and social science experts that evaluated the program.  The data …

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The lower house of the Russian parliament on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a bill revoking ratification of a global nuclear test ban in what Moscow has described as a move to put itself on par with the United States. The State Duma voted unanimously to rescind the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty known as the CTBT, in the first of three required readings. The final vote is scheduled for later this week. The vote follows a statement from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who warned earlier this month that Moscow could revoke its 2000 decision to ratify …

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Ukraine launched ATACMS missiles at Russian forces on Tuesday, after the United States secretly provided a small number of the long-range ballistic missiles to Ukraine in recent days, a U.S. official tells VOA. ATACMS, which is short for the Army Tactical Missile System made by U.S. company Lockheed Martin, will allow Ukrainian forces to reach deeper into Russian-controlled territory. They will also allow Ukraine to fire at surface targets from a safer distance away, rather than having to go all the way to the front lines to hit targets that lie further back. ATACMS can be used in High Mobility …

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Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing Tuesday. Putin will attend a forum convened by Chinese leader Xi Jingping to mark the 10th anniversary of his signature Belt and Road Initiative, a program China uses to build massive infrastructure projects across Asia, Africa, Latin America and parts of Eastern and Southern Europe. The Kremlin says Putin and Xi are set to meet on the sidelines of the forum Wednesday. The two leaders signed a pledge last year declaring a “no-limits” bilateral relationship just weeks before Russian troops invaded Ukraine.  Beijing has since become Moscow’s most reliable economic and diplomatic partner …

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