Category: Євросоюз

Poland’s ruling nationalist conservative party has lost its majority in parliament after eight years in power. Official electoral results announced Tuesday show the Law and Justice party winning 35% of the vote. By contrast, the liberal Civic Coalition party won 30.7% of the vote, followed by the centrist Third Way party with 14.4% and the New Left 8.6%, giving the three parties a combined 53.7% of the vote and with it a majority of seats in the 460-seat lower house of parliament, the Sejm. The three parties ran on separate tickets but with the same promises seeking to oust Law …

READ MORE

Belgian authorities raised the terror alert to its highest level in the capital late Monday after the fatal shooting of two Swedes in Brussels that Prime Minister Alexander De Croo linked to terrorism. The gunman remained at large. The killings happened some 3 miles (5 kilometers) from a stadium where over 35,000 fans were watching a Belgium-Sweden soccer match, Belgium’s anti-terror center said. The match was abandoned halfway through. “The population needs to be actively vigilant and avoid any unnecessary travel,” anti-terror center spokeswoman Laura Demullier said, adding that the top priority for authorities was to get the thousands of …

READ MORE

All 31 U.S.-made M1A1 Abrams tanks promised to Kyiv by the Biden administration have arrived in Ukraine, according to the U.S. military. Col. Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for U.S. Army Europe and Africa, told VOA that all of the Ukrainians who trained on the tanks with U.S. forces in Germany have also returned to Ukraine, along with ammunition and spare tank parts. “We have lived up to our end of the bargain. From this point forward, it is up to them [Ukraine] to determine when and where they will deliver this capability,” O’Donnell said. Military officials say it could take …

READ MORE

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday confirmed media reports he would travel to Israel and Egypt this week in the wake of the deadly attack by Hamas militants. “It is important to me to also express my solidarity with Israel very practically with my visit,” he told reporters, while confirming a “later trip” to Egypt. German media had earlier reported that Scholz would travel to Israel on Tuesday as the first visit by a foreign head of government since the assault, which has sparked a war between Israel and Hamas. The fate of German nationals kidnapped by Hamas during the …

READ MORE

Foreigners who live in Italy will be able to use the national health service after paying a $2,109 annual fee, the government said Monday.  The charge, part of the 2024 budget adopted by the cabinet, will apply only to citizens from outside the European Union, the economy ministry said in a statement.   The ministry said there would be an unspecified discount for those with legal residency papers, as well as for foreign students and au pairs.   It was not immediately clear how far the reform would change the current system, which already foresees payments for some categories of …

READ MORE

The majority of voters in Poland’s general election supported opposition parties who promised to repair the nation’s constitutional order and its relationship with allies, including the European Union and Ukraine, according to projections Monday. After a bitter and emotional campaign, voters turned out in droves on Sunday to make their voice known. Turnout was at the highest level in the country’s 34 years of democracy, surpassing the 63% who turned out in the historic 1989 vote that toppled communism. The final result was not expected for many hours. But a so-called late exit poll by Ipsos suggested that voters had …

READ MORE

Russia’s foreign minister will visit North Korea this week, the Foreign Ministry said Monday, days after the United States claimed Pyongyang had delivered munitions and military equipment to Russia for use in the fighting in Ukraine. Sergey Lavrov will be in North Korea on Wednesday and Thursday, the ministry said in a brief statement that did not specify whom he would meet or the aims of the trip. The White House said Friday that more than 1,000 containers of equipment and ammunition have been sent to Russia from North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traveled to Russia last …

READ MORE

Qatar announced Monday the reunification of a group of Ukrainian children with their families, a start on the return of some of the thousands of children Ukraine says Russia forcibly took after launching its invasion in February 2022. The repatriations took place after months of talks brokered by Qatar. Officials familiar with the matter said four children, ages 2 to 17, were being reunited under an arrangement that could lead to more repatriations. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the State of Qatar facilitated the hosting of the children and their families at the Qatari Embassy in Moscow during the …

READ MORE

Voters in Poland are choosing representatives for both houses of parliament. Poles outside the country are joining the vote. Svitlana Prystynska has our story from the Western U.S. state of Colorado. …

READ MORE

The White House said Sunday it plans to try this week to win congressional approval of a new weapons aid package for Ukraine and Israel that would total significantly more than $2 billion.  White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CBS’s “Face the Nation” show that President Joe Biden will lobby Congress this week on the need for the package to be approved as Ukraine’s 20-month war with Russia slogs on with no end in sight and Israel appears set to launch a ground invasion of Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 shock attack on Israel by Hamas …

READ MORE

For soldiers fighting on Ukraine’s front lines, a split second first aid decision can be the difference between life or death. Whether learning to apply a tourniquet, wrap a bandage or carry a wounded person, regular basic medical training is an essential part of their skill set in the field. “It’s crucial training, because every soldier needs to know how to save his own life and that of others nearby,” said Victor Pylypenko, a 36-year-old medic in the 72nd Ukrainian brigade. According to analysts, at least tens of thousands of soldiers have been wounded and killed on both sides since …

READ MORE

Several International Olympic Committee members called on Sunday for President Thomas Bach to stay on after his second term ends in 2025 and continue for an unprecedented third one. Elected in 2013, Bach is due to step down in 2025 in line with current Olympic Charter rules, following a first eight-year term and a second four-year one. The IOC, however, said it would be discussing the matter in a future executive board meeting. Sunday’s open declaration by IOC members followed speculation in recent months that Bach could potentially continue as president of the one of the most powerful bodies in …

READ MORE

Poland is holding a high-stakes election on Sunday that has energized many voters, with the ruling conservative nationalist party pitted against opposition groups that accuse it of eroding the foundations of the democratic system. The ruling party, Law and Justice, has a devoted base of supporters in the Central European nation of 38 million who appreciate its defense of Catholic traditions and its social spending on pensioners and families with children. The payments have given relief to poor people.  But support for the party has shrunk since the last election in 2019 — when it won nearly 44% of the …

READ MORE

Poles vote Sunday in a parliamentary election the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) hopes will earn it an unprecedented third term in office, while the opposition warns it could put the country on a path towards leaving the European Union. Opinion polls suggest PiS will come out ahead but could lose its majority amid intensifying discontent over its democratic record, which has cost Poland billions of euros in EU aid, and concerns over women’s rights and the cost of living. With war raging in neighboring Ukraine and a migrant crisis brewing, the EU and Washington are watching the vote closely, …

READ MORE

Jews in communities far from Israel gathered at synagogues this weekend for Shabbat services held amid the ongoing war ignited by Hamas militants’ attack on Israel a week earlier. Rabbis led prayers of peace and shared grief with their congregations. At many synagogues security was tight. Pittsburgh Rabbi: Hamas attack resurfaces generations of trauma for Jewish people The deadly Hamas attack is not just another geopolitical event for Jewish people, explained one U.S. rabbi. It is dredging up generations of visceral trauma, especially in Pittsburgh – the city scarred by the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. “More Jews were …

READ MORE

Editor’s note: Here is a look at immigration-related news around the U.S. this week. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email the VOA immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com. No Shade, No Water, Record Heat: More Migrants Die in US Desert In the past 12 months through September, U.S. Customs and Border Protection logged 60 migrant deaths due to heat in the El Paso sector, triple the same period a year ago. The sector spans the Chihuahuan Desert through New Mexico and parts of Texas along 431 kilometers (268 miles) of the border. It has been the busiest area for migrant crossings into the U.S. southwest …

READ MORE

A man of Chechen origin who was under surveillance by French security services over suspected Islamic radicalization stabbed a teacher to death at his former high school and wounded three other people Friday in northern France, authorities said. France raised its threat alert to its highest level, and the attack was being investigated by anti-terrorism prosecutors amid soaring global tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas. It also happened almost three years after another teacher, Samuel Paty, was beheaded by a radicalized Chechen near a Paris area school. The suspected attacker had been under surveillance since the summer on …

READ MORE

Russian authorities on Friday detained three lawyers representing imprisoned opposition leader Alexey Navalny after searching their homes, his allies said, a step that comes amid increasing pressure on the Kremlin’s critics. The move was an attempt to “completely isolate Navalny,” his ally Ivan Zhdanov said on social media. Navalny, 47, has been behind bars since January 2021, serving a 19-year prison sentence but has been able to get messages out regularly and keep up with the news. The raids targeting Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Liptser are part of a criminal case on charges of participating in an extremist …

READ MORE

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, visiting the Black Sea port of Odesa, vowed on Friday to improve Ukraine’s air defenses and to increase the security of a “humanitarian corridor” for grain exports. Zelenskyy said Kyiv was working to strengthen its position in the Black Sea so that it can continue grain exports, which are vital to ensuring budget revenues following a surge in defense spending after Russia’s invasion last year. “We are working with partners to protect properly these corridors, and strengthen our positions in the Black Sea, and it also applies to the protection …

READ MORE

With a history of supporting Hamas but cautiously warming relations with Israel, Russia has been left with some tough choices by the Palestinian group’s terrorist assault on the Jewish state and Israel’s unsparing response. Its rhetoric so far suggests that Moscow is looking for a middle ground while seeking ways to turn the war to its diplomatic advantage. VOA’s Ksenia Turkova has the story.  …

READ MORE