Category: Євросоюз

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. Texas City Sees Jump in Irregular Migrant Crossings U.S. immigration authorities reported a significant uptick in unauthorized border crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border Thursday, particularly in areas such as Eagle Pass, Texas, where the mayor has issued a state of emergency. U.S. Border Patrol officers apprehended about 9,000 migrants along the entire border in a 24-hour period, according to media reports on Wednesday. VOA asked the Border Patrol to confirm the number of apprehensions, but an official, …

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on the Polish government Saturday to clarify allegations about a cash-for-visas deal for migrants that has roiled Polish politics, as a debate about immigration heats up in Germany. The demand from Scholz marks stepped-up rhetoric from Poland’s powerful western neighbor, coming just days after sources said Germany summoned the Polish ambassador and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser spoke to her Polish counterpart on the topic. Since earlier this month, the Polish government has been facing accusations by opposition parties that it was complicit in a system in which migrants received Polish visas at an accelerated pace …

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At least three people were injured early Saturday after a landslide in western Sweden resulted in the opening of a massive sinkhole. Cars and at least one bus skidded off the E6 highway near the small Swedish town of Stenungsund. The highway has been closed in both directions. …

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“People who are at risk of drowning when abandoned on the waves must be rescued,” Pope Francis said Friday in Marseille, France, at a memorial dedicated to sailors and migrants. Francis described efforts to stop the migrants from being rescued as “gestures of hate.” Migrants from Africa and the Middle East often board rickety watercraft to Europe in hopes of a better life there or elsewhere. The first stop for many of them is often the Italian island of Lampedusa. Recently, the island has been overwhelmed with thousands of migrants. Often the migrant boats are abandoned at sea by their …

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Southern African countries that allow trophy hunting are relieved after a bill seeking to ban the import of legally obtained wildlife trophies from Africa into the United Kingdom was blocked in the House of Lords this week. The trophy-hunting bill, championed by conservationists, sailed through the House of Commons and appeared set to win approval in Britain’s House of Lords. However, a group of peers successfully blocked the legislation, which would have banned the importation of wildlife trophies into the U.K. A U.K.-based conservation biologist, Keith Lindsay, said it is a shame the bill did not succeed. “It is [a] …

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Ukraine claimed responsibility for a missile attack Friday on the headquarters of Russia’s navy in Crimea, delivering a major blow for Moscow as it suffers a string of attacks on the strategically significant port in recent months.  “The headquarters of the fleet have been hit in an enemy attack,” said Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol.  Video footage on social media showed plumes of thick smoke coming out of the Russian naval headquarters in the region. “Ukraine’s defense forces launched a successful attack on the headquarters of the command of the Black Sea fleet of Russia in the temporarily …

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A U.N. human rights expert says repression against dissidents and civil and political rights in the Russian Federation has reached unprecedented levels since the country’s invasion of Ukraine. In her first report as Special Rapporteur of human rights in Russia, Mariana Katzarova told the United Nations Human Rights Council that Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine “has been followed by a rapid deterioration of the human rights situation.” She said the incremental and calculated restrictions on human rights in Russia over the past two decades “have culminated in the current state policy of criminalizing any actual or perceived dissent and bolstering …

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China, Russia and the United States have all built new facilities and dug new tunnels at their nuclear test sites in the last few years, reports CNN, citing satellite images that show the new construction and increased vehicle traffic coming in and out of the sites. The images were “exclusively” obtained and provided by a prominent analyst in military nonproliferation studies, according to the CNN report Friday. “There are really a lot of hints that we’re seeing that suggest Russia, China and the United States might resume nuclear testing,” the news outlet quoted Jeffrey Lewis, an adjunct professor at the …

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Ukraine’s president on Thursday wrapped up his US public relations blitz for military support and for his 10-point peace plan with meetings on Capitol Hill, at the Pentagon, and in the Oval Office with President Joe Biden. VOA’s Anita Powell looks at the diplomatic, performative aspect of the Ukraine conflict from the stage that is the White House. …

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was greeted by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa late Thursday after a whirlwind visit to Washington. Zelenskyy will address Canada’s Parliament on Friday, his first time speaking to the assembly since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Zelenskyy and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau are also scheduled to sign an agreement designed to strengthen economic ties between the two countries. Trudeau said in a statement before the Ukrainian leader’s arrival, “Canada remains unwavering in our support to the people of Ukraine as they fight for their sovereignty and their democracy, as well as our shared values, like …

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A Russian attack on a town west of Donetsk close to Ukraine’s eastern front injured 13 people, a local official said early Friday in Ukraine. Two airstrikes on the town caused a fire, Roman Padun, administrative head of the town of Kurakhove, told public broadcaster Suspilne. On Thursday, the Ukrainian military said its forces had hit a Russian air base in Crimea, which a Russian-installed official on the annexed peninsula disputed. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said Thursday that Russian forces carried out aerial attacks on multiple cities overnight, killing at least two people. Ukraine’s military described the Russian action as a …

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an urgent plea Thursday to U.S. lawmakers on Capitol Hill, telling them that without a new tranche of funding to combat Russian aggression, Ukraine will lose the war. The White House requested $24 billion in supplemental funding for Ukraine earlier this year. But there is growing Republican concern about providing U.S. aid to Ukraine, combined with broader difficulties passing either a short-term continuing resolution or a full 2024 budget funding the U.S. government past a September 30 deadline. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer summed up the meeting with Zelenskyy, telling the members, “If we don’t …

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Washington said Thursday that Poland remained a close ally of Ukraine, after Warsaw said it would no longer provide Kyiv with weapons amid an escalating dispute over food imports. At a press briefing Thursday, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan played down the dispute. “When I read the headlines this morning, I was of course concerned and had questions. But I’ve subsequently seen the Polish government spokesman come out to clarify that in fact Poland’s provision of equipment, including things like Polish-manufactured Howitzers, is continuing and that Poland continues to stand behind Ukraine,” Sullivan said. Weapons transfers Questioned about …

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British prosecutors said on Thursday they had authorized charges to be brought against five Bulgarian nationals accused of spying for Russia for almost three years. The three men and two women are accused of “conspiring to collect information intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy” between Aug. 30, 2020 and Feb. 8, 2023, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said. The alleged spies were named as Orlin Roussev, 45, Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, Katrin Ivanova, 31, Ivan Stoyanov, 31, and Vanya Gaberova, 29, all Bulgarian nationals who lived in London and Norfolk. They are due to appear at Westminster …

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The Bank of England has paused nearly two years of interest rate increases after a surprising fall in U.K. inflation eased concerns about the pace of price rises. In a development Thursday that few predicted just two days ago, the central bank kept its main interest rate unchanged at a 15-year high of 5.25%. It comes to the relief of millions of homeowners who are facing higher mortgage rates.  The decision was split, with four of the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee voting for a hike. Central banks worldwide appear to be near the end of an aggressive …

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Warming relations between North Korea and Russia could last as long as the war in Ukraine continues, making Pyongyang either disposable or expandable to Moscow, depending on its need for ammunition and interest in overturning the U.S.-led international order, experts said. As U.S. President Joe Biden called on global leaders to support Ukraine at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un returned home after his six-day trip to Russia, during which he pledged to provide “full and unconditional support” for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. Kim arrived in Pyongyang in his private train …

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Ukrainian officials said Thursday that Russian forces carried out aerial attacks on multiple cities overnight, killing at least two people. Ukraine’s military described the Russian action as a “massive missile attack on the civilian infrastructure of a number of regions.” Oleksandr Prokudin, the regional governor of Kherson, said a Russian strike hit a residential building, killing two people and injuring five others. Sergiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on Telegram that debris fell on the Ukrainian capital after air defenses shot down Russian missiles. Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said seven people were injured and several buildings were …

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared before the U.N. Security Council in New York on Wednesday for the first time since Russia’s invasion to garner support for his country and accuse Russia of carrying out “a criminal and unprovoked aggression” that shatters the norms of war and the U.N. Charter. During a somewhat contentious meeting, Zelenskyy promoted action taken, including arming Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia. “Helping Ukraine with weapons in this exercise, by imposing sanctions and exerting comprehensive pressure on the aggressor, as well as voting for relevant resolutions, would mean helping to defend the U.N. Charter,” Zelenskyy said. …

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During Wednesday’s meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Russia’s war in Ukraine took precedence in the speeches of world leaders who have been pulled into the conflict in different capacities. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias took note of what was said and filed this report from New York. …

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Relations between Russia and Iran have reached a new level despite opposition from much of the Western world, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday during his visit to Tehran.  “We are aiming at an entire range of planned activities, despite opposition from the United States and its Western allies,” the Interfax news agency cited Shoigu as saying.  “Sanctions pressure on Russia and Iran shows its futility, while Russian-Iranian interaction is reaching a new level.”  Shoigu met Iran’s top security official, Ali Akbar Ahmadian, on Wednesday and they talked about a wide range of topics, especially the developments in the …

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