Category: Євросоюз

Google, Facebook, TikTok and other Big Tech companies operating in Europe must comply with one of the most far-reaching efforts to clean up what people see online. The European Union’s groundbreaking new digital rules took effect Friday for the biggest platforms. The Digital Services Act is part of a suite of tech-focused regulations crafted by the 27-nation bloc, long a global leader in cracking down on tech giants. The DSA is designed to keep users safe online and stop the spread of harmful content that’s either illegal or violates a platform’s terms of service, such as promotion of genocide or …

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The Kremlin labeled as “an absolute lie” on Friday the Western conjecture that Russian President Vladimir Putin masterminded Yevgeny Prigozhin’s reported death.   The chief of the mercenary Wagner Group reportedly was on the jet that crashed Wednesday evening just outside of Moscow.   Prigozhin’s name was on the passenger manifest, and he reportedly was among the 10 people aboard who died in the crash. Putin cited “preliminary information” saying that Prigozhin and his top associates in the Wagner mercenary group all had been killed.  Earlier on Friday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov scolded U.S. President Joe Biden for suggesting that the Russian …

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The attacks range from the exotic — poisoned by drinking polonium-laced tea or touching a deadly nerve agent — to the more mundane of getting shot at close range. Some take a fatal plunge from an open window. Over the years, Kremlin political critics, turncoat spies and investigative journalists have been killed or assaulted in a variety of ways. None, however, has been known to perish in an air accident. But on Wednesday, a private plane carrying a mercenary chief who staged a brief rebellion in Russia plummeted into a field from tens of thousands of feet after breaking apart. …

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Russia said early Friday that it has downed dozens of drones launched from Ukraine. Russia’s Defense Ministry said that 42 drones were destroyed over Crimea – nine shot down by air defense forces, 33 by electronic warfare. Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014. There were no immediate reports of fatalities. The U.S. Defense Department said Thursday that it will train Ukrainians to fly and maintain F-16 fighter jets. The Defense Department said in a statement that the training will be held at Morris Air National Guard Base in Tucson, Arizona, and will be facilitated by the Air National Guard’s …

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The president of the Spanish football federation faces an emergency meeting of its general assembly on Friday amid media reports that he will hand in his resignation following an uproar for kissing a Women’s World Cup champion. Luis Rubiales is expected to stand before representatives of Spain’s regional federations, clubs, players, coaches and referees in Madrid at noon local time, and local media say he is stepping down. The federation has refused to comment on repeated requests from The Associated Press for confirmation of Rubiales’ decision to go that was reported late Thursday. Rubiales, 46, is under immense pressure to …

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On Thursday, the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency confirmed the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of the Russian mercenary organization known as the Wagner Group. Prigozhin was on the passenger manifest of the plane that crashed northwest of Moscow on Wednesday. Anna Rice has the story. Contributor: Lilily Anisimova. …

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The Pentagon says the military will start training Ukrainian pilots to fly U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets inside the United States beginning in October. Brigadier General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s press secretary, told reporters on Thursday that the training would involve “several” Ukrainian pilots and dozens of Ukrainian ground staff who will provide maintenance of the aircraft given to Kyiv. The training is part of a U.S. and European effort to provide advanced fighter jets to Ukraine for long-term defense. Ryder stressed that the F-16s are not intended for the current counteroffensive underway against Russian forces. The flight training will be …

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The death toll from an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Rzeszow, southeast Poland, has risen to five, local authorities said Thursday as they tried to detect the contamination source.  The fifth victim was a woman, 79, admitted to the hospital a few days ago.  “She was a patient with multiple long-term conditions, including cancer, and had been in the anesthesiology and intensive care ward,” the director of the Rzeszow municipal hospital, Grzegorz Materna, told state news agency PAP.  In all, at least 71 people have been hospitalized in the outbreak. Legionnaires’ disease, caused by Legionella bacteria, is not contagious and …

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Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, faces one of its worst droughts and now record-high temperatures, blamed on climate change. With many of the city’s reservoirs nearly empty, experts warn Istanbul could face water shortages in just weeks if more rain doesn’t come. Dorian Jones reports. …

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A Moscow court on Thursday extended by three months the pre-trial detention of jailed U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich. He will now stay behind bars on espionage charges until at least the end of November, Russian state news agency Tass reported. The Wall Street Journal reporter was detained at the end of March while on assignment in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg. Moscow has accused him of spying, which he, his employer and the U.S. government vehemently deny. The State Department has classified him as wrongfully detained. Gershkovich is the first American reporter to be detained in Russia on espionage charges …

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Slower than expected but still moving forward, frontline soldiers say the Russian defenses are fierce in southern Ukraine as they take villages after brutal fights. From Makarivka, a recently re-captured village in Ukraine, VOA’s Heather Murdock reports with Videographer Yan Boechat. …

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A Russian missile attack wounded at least seven people early Thursday in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Serhiy Lysak, the regional governor, said on Telegram that six of the injured were hospitalized. Lysak said Ukrainian air defenses shot down one Russian missile but that strikes from others destroyed a transport facility and damaged a dozen other buildings including a bank, a hotel and two residential buildings. The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down three Ukrainian drones over Russian territory. The ministry said two of the drones were shot down in the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine. …

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Mykola and Natalia Navrotsky are from the small town of Dymer, about 48 kilometers from Kyiv. They last saw their son, Oleksandr, in March 2022, when the 33-year-old man tried to lead his family out of the then Russian-occupied region. “Our son was taken by the military of the Russian Federation at the Dymer checkpoint when he was driving his wife and son from the village of Havrylivka to Hlibivka. They found something in the phone and detained him. His wife and son were released, they came home at night in freezing cold,” the Navrotskys said. Dymer and neighboring towns …

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Russia on Wednesday requested that the pre-trial detention of American journalist Evan Gershkovich be extended.  The Wall Street Journal reporter’s current detention period is set to expire on August 30. The 31-year-old journalist has been in Russian custody since his arrest on March 29.  Russia accuses Gershkovich of espionage, a charge that he, the newspaper and U.S. officials deny.  In a request submitted Wednesday, Russian authorities requested that Gershkovich be detained for an unspecified period, The Wall Street Journal reported.  Russian state media have reported that a Moscow court is due to hold a hearing Thursday on the request.  “Evan’s …

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China and Russia used the second day of the BRICS Summit of emerging economies to criticize the West, while also throwing their support behind the proposed expansion of what’s seen by some as an alternative power bloc. The leaders of Brazil, India, and China are all in South Africa — which is hosting the event — while Russian President Vladimir Putin is participating virtually to avoid arrest under an International Criminal Court warrant over war crimes in Ukraine. Via video link, Putin — who ordered Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year — said the West’s actions had led to that …

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Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency deliberately lured a Russian military pilot to land his Mi-8 helicopter at a Ukrainian airfield, spokesperson Andriy Yusov said on Wednesday, amid differing media reports of what happened.  “This was a GUR operation. The aircraft moved according to the plan,” Yusov told Reuters.  A coup for Ukraine A successful operation to capture a working Russian helicopter and its pilot would represent an audacious coup for Ukraine, allowing it to simultaneously replenish its limited aviation stocks while also potentially getting valuable intelligence on the Russian air force.  Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda cited unnamed intelligence sources …

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Syrian forces have ramped up their attacks on rebel bases and weapons depots, targeting dozens of fighters, the defense ministry said on Wednesday amid an upsurge in violence.  Both the Syrian army and Russian air force “carried out several air and artillery strikes targeting terrorist headquarters in the countryside of Aleppo, Latakia and Hama,” a statement said, after “repeated attacks” on regime-held areas in the provinces.  The strikes left dozens of fighters “dead or wounded,” the defense ministry said.  “Terrorist” bases, missile and drone launchers and ammunition depots were all targeted, it said.  The jihadi Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (HTS), …

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A private jet crashed over Russia on Wednesday, killing all 10 people on board, emergency officials said. Mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the passenger list, but it wasn’t immediately clear if he was on board. Unconfirmed media reports said the jet belonged to Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner private military company. Russia’s state news agency Tass cited emergency officials as saying that the plane carried three pilots and seven passengers. It was not clear if Prigozhin was among those on board, though Russia’s civilian aviation regulator, Rosaviatsia, said he was on the passenger list. The plane was en route …

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Turkey’s media regulator has given Voice of America’s Turkish Service a three-day deadline to apply for a broadcast license or face potential criminal charges. The Radio and Television Supreme Council, or RTUK, on Monday told VOA it needed to apply for an on-demand broadcasting license. The on-demand license is more commonly acquired by entertainment streaming services such as Netflix. Failure to comply with the request and pay a three-month license fee would result in the regulator applying to the Criminal Judgeships of Peace with a request to block access to VOA’s content. The media regulator said it was acting under …

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The daughter of a German citizen of Iranian descent who was sentenced to death by Tehran pleaded Tuesday for the United States and Germany to act urgently to save him.  The daughter of Jamshid Sharmahd was making her case in Washington, including holding a sit-in outside the State Department, on the heels of a deal by President Joe Biden’s administration to free five U.S. citizens who were imprisoned in Iran.  According to his family, Sharmahd, a software developer who had been living in California, was kidnapped in 2020 on a visit to the United Arab Emirates and taken to Iran.  …

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