Category: Євросоюз

Athens — Greece and Turkey will explore whether they can start talks aimed at demarcating their maritime zones, Greece’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Neighbors Greece and Turkey, both NATO allies but historic foes, have been at odds for decades over a range of issues from airspace to maritime jurisdiction in the eastern Mediterranean and ethnically split Cyprus. An agreement on where their maritime zones begin and end is important for determining rights over possible gas reserves and power infrastructure schemes. Tensions have eased in recent years and both countries agreed last year to reboot their relations, pledging to keep open …

READ MORE

Helsinki — Environmental activists sprayed red paint on Finland’s parliament building on Wednesday to protest against the peat industry, sparking strong criticism from politicians. Activists from Extinction Rebellion Finland and Swedish organization Aterstall Vatmarker (Restore Wetlands) smeared several granite columns at the building’s main entrance in red paint resembling blood. They told AFP they were protesting against the Finnish state-owned company Neova mining peat in Swedish wetlands. Peat extracted from wetlands is often used as an energy source or for farming purposes, emitting large amounts of carbon dioxide. In their natural state, peatlands store large amounts of carbon dioxide. “We have …

READ MORE

WARSAW, Poland — Climate change has made downpours like the one that caused devastating floods in central Europe this month twice as likely to occur, a report said on Wednesday, as its scientific authors urged policymakers to act to stop global warming. The worst flooding to hit central Europe in at least two decades has left 24 people dead, with towns strewn with mud and debris, buildings damaged, bridges collapsed and authorities left with a bill for repairs that runs into billions of dollars. The report from World Weather Attribution, an international group of scientists that studies the effects of climate …

READ MORE

…

READ MORE

A new school year begins in Russia, the third that is starting with Moscow’s war in Ukraine as a backdrop. Elizabeth Cherneff narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina on what critics say are Russia’s moves to militarize education by introducing new subjects that explain and justify its full-scale assault on Ukraine. …

READ MORE

Joe Biden used his final presidential address before the U.N. General Assembly to urge unity in the face of challenges that include conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from New York. …

READ MORE

GENEVA — Police in northern Switzerland said Tuesday that several people have been detained and a criminal case opened in connection with the suspected death of a person in a “suicide capsule.” The “Sarco” capsule is presumably designed to allow a person sitting in a reclining seat inside to push a button that injects nitrogen gas into the sealed chamber. The person is then supposed to fall asleep and die by suffocation in a few minutes. Exit International, an assisted suicide group based in the Netherlands, said it is behind the 3D-printed device that cost over $1 million to develop. Swiss …

READ MORE

rome — Despite suffering a mild flu Monday, Pope Francis still plans to travel later this week to Luxembourg and Belgium to visit a once-solid bastion of Roman Catholic culture that now has decreasing church attendance and increasing use of euthanasia. Michele Dillon is a sociologist and the dean of the University of New Hampshire’s College of Liberal Arts. She is also the author of the book, Postsecular Catholicism: Relevance and Renewal. Dillon told VOA that while Pope Francis engages in interreligious dialogue in Asia, Europe and places like Belgium and Luxembourg remain very important to him and the Roman Catholic …

READ MORE

STOCKHOLM — Swedish authorities said on Tuesday that Iran hacked into a text messaging service last year and sent thousands of messages urging Swedes to take revenge against Koran burners.   In 2023, individuals in Sweden on several occasions set fire to Islam’s holy book in public, prompting outrage in the Muslim world and raising fears of attacks by jihadists.  “The security police is able to establish that a cyber group acted on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to carry out an influence campaign,” the Swedish Security Service said in a statement.   “The purpose was, among other things, to …

READ MORE

Berlin — Germany’s leading economic institutes have downgraded their forecast for 2024 and now see Europe’s largest economy shrinking by 0.1%, people familiar with the figures from the autumn joint economic forecast told Reuters on Tuesday.  Germany’s economy was the weakest among its large euro zone peers last year with a 0.3% contraction.   Even with inflation on a downward trend, consumption remains weak and high energy costs, feeble global orders and high interest rates are still taking their toll.   The latest economic data paint a gloomy picture. German business morale fell for a fourth straight month in September and …

READ MORE

…

READ MORE

ROME — Pope Francis has called for the liberation of Myanmar’s detained former leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and offered the Vatican as a safe haven, the pontiff said in a recent conversation with Jesuits in Asia. “I asked for the Ms Aung San Suu Kyi’s release and received her son in Rome. I offered the Vatican to receive her in our territory,” he said in a private conversation during a recent 12-day tour across Southeast Asia. The 87-year old pontiff visited Myanmar in December 2017. Italian daily Corriere della Sera published the comments on Tuesday in an …

READ MORE

…

READ MORE

Pentagon — The U.S. military is expected to announce a new military aid package for Ukraine this week valued at up to $375 million, the largest aid sent to Kyiv since May. According to several U.S. officials, who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity to discuss the package ahead of the announcement, the aid for Kyiv is expected to be announced as soon as Wednesday. One official told VOA the package is likely to include air-to-ground munitions for F-16 fighter jets, which would allow Ukrainian pilots to operate away from the front lines and Russia’s air defenses.  The package also …

READ MORE

paris — After more than two months without a functioning government, France’s new cabinet got to work Monday. How long it will remain in office is unclear. French politics have been in limbo since inconclusive snap legislative elections in late June and early July. The elections saw a leftist coalition win the most votes and the far-right National Rally emerging as the largest party. Only now, after the Paris Olympics, has a new center-right government been named, which doesn’t include either of these two blocs. On national TV Sunday night, conservative Prime Minister Michel Barnier outlined some broad priorities. He called …

READ MORE

Moscow — A Soyuz capsule carrying two Russians and one American from the International Space Station landed Monday in Kazakhstan, ending a record-breaking stay for the Russian pair. The capsule landed on the Kazakh steppe about 3 1/2 hours after undocking from the ISS in an apparently trouble-free descent. In the last stage of the landing, it descended under a red-and-white parachute at about 7.2 meters per second (16 mph), with small rockets fired in the final seconds to cushion the touchdown. The astronauts were extracted from the capsule and placed in nearby chairs to help them adjust to gravity, then …

READ MORE

geneva — United Nations investigators are accusing the Belarusian government of Alexander Lukashenko of instilling “a pervasive climate of fear by quashing all avenues of dissent” by systematically oppressing its perceived political opponents. “Measures of repression and intimidation aimed at suppressing dissent continue unabated in Belarus, particularly in the lead-up to the presidential election scheduled in 2025,” Karinna Moskaleko, chair of the Group of independent Experts told the U.N. human rights council Monday. Moskaleko presented a searing account of widespread human rights violations, abuse, and horrific cases of cruelty and deprivation in this first oral update of the human rights situation …

READ MORE

Brussels, Belgium — Eurozone business activity declined for the first time in seven months in September, as France lost steam after the end of the Paris Olympic Games, a key survey said Monday.   S&P Global’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) — a key gauge of the overall health of the economy — dropped to 48.9 in September, down from 51 in August.  Any reading below 50 indicated contraction.     “The eurozone is heading towards stagnation. After the Olympic effect had temporarily boosted France, the eurozone heavyweight economy, the Composite PMI fell in September to the largest extent in 15 months,” said Cyrus de la …

READ MORE

Brussels — The European Commission launched a challenge at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Monday against China’s investigation into EU dairy products, initiated after the European Union placed import tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.  This is the first time the European Union has taken such action at the start of an investigation, rather than wait for it to result in trade measures against the bloc.  “The EU’s action was prompted by an emerging pattern of China initiating trade defense measures, based on questionable allegations and insufficient evidence, within a short period of time,” the commission said.  Proceedings at the WTO …

READ MORE

…

READ MORE