Category: Євросоюз

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine’s counteroffensive “has failed” as he hosted Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, his close ally, for talks in St. Petersburg on Sunday. “There is no counteroffensive,” Russian news agencies quoted Lukashenko as saying. Putin replied: “It exists, but it has failed.” Ukraine began its long-anticipated counteroffensive last month but has so far made only small gains against well entrenched Russian forces who control more than a sixth of its territory after nearly 17 months of war. U.S. General Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday the Ukrainian drive was “far from a …

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Much of Europe remains under a deadly and unforgiving heat wave this summer. A Greek island and tourist destination is the latest to suffer as a wildfire there sent people scrambling for safety over the weekend. Authorities warn more fires could follow as temperatures climb. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more. …

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British band The 1975 said on Sunday they have canceled shows in Taiwan and Muslim-majority Indonesia, a day after Malaysia banned them from performing there after their frontman kissed a bandmate on stage and criticized the country’s anti-LGBTQ laws. “Unfortunately, due to current circumstances, it is impossible to proceed with the scheduled shows,” the pop rock group said in a statement, without elaborating. Malaysia’s government halted a music festival in the capital Kuala Lumpur on Saturday and barred The 1975 after what it called “disrespectful actions.” Homosexuality is a crime in Muslim-majority Malaysia. Rights groups have warned of growing intolerance …

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The Netherlands kicked off their Group E campaign with a 1-0 win over Women’s World Cup debutants Portugal at Dunedin Stadium on Sunday, thanks to a first-half goal from Stefanie Van der Gragt that was awarded on a VAR review. The Dutch edged Portugal 3-2 a year ago in the European Championship group stage, but this time the Iberian side were no match for the team in their trademark orange and did not have a shot on target until the 82nd minute. The Dutch scored in the 13th minute from a corner when Van der Gragt rose above the defense …

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Pope Francis said on Sunday that recent heat waves across many parts of the world and flooding in countries such as South Korea showed that more urgent action was needed to tackle climate change. “Please, I renew my appeal to world leaders to do something more concrete to limit polluting emissions,” the Pope said at the end of his Angelus message to crowds in St. Peter’s Square. “It is an urgent challenge, it cannot be postponed, it concerns everyone. Let us protect our common home,” the pope added. Francis has called on the world to rapidly ditch fossil fuels and …

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MADRID — Polling began Sunday in Spain in a general election that could make the country the latest European Union member to swing to the political right. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the early election after his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party and its far-left partner, Unidas Podemos, took a beating in local and regional elections in May. Sánchez has been premier since 2018. Most opinion polls for Sunday’s voting have put the right-wing Popular Party, which won the May vote, ahead of the Socialists but likely needing the support of the extreme right Vox party if they want to form …

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A Russian war reporter was killed and three colleagues were wounded in Ukraine on Saturday in what the defense ministry said was a Ukrainian attack using cluster munitions, prompting outrage from Moscow. In a separate incident, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle said one of its journalists, Yevgeny Shilko, had been wounded elsewhere in Ukraine in a Russian attack with cluster munitions that killed a Ukrainian soldier. It said his life was not in danger. Cluster bombs are in the spotlight after Ukraine received supplies of them from the United States this month. Many countries ban them because they rain shrapnel over …

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Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko will meet Sunday, the Kremlin said, two days after Moscow warned that any aggression against its neighbor and staunchest ally would be considered an attack on Russia.  After Poland decided earlier this week to move military units closer to its border with Belarus in response to the arrival in Belarus of forces from Russia’s Wagner Group, Putin said Moscow would use all means to react to any hostility toward Minsk.  The Kremlin said Lukashenko is paying a working visit to Russia and will talk to Putin about further development of the …

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BELGRADE, Serbia — Three people died in Serbia during another deadly storm that ripped through the Balkans this week, local media said Saturday. The storm Friday first swept through Slovenia, moving on to Croatia and then Serbia and Bosnia, with gusts of wind and heavy rain. Authorities reported power distribution issues and extensive damage — including fallen trees — that destroyed cars and rooftops. On Wednesday, another storm killed six people in the region, four in Croatia, one in Slovenia and another in Bosnia. Meteorologists said the storms were of such powerful magnitude because they followed a string of extremely …

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BAGHDAD — Hundreds of protesters attempted to storm Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses foreign embassies and the seat of Iraq’s government, early Saturday following reports that an ultranationalist group burned a copy of the Quran in front of the Iraqi Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark. Security forces pushed back protesters, who blocked the Jumhuriya bridge leading to the Green Zone, preventing them from reaching the Danish Embassy. The protest came two days after people angered by the planned burning of the Islamic holy book in Sweden stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad. Protesters occupied the diplomatic post for several …

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A music festival in Malaysia’s capital was canceled Saturday after two male band members of a British band kissed on stage in defiance of the country’s anti-LGBT laws. During a performance at the Good Vibes Festival on Friday in Kuala Lumpur, Matty Healy, the frontman of The 1975, delivered a profanity laden speech before the kiss. “I made a mistake. When we were booking shows, I wasn’t looking into it,” he said. “I don’t see the (expletive) point … of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with.” Healy then kissed bassist …

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BATAGAI, RUSSIA – Stunning drone footage has revealed details of the Batagaika crater, a 1-kilometer-long gash in Russia’s Far East that forms the world’s biggest permafrost crater. In the video, two explorers clamber across uneven terrain at the base of the depression, marked by irregular surfaces and small hummocks, which began to form after the surrounding forest was cleared in the 1960s and the permafrost underground began to melt, causing the land to sink. “We locals call it ‘the cave-in,’” local resident and crater explorer Erel Struchkov told Reuters as he stood on the crater’s rim. “It developed in the …

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MADRID — Voters in Spain go to the polls Sunday in an election that could make the country the latest European Union member to swing to the populist right, a shift that would represent a major upheaval after five years under a left-wing government. Here’s what you need to know about the vote. What is at stake? Opinion polls indicate the political right has the edge going into the election, and that raises the possibility a neo-fascist party will be part of Spain’s next government. The extreme right has not been in power in Spain since the transition to democracy …

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BAGHDAD – Demonstrators marched in the Iraqi and Iranian capitals Friday to denounce Sweden’s permission for protests that desecrate the Quran, as Stockholm withdrew staff from its Baghdad embassy. Hundreds of people gathered in Baghdad’s Sadr City after Friday prayers, chanting “Yes, yes to Islam, yes, yes to the Quran,” an AFP correspondent said. In Tehran, protesters waving Iranian flags and carrying copies of Islam’s holy book chanted “Down with the United States, Britain, Israel and Sweden” as some burned the Swedish flag. Iran said late Friday it will not allow a new Swedish ambassador into the country. The rallies …

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Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned Friday of the risk of a new war with Azerbaijan, accusing Baku of genocide in the breakaway Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh.  Baku and Yerevan have fought two wars over the mountainous enclave and a peace treaty remains a distant prospect.  Talks under the mediation of the European Union, United States, and separately Russia have brought about little progress.  “So long as a peace treaty has not been signed and such a treaty has not been ratified by the parliaments of the two countries, of course, a [new] war [with Azerbaijan] is very likely,” Pashinyan …

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Prominent Russian nationalist Igor Girkin, who had publicly accused President Vladimir Putin and the army top brass of not pursuing the war in Ukraine harshly or effectively enough, was remanded in custody on Friday on charges of inciting extremism.  His arrest earlier in the day by his ex-employer, the FSB state security service, suggests authorities have wearied of his criticism of what they call Russia’s “special military operation,” and perhaps of other loud nationalist voices who had appeared to have exceptional license to deride the war effort.  It follows an abortive mutiny last month led by another outspoken critic, Yevgeny …

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BAGHDAD — Muslim-majority nations expressed outrage Friday at the desecration of a copy of the Quran in Sweden. Some prepared for street demonstrations following midday prayers to show their anger. In Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, protesters planned demonstrations after Swedish police permitted a protest Thursday in which an Iraqi Christian living in Stockholm kicked and stood on a Quran, Islam’s holy book, outside of the Iraqi Embassy. Hours before that, demonstrators in Baghdad broke into the Swedish Embassy and lit a fire to show their anger at his threats to burn the book. Iraqi Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani has ordered …

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STOCKHOLM — A recent string of public desecrations of the Quran by a handful of anti-Islam activists in Sweden has sparked an angry reaction in Muslim countries and raised questions – including in Sweden – about why such acts are allowed. In the latest such incident, an Iraqi living in Sweden on Thursday stomped on and kicked Islam’s holy book in a two-man rally outside the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm. The protest was authorized by Swedish police, who kept a handful of agitated counterdemonstrators at a safe distance. The same Iraqi man burned a Quran outside a Stockholm mosque last …

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Latest developments: Belarus says its military is training with fighters from Russia’s Wagner mercenary group at a site near the Belarus-Poland border. European Union foreign ministers met Thursday to discuss a proposed four-year, $22.4 billion military aid plan for Ukraine.   The last of the Wagner Group’s convict-prisoner mercenaries are due to be released from their mandated service “in the coming days,” the British Defense Ministry said Friday. In the ministry’s daily intelligence report about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it said “a significant number” of the pardoned convicts will “likely” continue with Wagner as professional contractors.  Russia now controls Wagner’s …

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After Russia withdrew from a deal allowing Ukraine to export grain through ports on the Black Sea, the Kremlin launched attacks on Ukrainian ports and grain hubs. Anna Kosstutschenko spoke with Ukrainian farmers about how this will impact them. VOA footage by Pavel Suhodolskiy …

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