Category: Євросоюз

Poland said on Sunday it will send 500 police to shore up security at its border with Belarus to cope with rising numbers of migrants crossing as well as any potential threats after the Wagner group of mercenaries relocates to Belarus. “Due to the tense situation on the border with Belarus I have decided to bolster our forces with 500 Polish police officers from preventive and counter-terrorism units,” Minister of Interior Mariusz Kaminski wrote on his Twitter account. The police force would join 5,000 border guards and 2,000 soldiers in securing the border, he said. Poland has accused Belarus of …

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Novak Djokovic says he is still “hungry” for Grand Slam glory as Wimbledon rivals queue up to hail him as the “greatest” and his achievements as “phenomenal.” Having wrapped up a men’s record 23rd Grand Slam title at the French Open, Djokovic now targets an eighth Wimbledon title to equal Roger Federer’s mark. The 36-year-old Serb has won the title at the All England Club on the last four occasions. A fifth successive victory in two weeks’ time will take him level with Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 Slams. He is also bidding to become just the fourth player …

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PARIS — Young rioters clashed with police late Saturday and early Sunday and targeted a mayor’s home with a burning car as France faced a fifth night of unrest sparked by the police killing of a teenager, but overall violence appeared to lessen compared to previous nights. Police made 719 arrests nationwide by early Sunday after a mass security deployment aimed at quelling France’s worst social upheaval in years. The fast-spreading crisis is posing a new challenge to President Emmanuel Macron’s leadership and exposing deep-seated discontent in low-income neighborhoods over discrimination and lack of opportunity. The 17-year-old whose death Tuesday …

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KYIV, UKRAINE – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Saturday that a “serious threat” remained at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and that Russia was “technically ready” to provoke a localized explosion at the facility. Zelenskyy cited Ukrainian intelligence as the source of his information. “There is a serious threat because Russia is technically ready to provoke a local explosion at the station, which could lead to a (radiation) release,” Zelenskyy told a news conference alongside visiting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. He gave no further details. Ukrainian military intelligence has previously said Russian troops had mined the plant. Zelenskyy …

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BELGRADE, SERBIA — Thousands of people in Serbia’s capital rallied Saturday outside a pro-government TV station that protesters say promotes a culture of violence and should be stripped of its broadcasting license after two mass shootings stunned the Balkan nation. The protest started outside the Serbian parliament building before thousands marched toward the Pink TV building in a residential area of Belgrade that also hosts foreign embassies and residences. The protesters booed loudly in front of the station’s offices, chanted slogans against populist leader Aleksandar Vucic and his government, and threw toilet paper rolls at the building. “This is a …

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More than 1,300 people were arrested in France during a fourth night of rioting and President Emmanuel Macron canceled a trip to Germany on Saturday as the funeral took place of teenager Nahel M, whose shooting by police sparked nationwide unrest.  Macron’s government deployed 45,000 police officers as well as armored vehicles overnight to tackle the worst crisis for his leadership since the “Yellow Vest” protests which paralyzed much of France in late 2018.  A similar number of police would again be on the street into Saturday night, interior minister Gerald Darmanin told a news conference, with reinforcements sent to …

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Dutch King Willem-Alexander apologized Saturday for his country’s role in slavery and asked for forgiveness in a historic speech greeted by cheers and whoops at an event to commemorate the anniversary of the abolition of slavery. The king’s speech followed Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s apology late last year for the country’s role in the slave trade and slavery. It is part of a wider reckoning with colonial histories in the West that have been spurred in recent years by the Black Lives Matter movement. In an emotional speech, Willem-Alexander referred to Rutte’s apology as he told a crowd of …

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Latest developments: The United States is confident Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia is making progress despite the lack of any significant break in the Russian lines. Joint Chief of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley told an audience in Washington on Friday the slow pace of Ukraine’s advance is “part of the nature of war.” Milley also said the U.S. is openly considering providing Ukraine with cluster-munitions, long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles and even some of its own F-16 fighter jets. “These things are on the table,” he said. “There’s no decision at this point.” The U.N. expressed concern Friday …

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BASRA, IRAQ – Thousands of followers of a firebrand Iraqi Shiite cleric rallied in major cities in Iraq on Friday, condemning the burning of a Quran during a protest in Sweden earlier this week. Some of the demonstrators called for the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador from Iraq.  At rallies in Baghdad and Basra, followers of Muqtada al-Sadr, a cleric and political leader with a large grassroots following, burned Swedish flags and rainbow LGBTQ+ pride flags and chanted “Yes, yes to Islam” and “No, no to the devil.”  Addressing the crowds in a speech in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, …

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NANTERRE, France — Young rioters clashed with police and looted stores overnight Friday in a fourth night of unrest in France triggered by the deadly police shooting of a teen, piling more pressure on President Emmanuel Macron after he appealed to parents to keep children off the streets and blamed social media for fueling violence. While the situation appeared to be somewhat calmer compared to previous nights, turmoil gripped several cities across the country. Protesters overturned garbage bins and used them to block off streets in Colombe, a Paris suburb near Nanterre, where the shooting occurred Tuesday. In the southern …

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Latest developments: The United States is confident Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia is making progress despite the lack of any significant break in the Russian lines. Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley told an audience in Washington on Friday that the slow pace of Ukraine’s advance was “part of the nature of war.”  Milley also said the U.S. was openly considering providing Ukraine with cluster munitions, long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles and even some of its own F-16 fighter jets. “These things are on the table,” he said. “There’s no decision at this point.”  The U.N. expressed concern Friday that …

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LONDON — Most Europeans see Russia as an adversary following its invasion of Ukraine, according to a survey of over 16,000 people across 11 European Union member states. Europeans tend to have a more favorable opinion of China, with a plurality seeing Beijing as a necessary partner. Russian ‘adversary’ Two-thirds of Europeans now see Russia as an adversary since its invasion of Ukraine, according to the poll by the European Council on Foreign Relations, or ECFR, which was conducted in April. That’s double the figure from 2021, the last time the survey was taken. “In particular, majorities in Denmark [74%] …

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Iran will be formally approved as a member of the regional Shanghai Cooperation Organization with China, Russia and Central Asian countries, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday. “At the meeting of heads of state on July 4, the full membership of Iran will be approved,” Lavrov said at the opening of an SCO center in Moscow. Iran has intensified its diplomacy with friends and foes alike in recent months, seeking to reduce its isolation, improve its economy and project strength. SCO membership was already on the cards and Iran is also hoping to be quickly accepted into another grouping …

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NANTERRE, France — Protesters erected barricades, lit fires and shot fireworks at police who responded with tear gas and water cannons in French streets overnight as tensions grew over the deadly police shooting of a 17-year-old that has shocked the nation. More than 600 people were arrested and at least 200 police officers injured as the government struggled to restore order on a third night of unrest. Armored police vehicles rammed through the charred remains of cars that had been flipped and set ablaze in the northwestern Paris suburb of Nanterre, where a police officer shot the teen identified only …

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NATO is attempting to choose a new leader, as the term of the current secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, is due to end later this year. However, some member countries want Stoltenberg to stay on, to give the Western alliance stability amid Russia’s war on Ukraine.  Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian prime minister, has led NATO for nine years. His tenure has already been extended twice, most recently last year, following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Hosting the secretary-general in Washington earlier this month, U.S. President Joe Biden praised Stoltenberg’s record. “Your leadership in the alliance has been through a really significant period, in …

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VIENNA, AUSTRIA – Austrian authorities said Thursday they had seized hundreds of weapons, ammunition and Nazi memorabilia and arrested six people after raids on several premises of the right-wing extremist Bandidos motorcycle gang. Police found a huge weapons stash including about “35 long firearms, 25 submachine guns, 100 pistols, over a thousand weapons components, 400 signal weapons,” the interior ministry said. The haul was made following 13 house searches in the neighboring provinces of Upper and Lower Austria carried out Monday, the ministry added in a statement. More than 10,000 rounds of ammunition as well as grenade launchers were also seized, …

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken brought the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan together for several days of peace talks in Washington, as residents of the ethnic Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan say they have been cut off from food, medicine and gas. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports. …

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WASHINGTON – Former U.S. President Donald Trump, a longtime admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Thursday that Putin has been “somewhat weakened” by an aborted mutiny and that now is the time for the United States to try to broker a negotiated peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine. Speaking expansively about foreign policy in a telephone interview with Reuters, the front-runner in opinion polls for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination also said China should be given a 48-hour deadline to get out of what sources familiar with the matter say is a Chinese spy capability on the island of …

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Turkey has condemned Wednesday’s public burning of a Quran in Stockholm and analysts say the incident will likely give Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan even more reason to veto Sweden’s bid to join NATO. Erdogan has already threatened to block Sweden’s membership because he accuses Stockholm of harboring Kurdish separatists who he says are terrorists. For VOA, Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. …

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A Moscow court on Thursday sentenced a Russian media publisher to eight years in prison in absentia for criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ilya Krasilshchik, who left Russia after the invasion and now lives in Berlin, is a former publisher of the exiled Russian news outlet Meduza, which is based in Latvia. Krasilshchik was charged in absentia in April 2022 with “spreading fake news about the Russian military motivated by political hatred” over comments about the massacre of civilians in Bucha, Ukraine, by Russian troops.   Spreading “false information” about Russia’s military became a criminal offense in Russia soon after …

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