Category: Євросоюз

The Berlin Zoo celebrated the 66th birthday of Fatou, the world’s oldest-known living gorilla, with a special dinner that included fruit, vegetables and a watermelon with her age carved into it. Fatou, a Western lowland gorilla, enjoyed her birthday meal Thursday as zoo visitors snapped pictures. Her keeper, Ruben Gralki, said her species would live 45 to 50 years in nature. While zoo animals tend to live longer, he said that reaching an age beyond 60 years is a special feat. The zoo said in a press release that Fatou’s exact age is not known. She came to the zoo …

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Highly accurate and maneuverable U.S. howitzers have been helping the Armed Forces of Ukraine fight off Russia’s aggression since July 2022. These days, the weapons are used mostly in the Bakhmut district in the Donetsk region. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story. Videographer and video editor: Pavel Suhodolskiy …

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Russia may be willing to discuss a potential prisoner swap involving jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich with the U.S. after a court delivers its verdict, a top Russian diplomat said Thursday. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told state news agency Tass that talks about a possible exchange could take place through a dedicated channel that Russian and U.S. security agencies established for such purposes. “We have a working channel that was used in the past to achieve concrete agreements, and these agreements were fulfilled,” Ryabkov said, adding that there was no need for the involvement of any third …

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Norway’s government said Thursday that it was expelling 15 Russian diplomats from the country, saying they were suspected of spying while working at the Russian Embassy in Oslo. Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said the move was “an important measure to counter and reduce the scope of Russian intelligence activities in Norway, and thereby secure our national interests.” The Russians declared persona non grata “must leave Norway within a short time,” Huitfeldt said, adding: “We will not grant visas to intelligence officers who apply for a visa to Norway.” Norway’s government said the activities of the expelled diplomats were “incompatible with …

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U.S. President Joe Biden holds talks Thursday with Irish President Michael D. Higgins and Leo Varadkar, the country’s prime minister, and is set to deliver remarks to the houses of the Oireachtas — the Irish parliament. Biden’s schedule also includes a youth Gaelic sports demonstration in Dublin as well as a banquet dinner at Dublin Castle. Biden, who often highlights his Irish heritage, closes his trip with a Friday night speech in Ballina, home of his paternal ancestors, on the west coast of Ireland. Irish heritage Biden began his visit to the region in Northern Ireland before heading to Ireland. …

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U.S. President Joe Biden is in his ancestral home, Ireland, where he will spend the next two days meeting with leaders and family members. Earlier Wednesday in Northern Ireland, he urged that the collapsed power-sharing government be restored. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports. …

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US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says that Ukraine remains confident about its planned counteroffensive against invading Russian forces, despite the emergence of apparently classified US intelligence documents on the war. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports. …

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A plan to legalize irrigation around the Donana wildlife reserve in southern Spain, one of Europe’s largest wetlands and a wintering location for migratory birds, has sparked an outcry during a prolonged drought. Andalusia’s conservative regional government wants to allow agricultural irrigation in five municipalities around Donana, saying the move poses no risk to the national park. The regional assembly, where the conservatives have a majority, on Wednesday voted in favor of proceeding with detailed studies of the proposal. During the debate, a lawmaker for the left-wing Adelante Andalucia party emptied a glass full of sand on regional leader Juanma …

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As the last American journalist to be detained in Russia and falsely accused of espionage, Nicholas Daniloff has some understanding of what Evan Gershkovich is going through. “It’s a tough situation to be in,” the veteran reporter told VOA. Daniloff was held for about a month during the Cold War in 1986 under circumstances similar to Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Moscow has accused Gershkovich of espionage, without providing evidence. It’s a charge The Journal and Gershkovich’s lawyer strongly deny. “It’s very easy to accuse journalists of espionage because some of the work is rather similar,” Daniloff …

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Prince Harry will attend the coronation of his father, King Charles III, at Westminster Abbey on May 6, Buckingham Palace said Wednesday, ending months of speculation about his presence.  Harry’s wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, will remain in California with the couple’s two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, the palace said. The coronation date coincides with their eldest son’s birthday.  Harry’s attendance comes despite the rift within the House of Windsor prompted by Harry’s decision to reveal family secrets in his bestselling book, “Spare.”  The revelations included details of private conversations with his father — and his elder …

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The United States and Britain announced new sanctions Wednesday aimed at Russian oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Roman Abramovich, targeting the financial networks of two of Moscow’s wealthiest businessmen who are close allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Usmanov has been subject to U.S. and European Union sanctions since shortly after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine last year. Abramovich, who amassed a fortune in Russia’s oil and aluminum industries following the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, was forced to sell the Chelsea football club after he was cited last year. U.S. officials said the new designations, which were coordinated with …

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President Joe Biden headed Tuesday to Belfast, where leaders will discuss a 1998 peace agreement that ended over a quarter-century of sectarian conflict in British-held Northern Ireland between pro-British Unionists and nationalists who wanted to unite with independent Ireland. That deal is now complicated by the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union. VOA’s Anita Powell examines what’s at stake. …

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As U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Vietnam, he must negotiate a diplomatic struggle in which Vietnam and China are competing for the right to develop oil and gas reserves off Vietnam’s coast in the South China Sea. Blinken’s visit follows a call between U.S. President Joe Biden and the chief of Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, on March 29, when the two leaders agreed to expand the bilateral relationship. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership. The two countries have been discussing how to advance their ties to the next level …

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French President Emmanuel Macron Tuesday outlined his vision for European economic and industrial sovereignty during a visit to the Netherlands, following criticism over recent remarks about China and the United States. Speaking at a Dutch research organization in The Hague, Macron said it was essential the European Union carve out an independent stance on five key areas, including trade, competitiveness and European industry. Embedded across all, he said, should be European values and goals in areas such as climate change. “We want to be open,” said the president. “We want allies, we want good friends, we want partners. But we …

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The Moscow-appointed leader of Crimea said Tuesday the region is on guard for what may be an impending Ukrainian counteroffensive. Sergei Aksyonov told reporters that Russian forces in Crimea had built “modern, in-depth defenses” and had “more than enough” troops and equipment to repel a possible Ukrainian assault after 13 months of war following Russia’s full-scale invasion. “We cannot underestimate the enemy, but we can definitely say that we are ready [for an attack] and that there will be no catastrophe,” he said. His comments came days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reaffirmed Kyiv’s intention to take back the Black …

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The Nur mountains loom over the Iskenderun railway station, an imposing reminder of the tectonic forces that devastated this corner of Turkey and Syria a little more than two months ago. While regular rail service still rattles through the station, two of the tracks are occupied by sleeper cars. The wagons allude to adventure and escape but these night trains are going nowhere. The passengers are homeless, survivors of the February earthquake that left their houses or apartments damaged or destroyed. Some 700 people are living on board the cramped wagons. Among them is Sevil Uygur, who is in her …

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Around one-and-a-half million people in Turkey were made homeless by the February 6 earthquake, with many still lacking permanent shelter. In the city of Iskenderun – badly hit by the quake – local authorities are using every available space, as Henry Ridgwell reports. Videographer: Memet Aksakal …

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Rescuers were on Tuesday searching rubble in the French Mediterranean city of Marseille for two people still missing after a deadly building collapse two days before, as investigators began work to ascertain the cause of the blast that brought it down.    They have so far recovered the remains of six people known to have been in the four-story apartment block when it was destroyed in the early hours of Sunday.    The explosion shook the whole Camas neighborhood, a few hundred meters from Marseille’s historic old port.    “The toll is unchanged and operations are continuing,” a fire service spokesman told AFP …

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Ukraine and Russia exchange hundreds of prisoners of war. Some of the freed troops from both nations are reportedly in poor shape and will likely require medical care.  Belarus is asking for security guarantees from Moscow. The president of the country, which is hosting a contingent of Russian troops, wants assurances that Russia would defend Belarus if it was attacked.  Russian official claims that 75% of Bakhmut has been seized. The ongoing battle for the besieged city has been one of the bloodiest in the 13-month war.   The United Nations said Tuesday the number of confirmed civilian deaths in Ukraine …

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Russian forces pressed attacks on front-line cities in eastern Ukraine on Monday, while Ukrainian officials played down a report that Kyiv is amending some plans for a counteroffensive due to a leak of classified U.S. documents. The Russians were pounding Ukrainian positions around besieged Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region and other cities and towns with air strikes and artillery barrages, Kyiv said. “The enemy switched to so-called scorched earth tactics from Syria. It is destroying buildings and positions with air strikes and artillery fire,” Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, said of Bakhmut. The small and now …

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