Category: Євросоюз

A passenger train collided with an oncoming freight train in northern Greece early Wednesday, killing 16 people and injuring at least 85, Fire Service officials said.  Multiple train cars derailed and at least three caught fire after the crash near Tempe, some 380 kilometers (235 miles) north of Athens.  Hospital officials in the nearby city of Larissa said at least 25 people had serious injuries.  “The evacuation process is ongoing and is being carried out under very difficult conditions due to the severity of the collision between the two trains,” Fire Service spokesman Vassilis Varthakoyiannis said.  Hospital units used to …

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The United States and its allies are moving to treat Iran as a global threat, warning that its growing alliance with Russia — and cooperation in the war on Ukraine — mean Tehran’s destabilizing activities will pose a greater danger than ever before. “We are now at a point where Iranian threats are no longer specific to the Middle East, but a global challenge,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Dana Stroul told reporters during a media call Tuesday. Stroul pointed to the enhanced military cooperation between Tehran and Moscow and specifically to Iran’s provision of one-way drones to the Russian …

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With Russia’s war in Ukraine now in its second year, there is renewed attention on the eastern salt-mining city of Bakhmut, the focus of a sustained Russian offensive in recent months. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the situation in Bakhmut is becoming more and more “complicated.” Bakhmut is just one of many areas in Russia’s sights as the war continues. Along with the billions of dollars in military assistance that Western nations have given, Ukraine seeks fighter jets, but so far, the West has refused that request. The NATO military alliance has also voiced concern that Ukraine is using ammunition …

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French President Emmanuel Macron heads to central Africa Wednesday on a four-nation visit marked by what he said ahead of his planned Wednesday departure. On Monday, he announced a revamped relationship with Africa, amid an increase in anti-French sentiment in some places— and rising Russian and Chinese influence.   “Partnership,” “humility,” and “reorganization” are part of Macron’s lexicon this week, with his new, recalibrated strategy for Africa.   He said French military bases in Africa would be reorganized — with some becoming military academies or run in collaboration with African and European partners — based on goals defined by African …

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The U.S.-based Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation held an exhibition February 22 in Washington dedicated to the war in Ukraine.The traveling exhibit “War Up Close” uses virtual reality to show the horrors of the Russian invasion of its neighbor. Karina Bafradzhian has the story. Camera: Andrey Degtyarev. …

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Nikos Christodoulides was sworn in as Cyprus’s president on Tuesday, promising to make finding a solution to the “Cyprus problem” his top priority after winning an election runoff on Feb. 12. Christodoulides, 49, inherits a deadlock in reunification talks on the ethnically split island, labor disputes over high inflation, and what he called challenges of “exceptionally complex” irregular migration. Christodoulides took an investiture oath in parliament. Cyprus has an executive system of government, with power invested in the presidency and its council of ministers. Backed by centrist and right-wing parties, Christodoulides, a foreign minister until early 2022, won 52% of …

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The death toll from the wooden boat carrying hundreds of migrants that shipwrecked Sunday off the Italian coast has risen to at least 64. At least one body was pulled out of the sea Monday, according to news outlets. Survivors estimate that between 150 to 200 people were onboard the vessel that began its journey a few days ago from Turkey. Eighty people survived the tragedy, while officials fear the death toll may reach more than 100. Many of the migrants were from Pakistan and Afghanistan. Reuters news agency reports that three men, a Turkish national and two Pakistani nationals, …

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Working from bomb shelters has become the norm for Ukrainians like Roman Osadchuk. “At the beginning, there were a lot of air raids. Nowadays, there are maybe two a week,” said Osadchuk. “I mean, I was in the shelter today,” he said offhandedly when he spoke with VOA from Kyiv. Most times Osadchuk still has a “solid internet connection” and sometimes he has Wi-Fi in the shelter so he can still work, “just underground.” That work is part of the digital front of the war in Ukraine. Based in Ukraine’s capital, Osadchuk monitors Russian disinformation for the Atlantic Council’s Digital …

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Europe’s existing telecom networks aren’t up to the job of handling surging amounts of internet data traffic, a top European Union official said Monday, as he defended a consultation on whether Big Tech companies should help pay for upgrades. The telecom industry needs to reconsider its business models as it undergoes a “radical shift” fueled by a new wave of innovation such as immersive, data-hungry technologies like the metaverse, Thierry Breton, the European Commission’s official in charge of digital policy, said at a major industry expo in Barcelona called MWC, or Mobile World Congress. Breton’s remarks came days after he …

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As Antony Blinken makes his first visit to Central Asia as U.S. secretary of state this week, the Biden administration says it is focused on supporting the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the region’s five former Soviet republics, which maintain strong political, economic and socio-cultural ties with Russia. Blinken travels to Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s largest economy with the highest level of U.S. investment, as well as Uzbekistan, the most populous country. The trip is an opportunity to reach out and try to improve alliances as Washington looks to further isolate Russia for invading Ukraine. But democracy supporters also are …

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Russia’s war of aggression took center stage at the opening of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s five-and-a-half-week session in Geneva. As he kicked off this historically long and politically charged conference, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned what he called the carnage unleashed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which he said, “has triggered the most massive violations of human rights we are living today.” “It has unleashed widespread death, destruction, and displacements,” he told those gathered in Geneva. “Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure have caused many casualties and terrible sufferings.” Guterres presented a gloomy assessment of the state of human …

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A 5.6 magnitude earthquake hit southeastern Turkey on Monday, killing one person, injuring at least 110, and causing a number of already-damaged buildings to collapse. The new tremor came three weeks after a 7.8 magnitude shook Turkey and Syria and killed more than 50,000 people. Turkish authorities said that rescue teams were immediately deployed Monday to rescue people from the rubble. A father and daughter who were trapped beneath the ruins of a four-story building they had entered in the town of Yesilyurt to retrieve their belongings after the earlier quake were saved. Yesilyurt, in Malatya province, was the center …

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French President Emmanuel Macron is set to deliver an address Monday revealing France’s new African strategy.    Later in the week, the French leader travels to Gabon, Angola, the Republic of Congo and Congo.  Macron’s visit to Africa comes as many nations there have expressed an anti-France sentiment that has included street protests in some West and North African countries.   France is also finding that its long economic ties with Africa are starting to fray as Russia, China and Turkey make inroads.   In addition, Mali has replaced the French troops stationed there with Russian military contractors, something France would not like …

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Italian officials say at least 59 migrants died when the wooden boat they were in began splintering apart in heavy seas Sunday off the Italian coast. At least 12 of the dead are children.     Some bodies washed ashore at a resort in the Calabria region.   At least 80 people, including those rescued by emergency workers and others who were able to swim ashore after the boat disintegrated, survived the wreck, officials said.   Photos show big chunks of the vessel on the beach near the town of Steccato di Cutro, and pieces of wood and other debris all along the shore.   …

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Yulian Dlaboha is U.S. a high school student whose mother is an immigrant from Ukraine and whose father is of Ukrainian heritage. After Russia invaded Ukraine, Yulian wanted to help, so he started collecting warm socks for Ukrainian soldiers. Nina Vishneva has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Vladimir Badikov. …

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At least for now, the United States is declining to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. But as VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports, there are some lawmakers in Congress who plan to push the White House to change its position. Video editor: Marcus Harton. …

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An elite Russian infantry force has suffered significant losses in Ukraine, the British Defense Ministry said Sunday. The ministry said in an intelligence update that imagery from the Vuhledar section of Donetsk oblast shows “concentrated Russian vehicle losses,” with the vehicles probably from Russia’s 155th Naval Infantry Brigade. The ministry said the Naval Infantry “has been tasked with some of the toughest tactical missions in the war and has suffered extremely high casualties.” The ministry update, posted on Twitter, said the capability of Naval Infantry brigades has “almost certainly been significantly degraded” because its units have been replenished with “inexperienced …

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Italian officials say a wooden boat carrying migrants towards Italy disintegrated before it could reach shore, killing 43 people, including a baby.  Authorities say about 80 people survived the ordeal.   Some of the bodies washed ashore Sunday at a seaside resort in the province of Crotone.      At least 100 people were aboard the ship, officials said.  “It’s an enormous tragedy,” Crotone Mayor Vincenzo Voce said.   Pope Francis said Sunday, “I pray for each of them, for the missing and the other migrants who survived.”    Francis also said he also was praying for the rescuers “and for those who give welcome” …

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Wong Yu-wing, who holds a bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering from the City University of Hong Kong, swapped out his career to start an organic farm in Hong Kong in 2010. “My mother was very opposed to me becoming a farmer,” he told The Loop, a lifestyle news website, in 2016 while operating what he reckoned was one of the top organic spreads in Hong Kong. “She worked so hard to pay for my education.” Now that Wong has left Hong Kong to start anew in Britain, he’s still relying on organic farming. His effort to educate Britons on the …

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German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said Saturday it was “regrettable” that China had blocked a Group of 20 communique to condemn Russia’s war on Ukraine. “But for me it was more important that all the others adhered to a clear position of international law, multilateralism and the end of the war,” he said. Lindner was speaking to reporters after a meeting of finance leaders from the world’s major economies in Bengaluru. He said that he was cautiously optimistic that there could be progress this year on debt restructuring for highly indebted countries. China is one of the largest creditors to …

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