Tirana, Albania — Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said Sunday his country would transform the Tirana-based Bektashi Muslims, an Islamic Sufi order, into a sovereign state to promote moderation, tolerance and peaceful coexistence. Speaking at the United Nations, Rama pointed out that Albania, a tiny Western Balkan country, saved Jewish refugees from the Nazis during World War II and sheltered Afghans after the Taliban came to power three years ago. Albanians are also proud of giving to the world Mother Teresa who “embodied love for humanity,” he said. “She told us that not all of us can do big things, but …
Scranton, Pennsylvania — Under extraordinarily tight security, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday visited the Pennsylvania ammunition factory that is producing one of the most critically needed munitions for his country’s fight to fend off Russian ground forces. His visit to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant kicked off a busy week in the United States to shore up support for Ukraine in the war. He will speak at the U.N. General Assembly annual gathering in New York on Tuesday and Wednesday and then travel to Washington for talks on Thursday with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. As Zelenskyy’s …
POTSDAM, Germany — An exit poll released after voting ended in a state election in Brandenburg on Sunday showed the Social Democrats with a slight edge over a growing far-right party. The voting took place three weeks after the far-right party made gains in two other states in eastern Germany. The exit poll by Infratest dimap for public broadcaster ARD projected that the Social Democrats won 31.1% of the votes and the far-right Alternative for Germany won 29.8%. The results are expected later in the evening. Around 2.1 million people were registered to vote for a new state parliament in Brandenburg, …
Kharkiv, Ukraine — A Russian strike on a residential neighborhood in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv wounded 21 people including three minors, the regional governor said Sunday. Oleg Synegubov posted on Telegram that eight of the victims were hospitalized, two in critical condition, after the strike late Saturday, when dozens of people were asleep in the two multistory buildings that were hit. Russia has repeatedly targeted Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, near the Russian border in the country’s east that counted 1.4 million inhabitants before Moscow launched its war in February 2022. Rescue workers used torches to search through …
berlin — The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is predicted to come first in an election in Brandenburg on Sunday, seeking to build on gains in other eastern states this month and beat Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats in a traditional stronghold. The AfD became the first far-right party to win a state election in Germany since World War II, in Thuringia, on September 1 and just missed first place in Saxony. It is one of several far-right groups in Europe capitalizing on worries over an economic slowdown, immigration and the Ukraine war — concerns that are particularly strong in formerly …
london — The Chaser, a news website run by Hong Kong journalists in Britain, says Google informed the diaspora media outlet that its company email was being targeted by “government-backed attacks.” China is presumed to be behind the attacks, something Beijing denies. Analysts say the case highlights the growing difficulties Hong Kong journalists face both at home and overseas. On Tuesday, The Chaser published a report about the incident on its website, including a screenshot of the email from Google about the government-backed attack. The email listed the severity of the attack as high. According to Google, only 0.1% of …
washington — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday will visit the U.S. ammunition factory that is producing one of the most critically needed munitions for Ukraine’s fight to fend off Russian ground forces. Zelenskyy is expected to go to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in the state of Pennsylvania to kick off a busy week in the United States shoring up support for Ukraine in the war, according to two U.S. officials and a third familiar with Zelenskyy’s schedule who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that were not yet public. The Ukrainian leader also will address the …
NEW YORK — Six years after a teenage Greta Thunberg walked out of school in a solitary climate protest outside of the Swedish parliament, people around a warming globe marched in youth-led protest, saying their voices are being heard but not sufficiently acted upon. Emissions of heat-trapping gases and temperatures have been rising and oil and gas drilling has continued, even as the protests that kicked off major weeklong climate events in New York City have become annual events. This year, they come days before the United Nations convenes two special summits, one concentrating on sea level rise and the other …
PRAGUE — Czechs went to the polls on Friday in a two-day vote for a third of the seats in Parliament’s upper house, which is the Senate, and to select their representatives in regional elections. The elections took place as the Czech Republic was recovering from massive floods that hit Central Europe in recent days. The floods claimed at least 24 lives in the region, five of them in the Czech Republic. State officials helped dozens of the hardest-hit towns organize the ballot in the northeast of the country, where schools and various other buildings that serve as polling stations were …
Kyiv, Ukraine — An overnight Russian missile strike on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih killed a 12-year-old boy and two elderly women, regional governor Serhiy Lysak said Saturday. “Again, a terrifying enemy attack on Kryvyi Rih. In the middle of the night, when the city slept,” Lysak wrote on Telegram. He said three more people were injured and were taken to a hospital with injuries of medium severity. The two women killed by the attack were 75 and 79 years old. Lysak also said two buildings were destroyed and 20 more damaged. Kryvyi Rih, a major steel-producing city, is …
KYIV — Ukraine’s “victory plan” in the war against Russia depends on quick decisions being taken by allies this year, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday during a visit by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Zelenskyy told a joint press conference with von der Leyen that Ukraine planned to use a proposed multi-billion dollar European Union loan for air defense, energy and domestic weapons purchases. Zelenskyy singled out the importance of U.S. President Joe Biden to the victory plan, which he said the two leaders will discuss when they meet. The Ukrainian leader is travelling to the United States …
Kyiv, Ukraine — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday she had arrived in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, to discuss Europe’s support, winter preparedness, defense and progress on the G7 loans. “My 8th visit to Kyiv comes as the heating season starts soon, and Russia keeps targeting energy infrastructure,” von der Leyen said on the X social network. Von der Leyen said Thursday more than $160 million from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets would be allocated to meet Ukraine’s urgent humanitarian needs for this winter. Russia has knocked out about 9 gigawatts (GW) of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which von …
Brussels — The EU’s trade chief, Valdis Dombrovskis, said Thursday he had held “constructive” talks with China’s commerce minister, Wang Wentao, as Beijing seeks a deal with Brussels to avoid steep tariffs on imported electric vehicles. The meeting was held as divisions grow in Europe over the proposed tariffs, after Spain urged the EU last week to “reconsider” plans for duties of up to 36% on Chinese electric cars, joining Germany in opposition. “Constructive meeting with Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao. Both sides agreed to intensify efforts to find an effective, enforceable and WTO (World Trade Organization) compatible solution,” Dombrovskis said …