Category: Євросоюз

More than 18,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported across 78 countries, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday. He released the information during opening remarks at his regular COVID-19 update, saying there have been five monkeypox deaths while 10% of cases are admitted to the hospital. Tedros said the outbreak can be contained as long as countries, communities and individuals take the risks of the virus seriously. Currently, 98% of cases are among men who have sex with other men. The director-general recommends they reduce the number of sexual partners. He also stressed the importance of not …

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In a small studio in Paris, Russian journalist Denis Kataev prepares his evening news show that he hopes will play its part in countering the Kremlin narrative about the invasion of Ukraine. Kataev works for Russian channel Dozhd (Rain), which for over a decade from its Moscow base was the country’s most prominent independent broadcast media in a scene dominated by voices loyal to President Vladimir Putin. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to the channel being blocked in Russia and forced to suspend operations for over four months. Defiantly, it has now resumed broadcasting from a headquarters in Latvia …

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The contest to succeed Boris Johnson as British prime minister is down to two candidates. As Henry Ridgwell reports from London, policy towards China has become a key issue on the campaign trail. …

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A European court on Wednesday dismissed a challenge by Russia’s state-owned broadcaster RT France against a ban imposed by the European Union. The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg said the EU had the ability to suspend RT France’s operations and that the EU’s actions did not call into question the freedom of expression. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia “will take similar measures of pressure on Western media that operate in our country.” The EU imposed its ban in March, suspending the operations of RT English, RT UK, RT Germany, RT France and RT Spanish. The EU …

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Russia said Tuesday it will pull out of the International Space Station after 2024 to build its own orbiting outpost. The country’s space chief made the announcement during a meeting with President Vladmir Putin. Yuri Borisov, CEO of state space agency Roscosmos, said during the meeting that Russia plans to fulfill a promise to its partners before fully stepping away. “Of course, we will comply with all our commitments to our partners, but the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been made,” Borisov said during the meeting. “I think we will have started work on the Russian space …

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Britain and the European Union have extended sanctions on Russia in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The U.K. Foreign Office said on its website Tuesday that the sanctions, which included travel bans and asset freezes, were imposed on 42 new people and entities, including several governors of Russian regions and the Kremlin-installed prime minister of the separatist-controlled Donetsk region of Ukraine, Vitaly Khotsenko. The EU, meanwhile, approved the extension of its sanctions for another six months until January 31, the European Council said in a statement. The U.K. said its list also includes Vladislav Kuznetsov, the Moscow-imposed first deputy …

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European Union energy ministers approved a plan Tuesday to reduce natural gas use by 15% in order to cut dependence on Russian supplies. The agreement involves voluntary reductions between August and March, and will allow member states to stockpile supplies ahead of the coming winter months. In case of emergency, the EU could make the cuts mandatory, although with certain exemptions that were agreed to as part of a compromise in order to reach the agreement. The deal also comes amid the prospect that Russia will cut off gas supplies to the EU in response to EU sanctions against Russia …

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In late June, HBO premiered a new documentary called Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes, which features newly recovered documents about the events of 1986. VOA Ukrainian interviewed the documentary director James Jones on the details of his work. Khrystyna Shevchenko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice …

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David Trimble, a former Northern Ireland first minister who won the Nobel Peace Prize for playing a key role in helping end Northern Ireland’s decades of violence, has died, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) said Monday. He was 77. The party said in a statement on behalf of the Trimble family that the unionist politician died earlier Monday “following a short illness.” Trimble, who led the UUP from 1995 to 2005, was a key architect of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that ended three decades of violent conflict in Northern Ireland known as “the Troubles.” Keir Starmer, leader of Britain’s …

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Sweltering heat broke records across Europe last week, the latest in a series of heat waves that have baked the continent since June. Temperatures crept near or above 40 degrees Celsius in much of western Europe, and the heat is now moving east, where it is expected to linger into August. Heat waves are becoming increasingly intense, frequent and long lasting around the world because of climate change. But the pattern of heat waves unfolding in Europe is a global outlier. “We have had an outstanding increase in the number [and] intensity of heat waves,” climate scientist Robert Vautard of …

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Pope Francis apologized Monday for the Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s former policy of separating Indigenous children from their families and forcing them to attend Christian schools, where many were abused. “I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples,” Pope Francis said at a former Indigenous residential school in the western Canadian town of Maskwacis, Alberta. More than 150,000 Indigenous children in Canada were forced to attend government-funded Christian residential schools from the late 1880s to the 1970s in an effort to distance them from their native languages and cultures. Many of …

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Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is on a first-ever visit to the Republic of Congo as part of a four-nation tour of Africa to seek support against Western pressure over its invasion of Ukraine and soaring food prices that threaten famine in parts of East Africa. The Russian foreign minister met Monday with the Republic of Congo’s President Denis Sassou Nguesso at his residence in Oyo, a town 400 kilometers north of the capital, Brazzaville. The visit was the first by Russia’s top diplomat to Congo and Lavrov’s second stop in Africa, after Egypt, on a four-nation tour that includes …

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Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is visiting Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda and the Republic of Congo this week, trying to counteract Western blame of Russia for a growing global food crisis. Experts say Russia will push its own narrative as to why it’s attacking Ukraine and use the visit to show it has friends. Lavrov was in the Republic of Congo Monday, the second day of his tour, to meet with the leadership of the central African nation. Steven Gruzd is the head of the Russia-Africa Program at the South African Institute of International Affairs, said Russia will play the victim …

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Britain will host next year’s Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of winners Ukraine due to the ongoing conflict there, the competition’s organizers said on Monday. While decades-long tradition dictates that the winner of the contest gets to host it the following year, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) had said safety and security reasons meant runners-up Britain were instead invited to host. The BBC will now stage the event, which normally draws a television audience of close to 200 million and was last held in Britain in 1998. Ukraine will automatically qualify to the grand final of the competition, the EBU …

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German business morale fell more than expected in July, the Ifo business sentiment survey showed on Monday, as the institute that compiles it said high energy prices and looming gas shortages had left Europe’s largest economy on the cusp of recession. The Ifo institute’s closely watched business climate index dropped to 88.6, its lowest in more than two years and below the 90.2 forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts. June’s reading was marginally revised down to 92.2. “Recession is knocking on the door. That can no longer be ruled out,” said Ifo surveys head Klaus Wohlrabe. Germany faces the …

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Rishi Sunak on Sunday promised to get tough on China if he becomes Britain’s next prime minister, calling the Asian superpower the “number one threat” to domestic and global security. The former finance minister’s pledge comes after his rival in the race to lead the ruling Conservative party, Liz Truss, accused him of being weak on China and Russia. China’s state-run Global Times has previously said Sunak was the only candidate in the contest with “a clear and pragmatic view on developing UK-China ties.” The Daily Mail, which has come out for Foreign Secretary Truss in the race to succeed …

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Former Los Angeles Lakers player Slava Medvedenko is selling his two NBA championship rings to raise money for his native Ukraine. Medvedenko was a power forward on the Lakers’ championship teams in 2001 and ’02, playing alongside Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. SCP Auctions is donating the entire final sale price of both rings to Medvedenko’s Fly High Foundation. Its goal is to support Ukrainian children by restoring the sports infrastructure of the war-torn country’s schools and launching a network of social sports clubs. “We want to restore gyms because the Russian army bombed more than a hundred schools,” he …

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Jonas Vingegaard claimed his maiden Tour de France title after Sunday’s 21st and final stage, completing a triumph he effectively sealed in the mountains after a vintage duel with Tadej Pogacar. The 25-year-old, who five years ago was working as a fish packer in a factory in the morning before training in the afternoon, followed up on his surprise second place last year. He finished Sunday’s ride to the Champs Elysees safely in the bunch as Belgian Jasper Philipsen won the last stage in a sprint ahead of Dutch Dylan Groenewegen and Norway’s Alexander Kristoff, who were second and third …

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Italian vessels have recovered five bodies and rescued 674 people packed on a fishing boat adrift in the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast, the Italian Coast Guard said Sunday, while European charities reported saving more than 500 more. Some of the survivors had to be plucked from the sea in the Italian operation Saturday that was carried out 120 miles (190 kilometers) off the coast of Calabria by a Navy mercantile ship, three Coast Guard patrol boats and a financial police boat. All of those rescued were brought to ports in Calabria and Sicily. The causes of death for the …

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A spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday that Russian missiles destroyed military infrastructure Saturday in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa, a site that is vital for the exportation of Ukrainian grain. Maria Zakharova posted on her Telegram account “Kalibr missiles destroyed military infrastructure in the port of Odessa, with a high-precision strike.” Russia earlier had denied any involvement in the Saturday strike that came a day after Russia and Ukraine had signed agreements allowing Ukraine to ship millions of tons of grain out of its Black Sea port. It was not immediately clear what caused the reversal …

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