Category: Євросоюз

More than 100 migrants were rescued early Sunday off the island of Mykonos in the Aegean Sea and four are missing, the Greek coastguard said. Port police responded to a distress call sending three boats and a tug boat to help the stricken vessel which had come from Turkey, the coastguard told AFP. It said 108 people were saved and four were missing. The total number on board is unconfirmed due to contradictory information from those rescued, it added. Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi had earlier tweeted that eight migrants were missing and 104 had been rescued. He also called for …

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Despite the ongoing war in Ukraine, couples there continue to get married. For many, the war itself prompted them to officially tie the knot – especially military couples. At least one jewelry store provides military couples with free wedding bands; wedding ceremonies are often held online, at times, literally from the front lines. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story. …

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Fine Italian knitwear packed in boxes addressed to retailers in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kursk sit stacked in a Lombardy warehouse awaiting dispatch. Although not subject to sanctions to punish Russia for invading Ukraine, the garments are not likely to ship any time soon. Missing payments from the Russian retailers who ordered the garments are piling up due to restrictions tied to the banking sector, putting pressure on small fashion producers like D. Exterior, a high-end knitwear company with 50 workers in the northern city of Brescia. “This is very painful. I have 2 million euros worth of merchandise in …

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Czech Senate Leader Milos Vystrcil was little known to the world until he led a Czech parliamentary and business delegation to Taiwan in autumn 2020, defying threats of severe retaliation from Beijing. And that is just how his late father would have preferred it. “He would always insist that we live a normal, average life, not too visible,” Vystrcil told VOA during a visit to Washington last week. Vystrcil was born in the town of Telc in 1960, 12 years after the Soviet-backed local communist party took control of what was then the Czechoslovak Republic. In order for him and …

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Lithuanian authorities said a ban on the transit through their territory to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad of goods that are subject to EU sanctions was to take effect Saturday. News of the ban came Friday, through a video posted by the region’s governor Anton Alikhanov. The EU sanctions list notably includes coal, metals, construction materials and advanced technology, and Alikhanov said the ban would cover around 50% of the items that Kaliningrad imports. Its immediate start was confirmed by the cargo arm of Lithuania’s state railways service in a letter to clients following “clarification” from the European Commission on …

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A third suspect in the murder of British journalist Dom Phillips in the Amazon rainforest was arrested Saturday, Brazil’s federal police said. Jeferson da Silva Lima was on the run, but he surrendered at the police station of Atalaia do Norte in the remote Javari Valley bordering Peru and Colombia. “The detainee will be questioned and referred to a custody hearing,” federal police said in a statement. A forensic exam carried out on human remains found in the region on Friday confirmed they belonged to Phillips. The remains of a second person, believed to be indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, were …

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The far-right Alternative for Germany on Saturday elected two prominent figures to lead the party for the next two years, after one of its co-chairs quit in January saying it had become too radical. Delegates voted for Alternative for Germany’s remaining co-chair, Tino Chrupalla, to head the party together with parliamentary caucus leader Alice Weidel. The vote became necessary after European lawmaker Joerg Meuthen stepped down from the leadership in January, warning that the party risked being driven into “total isolation and ever further toward the political edge” with its current course. Meuthen was the party’s third leader to quit …

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A former hotel housekeeper who fought for the rights of her coworkers has become a symbol of the recent revival of France’s left, which is expected to emerge as the main opposition force in the French Parliament to President Emmanuel Macron’s government. Rachel Kéké, 48, is poised to win election as a lawmaker when France holds the decisive second round of parliamentary elections Sunday. She placed first in her district with more than 37% of the vote in the election’s first round. Her nearest rival, Macron’s former sports minister, Roxana Maracineanu, received less than 24%. Macron’s centrist alliance is projected …

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A celebrated Ukrainian medic whose footage was smuggled out of the besieged city of Mariupol by an Associated Press team was freed by Russian forces on Friday, three months after she was taken captive on the streets of the city.  Yuliia Paievska is known in Ukraine as Taira, a nickname she chose in the “World of Warcraft” video game. Using a body camera, she recorded 256 gigabytes of her team’s efforts over two weeks to save the wounded, including both Russian and Ukrainian soldiers.  She transferred the clips to an Associated Press team, the last international journalists in Mariupol, one …

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Editor’s note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.    UN human rights chief won’t seek second term  U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said Monday that she will step down when her term finishes at the end of August. The news was welcomed by China rights activists, who have criticized Bachelet for failing to more forcefully criticize Beijing’s incarceration of nearly 2 million Uyghurs in Xinjiang, including during her recent visit to China.  Activists Welcome UN Rights Chief’s Decision to Step …

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News that police in France arrested two men suspected of traveling to the city of Nantes to kill an Azeri blogger will be of little surprise to journalists in Azerbaijan. Attacks, especially over reporting that is critical of authorities, are common, and a lack of bringing perpetrators to justice makes matters worse, journalists and analysts say. Reporting on crime, corruption, human rights abuses or alleged wrongdoing by the government can result in attacks or pressure, with orders appearing to come from high up, some journalists told VOA. A culture of impunity adds to the risks. Last month, an assailant attacked …

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Russian journalist and Nobel Peace laureate Dmitry Muratov is auctioning his Nobel medal for Ukrainian refugees, distraught at the eradication of independent media in his country, where he says fewer and fewer people support Moscow’s military campaign. Muratov is the bear-like co-founder and long-time editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, a newspaper critical of the Kremlin that was itself established in 1993 with money from former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev’s Nobel Peace Prize. For years it defied tightening restrictions on dissenting media, but in March it finally suspended its online and print activities after it became a crime—punishable by 15 years in …

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The European Commission recommended Friday that Ukraine should be granted European Union candidate status. “Ukraine has clearly demonstrated the country’s aspiration and the country’s determination to live up to European values and standards,” the EU’s Executive Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said in Brussels. The Executive Commission also approved the candidacy of Moldova, one of Ukraine’s neighbors, for membership in the bloc. Ukraine and Moldova still face a lengthy process to achieve membership. French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and President Klaus Iohannis of Romania visited Kyiv on Thursday in a show …

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The British government on Friday ordered the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to face spying charges — a milestone, but not the end of the decade-long legal saga. WikiLeaks said it would challenge the order, and has 14 days to lodge an appeal. Home Secretary Priti Patel signed the order authorizing Assange’s extradition to the U.S., where he faces charges over WikiLeaks’ publication of a huge trove of classified documents. The decision was referred to Patel after a British court ruled in April that Assange could be sent to the U.S., where he faces trial …

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Before the ceremony and the serious meetings about war, the European leaders witnessed the devastation wrought by Russia. A must. To understand Ukraine’s fight for survival, they had to see it themselves, with their own eyes. The blown-up buildings. The smashed cars. And a message of hope spray-painted on a damaged building despite mounting Ukrainian deaths. French President Emmanuel Macron spotted it immediately amid the ruins Thursday. “Look at that, ‘Make Europe, not war,’ ” Macron said, pointing and reading the words out loud in English. “It’s very moving to see that.” The leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania …

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French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and President Klaus Iohannis of Romania visited Kyiv on Thursday in a show of support for Ukraine amid its battle to fend off Russia’s invasion. “It’s an important moment. It’s a message of unity we’re sending to the Ukrainians,” Macron said. Air raid sirens blared as their visit began. The European Commission is considering whether to recommend Ukraine be granted candidate status for European Union membership. After the talks between the four and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the four signaled that Ukraine would be offered candidate status …

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Turkey is deporting thousands of Afghans despite an international outcry about the dire humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, where the Taliban have been accused of human rights violations. In January 2022, Turkey was the second country, following Pakistan, to resume direct flights to Afghanistan months after all international flights to the landlocked country were disrupted once the former Afghan government crumbled on August 15. In the past six months, 79 Turkish chartered deportation flights have landed at Kabul international airport, carrying more than 18,000 Afghans, according to Turkish officials and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The Taliban’s seizure of power …

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 Thursday’s visit to Ukraine by four European Union leaders comes ahead of a key decision on Kyiv’s EU candidacy, expected next week — and as tensions grow over Europe’s long-term commitment to the war. Speaking to reporters from Kyiv’s war-ravaged suburb of Bucha, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said his visit with the leaders of Germany, Italy and Romania underscored the European Union’s strong political support for Ukraine and its respect for its people’s courage. Macron dismissed controversy within the EU over his remarks that aggressor Russia should not be humiliated in finding an exit to the conflict. He said France …

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The imprisoned leaders of Greece’s once-powerful neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party are seeking to overturn long prison terms in an appeals court trial that began this week in Athens. Justice officials suggest it is unlikely that the court will show any leniency to the defendants. But while the neo-Nazi grouping, among the most dangerous in Europe, has been dismantled, far-right extremism still stains the birthplace of democracy. The appeal comes 18 months after Golden Dawn leader Nikos Mihaloliakos and six other senior lawmakers from the party faced sweeping convictions for operating what the Greek Supreme Court then called a criminal organization …

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French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi arrived Thursday in Kyiv in a show of support to Ukraine amid its battle to fend off a Russian invasion. “It’s an important moment,” said Macron. “It’s a message of unity we’re sending to the Ukrainians.” The trip comes as the European Commission considers whether to recommend Ukraine be granted candidate status for EU membership. While in Kyiv, Macron, Scholz and Draghi are expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Military aid The United States announced Wednesday it is sending $1 billion more in military …

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