Category: Євросоюз

Dozens of Armenian soldiers have been captured or gone missing following the latest clashes on the border with Azerbaijan, officials in Yerevan said on November 17. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said on the morning of November 17 that seven of its soldiers were killed and 10 others wounded in renewed fighting on the shared border that erupted on November 16. According to a statement by Armenia’s Defense Ministry, 13 Armenian soldiers were captured by Azerbaijani forces and another 24 Armenian servicemen have gone missing and that their fate remains unknown. The statement added that one Armenian soldier was killed in …

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Polish forces at the border with Belarus used water cannons and tear gas Tuesday against stone-throwing migrants, as Warsaw accused Belarusian authorities of giving smoke grenades and other weapons to those trying to cross the frontier.  The events marked an escalation in the crisis on the European Union’s eastern border, where the West has accused President Alexander Lukashenko of using the migrants as pawns to destabilize the 27-nation bloc in retaliation for its sanctions on his authoritarian regime. Belarus denies orchestrating the crisis.  The Poland Border Guard agency posted video on Twitter showing water being sprayed across the border at …

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Turkish authorities arrested businessman Samir Handal, a suspect “of great interest” in the July assassination of Haiti’s president, according to Haitian Foreign Minister Claude Joseph.  The Monday arrest is the latest in a globe-trotting effort to round up Jovenel Moïse’s killers as Haiti contends with political instability, fuel shortages, gang violence and hunger made worse by a deadly August earthquake.  Turkey’s state-run media reported Handal was being held in Istanbul after court officials issued a 40-day custody order, according to The Associated Press. Handal, who has been identified as a Haitian national by several media outlets, was arrested after his …

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Threats by the leader of the Serb-majority Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, to break his mini-state away from Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country shakily balanced between Croats, Bosniaks and Serbs, is adding to growing regional and international dismay at unfolding developments in the Balkans. Dodik’s threats combined with a major rearmament program by neighboring Serbia are fueling concerns the Balkans could be heading for conflict. Serbia started negotiating last month with Israel about buying anti-tank missiles and some European Union officials suspect Belgrade may be in the process of reaching out to Ankara to discuss buying the type of Turkish-made armed …

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The US Naval Station at Rota in the south of Spain has often been the target of protests by anti-war activists and environmentalists. But ever since the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged Spain’s tourism industry, it has been a vastly different scenario. Jon Spier narrates this report by Alfonso Beato in Rota. Producer: Rob Raffaele. …

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Polish border forces on Wednesday said they were attacked with stones by migrants at the border with Belarus and responded by using water cannons against them. The Border Guard agency posted video on Twitter showing a water cannon being directed across the border at a group of migrants in a makeshift camp in freezing temperatures. Polish police said one officer was seriously injured. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital and it is likely his skull was fractured after being hit by an object. The situation marks an escalation in a tense migration and political border crisis where the …

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Greece and U.S. tech giant Microsoft have teamed up to digitally revive one of the ancient world’s most sacrosanct sites: the birthplace of the Olympic Games. The ambitious project uses technology to immerse viewers in the world of ancient Olympia.  The collaboration between Microsoft and the Greek Culture Ministry will allow millions of visitors to immerse themselves in an experience that organizers say brings history to life.  At a recent news conference in Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games, Microsoft officials said they used artificial intelligence to map the site, augmenting reality to help restore the sacrosanct location as it might have looked some 2,000 years ago.   Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitostakis attended the launch and said the project would revive Greece’s greatest commodity — its history.  “Technology is opening up a completely …

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Russian officials on Tuesday rejected accusations that they endangered astronauts aboard the International Space Station by conducting a weapons test that created more than 1,500 pieces of space junk. U.S. officials on Monday accused Russia of destroying an old satellite with a missile in what they called a reckless and irresponsible strike. The debris could do major damage to the space station as it is orbiting at 17,500 mph (28,000 kph). Astronauts now face four times greater risk than normal, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told The Associated Press. The test clearly demonstrates that Russia, “despite its claims of opposing the …

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Germany’s capital, Berlin, joined several German states Monday in limiting access to restaurants, cinemas, museums and concert venues to only people who have been vaccinated or recently recovered, as new COVID-19 cases continue to surge.  The country’s infectious disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, reported Monday that the country’s number of new cases per 100,000 residents in the past seven days climbed to 303, the first time the rate climbed over 300 since the pandemic began. The record comes just one week since an unprecedented jump to over 200 new cases per 100,000 residents.  Only 67.5% of the German …

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Belarus appeared to be moving Monday to de-escalate a long-running standoff with Poland and the European Union. Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said he is preparing to start repatriating around 4,000 asylum-seekers camped out in freezing temperatures at the border with Poland. “Active work is underway in this area, to convince people —please, return home,” Lukashenko was quoted as saying by state news agency Belta. But he added the caveat: “Nobody wants to go back.” Poland — as well as Lithuania and Latvia — have been militarizing their borders with Belarus to try to stop record numbers of migrants, mainly from …

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The British government Monday announced Monday an expansion of the nation’s COVID-19 booster shot program to people ages 40 and up, to fight off a potential winter surge of the deadly disease. Until now, only British residents ages 50 and up, those clinically vulnerable because of underlying conditions, and frontline health workers were eligible for booster shots. But at a news briefing in London, the chairman of Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, Wei Shen Lin, announced the extension to those ages 40 and up who have been fully vaccinated for at least six months. He said, as with …

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised an agreement by nearly 200 countries to boost efforts to combat climate change, while expressing disappointment the result of a U.N. climate conference was not stronger.  “We can lobby, we can cajole, we can encourage, but we cannot force sovereign nations to do what they do not wish to do,” Johnson said at a Sunday news conference. “It’s ultimately their decision to make and they must stand by it.”  Johnson told reporters the agreement reached at the conclusion of the two-week summit in Glasgow was “truly historic” and represented the “death knell for coal power” with pledges to phase down the use of coal. He said …

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Police in Britain said Monday an explosion in a taxi outside a hospital in the city of Liverpool is being treated as a terrorist incident. Authorities told reporters that the passenger in the taxi was carrying an improvised explosive device and asked to be taken to the Liverpool Women’s Hospital, but that a motive or what caused the device to explode was not clear. The passenger died in the blast, and police said Monday they believe they know his identity. Since the explosion, police have arrested four other men in connection with the investigation. The explosion injured the taxi driver, …

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Bulgaria’s new centrist political party was seen winning parliamentary elections on Sunday, according to four exit polls, increasing chances of an end to a political deadlock in the European Union’s poorest member state. Political wrangling prevented opponents of former Premier Boyko Borissov from building a government after the previous two elections in April and July. Bulgarians have grown tired of the impasse, which was seen hampering the country’s economic prospects amid a rise in COVID-19 cases overwhelming hospitals. The new centrist anti-graft party, We Continue The Change, was seen leading with about 26% of the vote, new exit polls by …

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British police arrested three men under terrorism laws Sunday after a car exploded outside a hospital in Liverpool, killing one man and injuring another. Counter-terrorism police said the three men, whose ages ranged from 21 to 29, were detained in the Kensington area of the northwest England city under the Terrorism Act. Police also cordoned off another residential street in the city. They did not disclose details of the operation. Police were called to reports of a blast involving a taxi at Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Sunday morning. Photos showed a vehicle in flames near the hospital’s main entrance. Merseyside …

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ith the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference, or COP 26, now over, countries are looking to begin funding a global counterattack on rising temperatures on Earth. Meanwhile, scientists in Denmark are searching for clues to our warming planet’s future by studying ice from the past. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more …

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Poland, Lithuania and Latvia are considering asking NATO to hold emergency talks as they struggle to manage a tense migration standoff on their borders with Belarus, the Polish prime minister said Sunday. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he and his two Baltic counterparts are discussing whether to ask for such talks under the NATO treaty, which allows any ally to request consultations if it feels its territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened. Still, it’s a step that has only been requested a few times in the history of the Western alliance. The authoritarian Belarusian regime in Minsk has …

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A Greek prosecutor has launched an urgent investigation into criminal organizations supplying fake vaccination certificates, both domestically and from neighboring states, mainly from Balkan countries. The probe comes as COVID-19 infections surge anew in Greece, mainly in the country’s northern areas bordering the Balkans, where fake vaccination certificates have become a hot commodity. It is shocking testimony like this one from a Greek woman who refuses to get vaccinated, that have authorities scrambling to catch scammers operating across this European Union nation. Keeping her back to the camera and her identity hidden, she told a local television broadcaster she is …

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Austria is placing millions of people not fully vaccinated against the coronavirus in lockdown as of Monday to deal with a surge in infections to record levels, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said on Sunday. Europe has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic again, prompting some governments to consider re-imposing unpopular lockdowns. Roughly 65% of Austria’s population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, which is one of the lowest rates in western Europe. Many Austrians are skeptical about vaccines, a view encouraged by the far-right Freedom Party, the third biggest in parliament. While the Netherlands is dealing with its surge in infections by …

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Britain’s Queen Elizabeth did not attend Sunday’s Remembrance Day Service at the Cenotaph due to a sprained back, Buckingham Palace said, extending the 95-year-old monarch’s absence from public life after she was ordered to rest following a stay in hospital last month.  A palace source said the sprain was unrelated to the unspecified ailment that caused the queen’s hospital visit, calling it an “incredibly unfortunate coincidence.”  But Elizabeth’s absence from an engagement she sees as one of the most significant of the year will increase concerns about her health.  The ceremony would have been the queen’s first in-person public engagement …

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